Chapter 10 Middle Aged Adults and Their Parents

o Divorce and/or remarriage of middle-aged parents

o Divorce and remarriage linked with reduced relationship quality with children o U.S. is experiencing a "matrilineal tilt" ♣ Remarriage substantially reduces fathers transfers while it increases mothers transfers to their biological children o Divorced older fathers have less regular contact with their adult children than married fathers ♣ In contrast, divorced older mothers have increased contact

o Widowhood

o The renegotiation of parent-child roles results in daughters providing increasingly more care for parents ♣ But- more older parents are providers rather than recipients of help

Grandparent-grandchildren relationships: Asia

♣ 74% of elderly in Asia still co-reside with their children ♣ far greater than Europe (26%), North America (19%) ♣ children who coreside their grandparents have higher academics

♣ Grandparents and Grandchildren in the United States

♣ A substantial increase in the number of grandparents raising their grandchildren • More common in African American and Latino American o Fits with commitment of families providing a safety net for children o Kinship care in those families is an acceptable response of family member loss and separation • Among the concerns of custodial grandparents o Ensuring the safety of their grandchildren o Monitoring interactions between them and their parents

♣ Who is in the sandwich generation

♣ About 71% are adults between the ages of 40 to 59 ♣ Men and women are equally likely to be members ♣ Hispanics are more likely than whites or blacks to be members ♣ More affluent adults (incomes of 100,000 or more) are more likely to be in the sandwich generation than less affluent adults ♣ Married adults are more likely than unmarried adults to be sandwiched between two generations

♣ Stages of filial role development

♣ Concern: when adult children show high levels of concern for their parent's health ♣ Urgining: when adult children see their parents' health worsening and attempt to influence them to take action to improve their health ♣ Action: when adult children see that their parents health is deteriorating and take action to assist their parents with their health problems

Grandparenthood

♣ Contributes to the psychological developments of older adults ♣ Five distinct dimensions of meaning that grandparenthood bring to the life review ♣ Role centrality ♣ Valued eldership ♣ Immortality through clan ♣ Reinvolvement with personal past ♣ Indulgence

♣ China: The "One-Child" Policy

♣ Corresponds with the "4-2-1" style (four grandparents, two parents, and one child) ♣ Parents in china are able to take for granted an abundance of assistance from grandparents ♣ Typical form of assistance is child care, no matter where the grandparents live • When grandmothers don't with adult children, they often travel to help out in times of need

cultural role of grandparent

♣ In individualistic cultures, grandparents maintain close relationships with grandchildren • While living independent from the parent-child household ♣ In collectivistic cultures, grandparents likely to live with grandchildren or nearby • More integrated into their daily lives and assist in their upbringing ♣ In all cultures: 3 generation household

retirement

♣ Normative transition ♣ There is a general pattern of stability in parent-child relations following retirement ♣ There is likely to be increased family participation by the retiree

Normative Social status transitions

♣ Occur as young adults: Graduate from college, enter a career, get married, or have children ♣ Positive Impacts: middle-aged parents & adult children become closer when children undergo normative transitions • Going to college • Establishing separate households • Getting married • Having children ♣ There is a significant increase in satisfaction when children assume status of parenthood • Social role shared by adult children and parents ♣ Middle Aged Parents: universal normative social status transition occurs when parents become grandparents ♣ Grandparents perceive role of grandparent as easier, more gratifying than parent

o Cultural differences in living arrangements of elderly parents

♣ Relationship quality of older parents and their adult children is influenced culture ♣ Culture influences whether or not middle-aged and older parents will live in the same household ♣ In individualist cultures, middle-aged persons and elderly parents are not expected to live together ♣ In collectivist cultures, it is anticipated that older persons will live with their middle-aged children • Adult children will care for elderly parents

♣ Nonnormative social status transitions

♣ Results from: experiences such as getting divorced or losing one's job, incarceration, serious illness ♣ Consequences: Adult children's non-normative status transitions increase their demands on their parents • Transitions create unanticipated burdens o EX. Parent-children relationships become strains when son lose their jobs ♣ Main source of parental conflict when generations share a home ♣ Middle Aged Parents: social status transition in the lives of middle-aged adults include • Serious illness, death • Divorce, remarriage • Second-generation fatherhood ♣ Those transitions require greater adjustment on the part of their adult children

integrity versus despair

♣ The quality of the relationships that older persons have with their children and grandchildren contributes to the development of their sense of integrity versus despair ♣ If older individual interprets lives in a positive on they they incorporate a sense of integrity ♣ If they look back with regrets, they develop a sense of despair

Contribution of Grandparents

♣ Their presence in the lives of their children and grandchildren provides symbols of longevity and continuity • Having available grandparents increases feelings of security in younger generations ♣ Family historian • Stories told by grandparents and great-grandparents ♣ Grandparents also sometimes serve as mentors, role models, crisis

♣ Grandparents Under the challenges of HIV/AIDS, Kenya and South Africa

♣ There are vast numbers of orphans whose parents have died of AIDS ♣ Grandmothers caring for many grandchildren and great-grandchildren • Entirely on their own with little legal or economic support • Also cared for the parents of these children as they became ill and died

♣ Direct care to aging parents

♣ When adult children provide direct care for their parents, they usually expect them to reciprocate with deference • When older persons do not defer, intergenerational relations often become strained and adult children will set limits on their caregiving ♣ Female adult children provide considerably more care of aging parents than do men • Daughters and daughters in-law more likely to provide care than sons or sons-in-law