Parental Financial Assistance and Young Adults' Relationships With Parents and Well-Being

Beyond Parental Wealth: Grandparental Wealth and the Transition to Adulthood

This study considers the multigenerational consequences of wealth transmission for the transition to young adulthood. Using a wider set of outcomes than has previously been considered, and by analyzing parental and grandparental wealth simultaneously, this work underscores the salience of multiple generations of wealth as a predictor for young adult well-being. Data comes from the US Panel Study of Income Dynamics on a sample of youth followed from mid-adolescence until the age of 20. Results from linear regression models indicate that parental wealth was associated with increases in the probability of college attendance and steady employment and inversely associated with the likelihood of nonmarital birth and idleness. Grandparental wealth predicted non-educational outcomes at least as well as parental wealth did and explained more variance in young adults' outcomes when parental wealth was lower. The association between parental wealth and non-educational outcomes suggest that wealth may inform young adults' broader life course by predicting outcomes other than college attendance. Grandparental wealth may serve a compensatory function for children with low parental wealth. Results suggest that persistently low wealth across multiple generations may impede the successful transition to young adulthood.

Who returned home? The COVID-19 pandemic and young adults' residential transitions

The COVID-19 pandemic is thought to have led to an increase in the percentage of young adults living with their parents, but the relative contributions made by moves into and out of the parental home to this increase are unknown. Also unknown is whether changes in the likelihood of home leaving and returning were concentrated among privileged or disadvantaged youth. This study used data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics Transition into Adulthood Supplement (2013-2021) and estimated logistic regression models to examine changes in the levels and correlates of moving into (n = 1872) and out of (n = 1852) the parental home before and after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. Results show that relative to pre-pandemic trends, during the COVID-19 pandemic young adults were more likely to move back to the parental home and less likely to leave it. The increase in the likelihood of returning home was concentrated among young, white college students from advantaged families. The decline in leaving home was most pronounced among white and employed young adults.

A Scoping Review of the Factors That Influence Families' Ability or Capacity to Provide Young People With Emotional Support Over the Transition to Adulthood

The transition to adulthood is typically marked by changes in relationships with family members, peers, and romantic partners. Despite this, the family often maintains a prominent role in young adults' lives. A scoping review was conducted to identify the factors that influence families' ability or capacity to provide young people with emotional support during the transition to adulthood, and to understand the gaps in this research area. Title and abstract searches were conducted from January 2007 to February 2021 in multiple databases, including PsycINFO, MEDLINE, and Sociological Abstracts. Fifteen semi-structured interviews were also conducted with stakeholders (professionals from relevant sectors/working within this field). In total, 277 articles were eligible for inclusion in the review. Following data extraction, 19 factors were identified. Factors with the most research (more than 20 articles) included: family proximity or co-residence; mental health; sex or gender differences; and family communication. Factors with less research included: societal context; young person's sexual orientation or gender identity; social networks; and adverse life events. Gaps in the research area were also identified, including methodological issues (e.g., lack of mixed methods and longitudinal study designs), a disproportionate focus on the parent-child relationship, and a lack of contextually situated research. Our findings indicate that future research in this area could benefit from taking an intersectional, multi-method approach, with a focus on the whole family and diverse samples.

Does perceived social mobility shape attitudes toward government and family educational investment?

Education is considered a key driver of intergenerational social mobility in the United States. However, the past several decades have witnessed a dramatic increase in the costs of college attendance, which puts political pressure on what the roles of government and families in education financing ought to be. In this study, we examine how individuals' perception of society's intergenerational mobility affects their willingness to financially support children in college, as well as their opinion on whether the government should take a smaller or bigger role. Perceptions of mobility matter because they reflect individuals' estimated opportunity structure and thereby an important component of returns to education. Using data from a nationally representative online survey and a novel design to measure perceived mobility, we show that (1) individuals who believe to live in a more mobile society exhibit more aversion toward government spending and a preference for students relying on family support; (2) these associations are stronger among higher-SES groups; and (3) information treatments randomly assigning objective social mobility facts make individuals who overestimate the level of social mobility even more eager to contribute to tuition costs. These findings suggest that learning about factual levels of mobility reinforces existing beliefs and possibly their consequences for educational investment.

