Suchergebnisse

"As far as I am aware, there is no other scholarly book on adult mother/daughter relationships, particularly one that incorporates data from pairs of mothers and daughters...I believe that the contents provide useful material for instructors, researchers, and therapists alike.". - Rosemary Blieszner, PhD. Professor of Gerontology and Family Studies. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. The mother/daughter tie is one that persists well past childhood and it takes on unique characteristics as daughter enter midlife and mohers enter old age. Incorporating vivid descripti

Social networks in the 21st century include a wide array of partners. Most individuals report a few core ties (primarily family) and hundreds of peripheral ties. Weak ties differ from intimate ties in emotional quality, stability, density (i.e., who knows whom), and status hierarchies. Undoubtedly, close ties are essential for human survival. Yet peripheral ties may enhance life quality and allow people to flourish. Weak ties may serve (a) distinct functions from intimate ties (e.g., information, resources, novel behaviors, and diversion), (b) parallel functions to intimate ties (e.g., defining identity and positions within social hierarchies, helping when a family member is ill, providing a sense of familiarity), and (c) reciprocal influences between peripheral partners and family members (e.g., bioecological theory). Family science might benefit from investigating consequential strangers who pepper daily life.

Prior research has considered the influence of the middle generation on ties between grandparents and grandchildren but has not differentiated between gender of parent and kinship to grandparent(e.g., daughter vs. daughter-in-law and son vs. son-in-law). Eighty-six grandparents provided information about the qualities of their relationships with their grandchildren ( n = 239) and their grandchildren's parents ( n = 141 mothers and 141 fathers). Two characteristics of the middle generation were considered: (a) gender of the parent (mother vs. father) and (b) kinship to grandparent—son or daughter (consanguine parent) or daughter-in-law or son-in-law (affinal parent). Relationships with children-in-law were more strongly associated with qualities of ties to grandchildren than relationships with grandparents' own children. Implications for future research addressing in-law relationships are discussed.

AbstractMothers and daughters maintain strong positive relationships despite interpersonal tensions. This study examined the ways in which older mothers and their adult daughters handle problems in their relationships. Forty‐eight dyads of healthy, aging mothers (mean age, 76 years) and their adult daughters (mean age, 44 years) participated. Rusbult's (1980) model of relationship investment was used as a framework for exploring how mothers and daughters might react when upset with the other party. Self‐reports and observed behaviors across individual and joint interviews were examined. The mothers and daughters seemed to rely on constructive approaches to deal with problems in their relationship. Mothers tended to rely on loyalty behaviors more than their daughters did, but findings pertaining to such responses are complex. Reactions to problems in this relationship did not appear to be related to levels of investment, regard for the relationship, or frequency of tensions. The implications of this study for understanding the strength of mothers'and daughters'ties are discussed.

Two studies addressing age biases in research on family and social relationships are presented. Study 1 involved a content analysis of nearly 1,000 empirical studies published in six major journals from 1994 to 1999. Studies in these journals generally were limited to samples of adults under the age of 45, though nearly one third of the studies failed to include information about the ages of adult participants. Most research focused on marital ties, romantic partnerships, or relationships between parents and young children. Study 2 (N = 186) assessed beliefs about the importance of various relationships to adults of different ages. Researchers who study relationships (n = 71), adults with advanced degrees in other fields (n = 57), and less–educated adults (n = 58) rated the importance of various social ties to themselves and to adults of different ages. In general, participants agreed that adults of different ages value different social ties. Less–educated individuals rated many social ties as more important than did researchers who study relationships, however. Age biases in sampling and the types of relationships that receive research attention are discussed.

This study examines decisions women make about their romantic lives after widowhood. Participants were women from the Americans' Changing Lives survey, a nationwide random sample of 3,617 Americans older than age 25 years who, in 1986, were widowed ( n = 259) or had been widowed and were remarried ( n = 49). Widowed participants provided information about their male companions and their interest in remarriage, as well as information about their social support, mental and physical health, age, and socioeconomic status. Logistic regressions revealed that younger age and greater unhappiness predicted interest in remarriage. Higher trait anxiety predicted having male companionship. Widows who had remarried had higher household incomes and worried less about finances than did widows who did not remarry. Widows appear to make choices about partners based on their individual needs and desires as well as the attributes and availability of partners.

AbstractThis study examined the experience of worry in the parent–adult child relationship. A mother, father, and adult son or daughter from 213 families participated (N= 639). Parents and adult children commonly worried about one another and their worry reflected individual characteristics (e.g., neuroticism) and relationship characteristics (e.g., importance of the relationship and ambivalence). In addition, how much adults and their parents worried about one another influenced the other party's perceptions of relationship quality. Specifically, adults and parents rated their relationships more positively and more negatively when the other party reported worrying about them more and communicating their worries to them more frequently. Findings underscore the importance of including experiences such as worry in research on emotional complexities in the parent–adult child relationship.

Abstract
Internet-enabled resources could facilitate older adults' ability to live in the community longer, but studies have often overlooked how family caregivers utilize the internet to assist older care recipients. We examined whether different family-level arrangements of internet use may affect the risk of institutionalization among older adults. Using the National Health and Aging Trends Study (2015–2020) and National Study on Caregiving (2015), we estimated multinominal logistic regression and inverse-probability weighted Cox proportional hazard models to investigate the determinants of technological arrangements in 2015 (i.e., no internet use, only caregiver use, only care recipient use, both caregiver and care recipient internet use) and how they may affect the risk of moving to an assisted living or nursing facility between 2015 and 2020. The most prevalent technological arrangement in 2015 was the one where neither the care recipient nor their caregiver reported using the internet. Relatively disadvantaged older care recipients (e.g., people of color, fewer years of education, less income, worse cognitive functioning) and caregivers (e.g., older, fewer years of education) were more likely to be in a non-internet use arrangement. Compared to older adults in other categories, older adults who were internet users and had a family caregiver who also used the internet in their caregiving tasks had a much lower risk of relocation during the study period. Findings suggest that digital interventions aimed at serving the older adult population should assess the gap in access and utilization at a family level and consider the role of older adults' social partners.

Coresidence between emerging adults and parents is now common in the United States, but we know little about how coresidence influences daily experiences in these ties. Coresident ( n = 62) and noncoresident ( n = 97) emerging adults (aged 18–30) reported daily experiences with parents and mood for 7 days. During the study week, compared to offspring who lived apart from parents, coresident offspring were more likely to experience positive encounters, receive more support, wish parents would change, feel irritated, and report that their parents got on their nerves. Coresident offspring did not differ from noncoresident offspring with regard to stressful thoughts. Stressful thoughts about parents were associated with more negative daily mood; this effect did not differ for coresident and noncoresident offspring. Findings are discussed with regard to intergenerational ambivalence. In sum, coresident emerging adults were more involved with parents but not more affected by daily experiences with parents.