Facets of parent-child relations in adulthood and their role in transmitting economic deprivation across generations

Despite the well-documented effect of parent-child relations in childhood on the reproduction of social disadvantage, little is known about how relationships between parents and their grown-up children are associated with this process. The present study addresses this research gap by investigating whether structural, cognitive, and functional aspects of family social capital in adulthood are connected to the risk of relative income poverty and its intergenerational reproduction. Based on a longitudinal sample from data of the German Family Panel (pairfam), random effects regression models as well as mediation analysis (KHB method) reveal that affectual and structural facets of intergenerational relations in adulthood matter in two ways for understanding the intergenerational transmission of poverty. First, emotionally close intergenerational relations and living in proximity of the parental home in adulthood counterbalance the experience of economic deprivation in childhood by alleviating poverty risks. Second, emotionally and spatially distant relations between adult children and their parents partially mediate the social inheritance of poverty across generations and time. We additionally tested the possible moderating role of migration background but could not find considerable evidence that later-life family social capital matters differently for native and migrant families in predicting the risk of poverty.

The Other Student Debt Crisis: How Borrowing to Pay for a Child's College Education Relates to Parents' Mental Health at Midlife

OBJECTIVES

More parents are borrowing to help their children pay for college. These loans may be a source of financial stress and worry, which could influence parents' mental health. We determine whether child-related educational debt is associated with worse mental health among parents and if fathers are more sensitive to this debt than mothers, given potential gender differences in financial decision-making and relationships with adult children.

METHOD

Data come from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979, a nationally representative sample of persons born between 1957 and 1964. We used the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale and the Short Form-12 Mental Health Component Score to assess mental health. We restricted our sample to parents who had at least one biological child attend college and who were interviewed at age 50, when mental health was assessed (n = 3,545).

RESULTS

Among fathers, having any child-related educational debt versus none was associated with fewer depressive symptoms, but having greater amounts of child-related educational debt was associated with more depressive symptoms and worse mental health. No relationship was found for mothers.

DISCUSSION

Our findings indicate that the student debt crisis may also have mental health implications for aging parents, particularly for fathers.

Paternal factors and adverse birth outcomes in Lanzhou, China

BACKGROUND

Many maternal factors are known to be associated with adverse birth outcomes, but studies about paternal factors yielded inconsistent conclusions. The study was to assess whether paternal factors are associated with low birth weight (LBW), preterm birth (PTB), and small for gestational age (SGA).

METHODS

A birth cohort study was conducted in 2010-2012 at the Gansu Provincial Maternity and Child Care Hospital, the largest maternity and childcare hospital in Lanzhou, China. Paternal age, ethnicity, educational level, height, weight, smoking, and drinking were collected. Birth outcomes and pregnancy complications were extracted from the medical records.

RESULTS

During the study period, 10,121 participants were included; the overall prevalence of LBW, PTB, and SGA was 7.2, 9.9, and 7.8%, respectively. Paternal higher height (OR = 0.64 95%CI: 0.49, 0.83), higher weight (P for trend < 0.001), and higher BMI (P for trend < 0.001) could decrease the rate of LBW. Paternal higher education (OR = 0.55, 95%CI: 0.43, 0.71) and higher weight (P for trend < 0.001,) were associated with lower rate of PTB. Fathers who smoked more than 6 pack-years were associated with PTB (OR = 1.31, 95%CI: 1.07, 1.61). Paternal BMI > 23.9 kg/m2 (P for trend < 0.001,) and paternal education which above college (OR = 0.61, 95%CI: 0.50, 0.82) were associated with a lower rate of SGA.

CONCLUSION

Paternal low education is independently associated with PTB and SGA. Paternal heavy smoking is associated with PTB. Low paternal weight/BMI is independently associated with LBW, PTB, and SGA.

Mothers, Fathers, Daughters, and Sons: Gender Differences in Adults' Intergenerational Ties

Women are more involved in family ties than men, but these differences may vary across generations as gender roles have shifted. We know little about gender patterns across generations in the same family, however. To address this gap, midlife men and women aged 40-60 (n = 633) from the Family Exchanges Study reported on relationships with each aging parent and each grown child. Mothers were more involved (e.g., more frequent contact, greater positive and negative relationship qualities, and more frequent support exchanges) than fathers in both generations, with parental gender differences stronger in the older generation. Offspring gender differences were generally consistent across generations, with daughters more involved by phone in emotional forms of support, and in negative relationship quality; these gender differences were stronger in the younger generation than the older ones. We discuss pervasive gender differences that favor mothers, as well as shifts in gender differences across generations.

Linking Lives in Ethnically Diverse Families: The Interconnectedness of Home Leaving and Retirement Transitions

Drawing from a sociocultural life course perspective, this study examines the linkages between two age-related family transitions: young adult children leaving home and parental retirement. A sample of 580 ethnically diverse parents aged 50+ with at least one adult child aged 19-35 living in Metro Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, was used in this study based on four cultural groups: British-, Chinese-, Persian/Iranian-, or South Asian-Canadian. Separate survival analyses are used to predict the timing of, and associations between children's leaving home and parents' retirement. Later timing of adult children's leaving home is associated with delays in retirement of parents and is influenced by a number of predictors. Main and interaction effects were supported for ethnicity, where belonging to the Persian/Iranian ethnic group (compared to British) delays home leaving, and belonging to Persian/Iranian and South Asian ethnic groups (compared to British) delays retirement timing.

Aging Parents' Daily Support Exchanges With Adult Children Suffering Problems

OBJECTIVES

When adult children incur life problems (e.g., divorce, job loss, health problems), aging parents generally report providing more frequent support and experiencing poorer well-being. Yet, it is unclear how adult children's problems may influence aging parents' daily support exchanges with these children or the parents' daily mood.

METHODS

Aging parents from the Family Exchanges Study Wave 2 (N = 207, Mage = 79.86) reported providing and receiving emotional support, practical support, and advice from each adult child each day for 7 days. Parents also rated daily positive and negative mood.

RESULTS

Multilevel models showed that aging parents were more likely to provide emotional and practical support to adult children incurring life problems than children not suffering problems. Parents were also more likely to receive emotional support and advice from these children with problems. Further, parents reported less negative mood on days when providing practical support to children with problems.

DISCUSSION

Examining daily support exchanges adds to our understanding of how children's problems influence parent-child ties in late life. Prior research suggests that children's problems upset parents. In this study, however, it appears that supporting adult children who suffer problems may alleviate aging parents' distress regarding such children.

A Decade of Research on Intergenerational Ties: Technological, Economic, Political, and Demographic Changes

Due to extended transitions to adulthood and declining marital rates, bonds between adults and parents have grown increasingly salient in individuals' lives. This review organizes research around these topics to address ties between parents and grown children in the context of broader societal changes over the past decade. Literature searches included tables of contents of premier journals (e.g., Journal of Marriage and Family), Psychological Info, and Google Scholar. The literature review revealed patterns of social and intergenerational changes. Technological advances (e.g., introduction of the smart phone) co-occurred with more frequent contact and interdependence between generations. The Great Recession and financial strains altered the nature of many parent/child ties, including increased rates of intergenerational coresidence. Individual life problems such as divorce, addiction, and physical health problems were reflected in complex changes in positive and negative relationship qualities, ambivalence, and intergenerational support. Government policies reflect societal values and in turn, affected the distribution of parents' and grown children's resources. Political disruptions instigated migration, separating generations across large geographic regions. Political disruptions instigated migration, separating generations across large geographic regions. Demographic changes (e.g., constellation of family members, delayed marriage, same sex marriage) were also manifest in ties between adults and parents. Findings were consistent with the Intergenerational Systems in Context Model, which posits that societal transformations co-occur with changes in intergenerational relationships via reciprocal influences.

Links Between Perceptions of Successes, Problems and Health Outcomes Among Adult Chinese Children: The Mediating Role of Perceptions of Parents' Feelings and Intergenerational Relationships

Several studies have focused on adult children's successes and problems and implications for their own well-being, but few studies have paid attention to their implications for adult children's health outcomes. In the present study, we tested the links between perceptions of successes, problems, and their own health outcomes, as well as the mediating role of perceptions of parents' feelings and intergenerational relationships. Adult children (n = 314; age 18-59) completed surveys on perceptions of successes (compared with counterparts, speculated how parents rate their successes, and compared with same-gender parent); problems (self's, father's, and mother's); parents' feelings (positive and negative); intergenerational relationships (intergenerational ambivalence and instrumental solidarity); and health outcomes [subjective well-being (SWB), psychological distress (PD), and self-rated health (SRH)]. Path analysis was conducted, a bootstrapped test was used. Results showed that perceptions of successes compared with counterparts were positively correlated with SWB and SRH; perceptions of successes compared with counterparts and perceptions of successes compared with same-gender parent were positively correlated with SWB and SRH via parents' positive feelings; perceptions of successes that speculated how parents rate their successes and perceptions of successes compared with same-gender parent were negatively correlated with PD via parents' negative feelings. Self's problems were negatively correlated with SWB via direct ambivalence (DA), and were positively correlated with PD via parents' negative feelings and DA, while mother's problems were positively correlated with PD via parents' negative feelings. There were no significant correlations between father's problems and adult children's health outcomes. This study underscores the importance of considering perceptions of parents' feelings and DA in understanding the mechanisms of an individual's mental health in family systems. This study sheds lights on considering an individual's health in family systems and cultural contexts.

Older Adults' Empathy and Daily Support Exchanges

Older adults' empathy may shape the frequency and types of support that they exchange with their social partners as well as the implications of these exchanges. This study drew on the Daily Experiences and Well-being Study, which included adults aged 65 and over and tracked them across 5 to 6 days using mobile phone surveys. Participants (n = 293) rated their empathy and reported their daily support exchanges (e.g., emotional support, instrumental support, advice) as well as mood. Findings showed that more empathic older adults provided each type of support more often. They also received more emotional support than less empathic older adults. Moreover, older adults' empathy moderated the associations between providing support and their daily mood. More empathic older adults maintained their mood regardless of whether they provided support. By contrast, less empathic older adults reported reduced positive mood on days when they provided emotional support and increased positive mood when they provided instrumental support. Greater empathy is associated with more frequent support exchanges; however, more empathic older adults appear immune to such exchanges in terms of their mood. Interestingly, less empathic older adults may find providing emotional support draining but instrumental support rewarding, probably because they are less equipped to cope with others' emotions.

Aging Parents' Disabilities and Daily Support Exchanges With Middle-Aged Children

Background and Objectives

Aging parents often incur disabilities in activities of daily living, which may limit their ability to give support and necessitate increased support from middle-aged children. Research has predominantly assessed disabled parents' retrospective reports of receiving support, but we know little about their daily support exchanges with middle-aged children. This study examined practical support, emotional support, and advice that aging parents with and without disabilities provided and received from middle-aged children, and links between these support exchanges and parents' daily mood.

Research Design and Methods

Aging parents (N = 202, Mage = 79.86) from the Family Exchanges Study II indicated their disabilities and background characteristics. They also reported daily exchanges of practical, emotional support, and advice with each middle-aged child and their daily mood for 7 days.

Results

Multilevel models revealed that aging parents suffering disabilities were equally likely to provide each type of support but more likely to receive practical support. Aging parents' disabilities seemed to buffer the effects of these support exchanges, such that parents with disabilities versus parents without disabilities reported less negative mood when providing practical support or emotional support, and more positive mood when receiving practical support.

Discussion and Implications

Exploring the role of aging parents' disabilities in their daily support exchanges with middle-aged children expands on the literature of late-life disabilities and parent-child ties. Despite increasing disabilities, aging parents continue to engage in support exchanges with middle-aged children in daily life and these parents appear to benefit from such involvement.

Support Grandparents Give to Their Adult Grandchildren

Objectives

Many grandparents are involved in young grandchildren's lives, but we know little about grandparents' support of adult grandchildren. This study assessed frequency of different types of support that grandparents provided to adult grandchildren and examined potential explanations for such support (e.g., affection, grandchildren's needs, parents' support).

Method

Grandparents in The Family Exchanges Study Wave 2 (N = 198; Mage = 80.19) reported how often they provided six types of support to a focal adult grandchild.

Results

Multiple regressions revealed that grandparents' affective ties with an adult grandchild were associated with more frequent listening, emotional support, and companionship. Grandparents also provided more frequent emotional support to adult grandchildren when parents incurred life problems, and more frequent companionship and financial support when parents were not employed. Moreover, grandparents' listening, advice, and companionship with adult grandchildren were positively associated with the parents providing these types of support to grandchildren.

Discussion

Consistent with solidarity theory, grandparents experiencing greater affective ties with their grandchildren are invested in these ties regardless of family needs. Findings also offer limited evidence for the family watchdog model in that grandparents provide more support to grandchildren when parents incur problems, even though those parents may still provide support.

Financial Stress and Drinking During the Transition to Adulthood: The Role of Parental Financial Support

We investigated the concurrent and prospective associations between financial stress and drinking during the transition to adulthood in the United States, drawing from two distinct stress and coping perspectives as competing explanations for the direction of associations: the Transaction Model of Stress (TMS) and the Conservation of Resources (CoR) model. Because many emerging adults rely on continuing financial support from parents, we examined the role of parental support on these associations. We tested these associations using longitudinal structural equation modeling (SEM) with data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) (N=9,026) collected at two timepoints: early emerging adulthood (ages 18-26) and five years later. Consistent with CoR, financial stress reduced concurrent drinking. Furthermore, parental financial support reduced adult children's financial stress but increased drinking in early emerging adulthood. We discuss the findings in regards to facilitating the transition to adulthood.

Millennials and Their Parents: Implications of the New Young Adulthood for Midlife Adults

The period of young adulthood has transformed dramatically over the past few decades. Today, scholars refer to “emerging adulthood” and “transitions to adulthood” to describe adults in their 20s. Prolonged youth has brought concomitant prolonged parenthood. This article addresses 3 areas of change in parent/child ties, increased (a) contact between generations, (b) support from parents to grown children as well as coresidence and (c) affection between the generations. We apply the Multidimensional Intergenerational Support Model (MISM) to explain these changes, considering societal (e.g., economic, technological), cultural, family demographic (e.g., fertility, stepparenting), relationship, and psychological (normative beliefs, affection) factors. Several theoretical perspectives (e.g., life course theory, family systems theory) suggest that these changes may have implications for the midlife parents’ well-being. For example, parents may incur deleterious effects from (a) grown children’s problems or (b) their own normative beliefs that offspring should be independent. Parents may benefit via opportunities for generativity with young adult offspring. Furthermore, current patterns may affect future parental aging. As parents incur declines of late life, they may be able to turn to caregivers with whom they have intimate bonds. Alternately, parents may be less able to obtain such care due to demographic changes involving grown children raising their own children later or who have never fully launched. It is important to consider shifts in the nature of young adulthood to prepare for midlife parents’ future aging.

Coresident and Noncoresident Emerging Adults' Daily Experiences With Parents

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.

PARENTAL ASSISTANCE, NEGATIVE LIFE EVENTS, AND ATTAINMENT DURING THE TRANSITION TO ADULTHOOD

Responding to the longer and more variable transition to adulthood, parents are stepping in to help their young adult children. Little is known, however, about the extent to which parental support promotes success, and whether parental support has different effects for young adult sons and daughters. Using longitudinal data from the Youth Development Study, we find that parental scaffolding assistance for educational expenses predicts college graduation for both men and women. Negative life events experienced during the transition to adulthood are associated with lower earnings by the early 30s, although there is some variation by type of event. More frequent parental support during times of need does not predict long-term economic attainment for sons or daughters.

Unemployment, Parental Help, and Self-Efficacy During the Transition to Adulthood

Youth unemployment reduces the capacity to achieve diverse markers of adulthood, potentially undermining the young adult's sense of confidence and independence. While parents often come to the aid of their unemployed young adult children, such support may also have negative psychological repercussions. Applying a hierarchical modeling strategy to longitudinal data from the Youth Development Study, we find that both unemployment and parental financial support have negative consequences for youth's self-efficacy. These common experiences may thus diminish youth's personal psychological resources as they make the increasingly lengthy and precarious transition to adulthood.

Chronic Disease at Midlife: Do Parent-child Bonds Modify the Effect of Childhood SES?

Childhood socioeconomic status (SES) often is associated with physical health even decades later. However, parent-child emotional bonds during childhood may modify the importance of childhood SES to emergent health inequalities across the life course. Drawing on national data on middle-aged adults (1995 and 2005 National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States; MIDUS; Ns = 2,746 and 1,632), I find that compromised parent-child bonds eliminate the association between childhood SES and midlife disease. Longitudinal models of incident disease across one decade show that childhood abuse in particular continues to undermine the health protection associated with childhood SES. When childhood SES is moderate to high, compromised parent-child bonds lead to no predicted health benefits from childhood SES. In total, these findings direct attention to parent-child bonds as social-psychological levers for the transmission of class-based health advantages.

Parent-Child Relationships at the Transition to Adulthood: A Comparison of Black, Hispanic, and White Immigrant and Native-Born Youth

Parents play a key role in launching their children into adulthood. Differences in the resources they provide their children have implications for perpetuating patterns of family inequality. Using data on 6,962 young adults included in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, we examine differences in the support parents provide to young adult children by immigrant status and race/ethnicity and whether and how those differences are explained by parent resources and young adult resources and roles. Immigrant status and race/ethnicity are associated with patterns of support in complex ways. We find that racial/ethnic and immigrant disparities in perceptions of support, financial support, and receiving advice from parents about education or employment are explained by family socioeconomic resources. Group differences in whether young adults say they would turn to a parent for advice and coresidence persist after accounting for these factors, however. Young adult resources and roles also shape parental support of young adults in the transition to adulthood, but taking account of these characteristics does not explain immigrant and racial/ethnic group differences. Our findings highlight the need to consider both race/ethnicity and immigrant status to understand family relationships and sources of support.

Parental Involvement with College Students in Germany, Hong Kong, Korea, and the United States

Rates of college attendance have increased throughout the world. This study asked whether students across nations experience high involvement with parents (frequent contact and support) and how satisfied they are with parental involvement. College students from four major Western and Asian economies participated: Germany (n = 458), Hong Kong (n = 276), Korea (n = 257), and the United States (n = 310). Consistent with solidarity theory, students across nations reported frequent contact with parents and receiving several forms of social support (e.g., practical, emotional, and advice) every month. Multilevel models revealed Asian students received more frequent parental support than German or US students, but were less satisfied with that support. Students in Hong Kong resided with parents more often and gave more support to parents than students in other cultures. Discussion focuses on cultural (i.e., filial obligation) and structural (i.e., coresidence) factors explaining parental involvement.

"I'll Give You the World": Socioeconomic Differences in Parental Support of Adult Children

Research has shown that parents with higher socioeconomic status provide more resources to their children during childhood and adolescence. The authors asked whether similar effects associated with parental socioeconomic position are extended to adult children. Middle-aged parents (N = 633) from the Family Exchanges Study reported support they provided to their grown children and coresidence with grown children (N = 1,384). Parents with higher income provided more emotional and material support to the average children. Grown children of parents with less education were more likely to coreside with them. Parental resources (e.g., being married) and demands (e.g., family size) explained these patterns. Of interest is that lower income parents provided more total support to all children (except total financial support). Lower income families may experience a double jeopardy; each grown child receives less support on average, but parents exert greater efforts providing more total support to all their children.

"Pushed Out on My Own": The Impact of Hurricane Katrina in the Lives of Low-income Emerging Adults

Drawing on life-history interviews, this study explores the impact of Hurricane Katrina in the lives of 57 low-income, African American mothers who were 20-31 years old at the time of the storm. Hurricane Katrina massively disrupted the social networks upon which these mothers relied to facilitate life transitions and make ends meet. The literature would predict that the loss of these important supports would hinder the respondents' transition-to-adulthood experiences. To the contrary, those who relocated away from social ties were more likely than those who returned to report qualitative improvement across life domains. Relocators credited Hurricane Katrina with affording them structural opportunities that lead to a greater sense of independence, a fundamental component of adulthood. This work contributes to our theoretical understanding of the role of familial support during the transition to adulthood.

Capturing Between- and Within-Family Differences in Parental Support to Adult Children: A Typology Approach

OBJECTIVES

Families differ widely in the support they provide to adult offspring, both with regard to the overall level as well as the extent to which support is evenly distributed across offspring. This study addressed these dynamics by creating family profiles based on the average level and differentiation of support among children. We also examined demographic and psychological factors that predict typology membership.

METHOD

We utilized data from 431 middle-aged parents (aged 40-60) with at least two adult children. Parents provided separate ratings of support given to each child. Latent profile analysis was applied to two indicators of within-family support: mean level and differentiation among offspring.

RESULTS

Latent profile analysis identified four patterns of parental support: (a) high support-low differentiation (52%), (b) medium support-high differentiation (26%), (c) low support-low differentiation (17%), and (d) low support-very high differentiation (5%). These patterns reflected distinct family characteristics, such as parental resources, parental beliefs (i.e., equal treatment, obligation), and offspring characteristics.

DISCUSSION

Our findings emphasize the need to capture dynamics of support exchanges among multiple offspring at the level of family.

Intergenerational Support in a Daily Context

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

Using retrospective global reports, studies have found that middle-aged adults in the United States provide intermittent support to their aging parents and more frequent support to grown children. To date, studies have not examined support middle-aged adults provide to different generations on a daily basis. Daily support may include mundane everyday exchanges that may (or may not) affect well-being.

DESIGN AND METHODS

Middle-aged adults (N = 191, mean age 55.93) completed a general interview regarding family ties, followed by interviews each day for 7 days (N = 1,261 days). Daily interviews assessed support (e.g., advice, emotional, practical help) participants provided each grown child (n = 454) and aging parent (n = 253). Participants also reported daily mood.

RESULTS

Most participants provided emotional support (80%), advice (87%), and practical help (69%) to a grown child and also provided emotional support (61%) and advice (61%) or practical help (43%) to a parent that week. Multilevel models confirmed generational differences; grown children were more likely to receive everyday support than parents. Providing support to grown children was associated with positive mood, whereas providing support to parents was associated with more negative mood.

IMPLICATIONS

Daily intergenerational support was more common than studies using global reports of support have found. Some daily support may be fleeting and not stand out in memory. The findings were consistent with the intergenerational stake hypothesis, which suggests middle-aged adults are more invested in their grown children than in their parents. Nonetheless, middle-aged adults were highly involved with aging parents.

Solidarity in the Grandparent-Adult Grandchild Relationship and Trajectories of Depressive Symptoms

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

Grandparent-adult grandchild relationships are becoming longer and more common, and therefore potentially more influential in the lives of individuals. This study examined the influence of solidarity (i.e., affinity, contact, and functional exchange) in the grandparent-adult grandchild relationship upon the depressive symptoms of both members of the dyad.

DESIGN AND METHODS

The study used data from the Longitudinal Study of Generations, a survey of 3- and 4-generation U.S. families that included 7 waves of data collection between 1985 and 2004. The sample was comprised of 374 grandparents and 356 adult grandchildren. We analyzed the data using multilevel growth curve models.

RESULTS

For both grandparents and adult grandchildren, greater affinity reduced depressive symptoms and more frequent contact increased symptoms. For grandparents only, receiving functional support without also providing it increased depressive symptoms.

IMPLICATIONS

The average grandparent-adult grandchild relationship is a source of both support and strain to both generations. These relationships exhibit great diversity, however, with large amounts of variation between dyads and within a single dyad over time. We suggest how policy makers and practitioners can identify the relational contexts that best promote the well-being of members of both generations.