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We examined the link between types of intergenerational solidarity with grandparents among young adults in emerging adulthood and whether they provided instrumental and emotional support to their older parents in established adulthood. We used the 2000 and 2016 waves of the longitudinal study of generations and a sample of 229 grandmother–child and 175 grandfather–child dyads. Latent class analysis identified three classes describing intergenerational solidarity with grandparents ( tight-knit, detached, and intimate-but-geographically distant) in grandmother–child and grandfather–child dyads in emerging adulthood. Path analyses showed that young adults who had a tight-knit relationship with their grandparents in emerging adulthood provided more instrumental and emotional support to their parents in established adulthood, compared with those who had a detached relationship with their grandparents in emerging adulthood. Results are interpreted in contexts of multigenerational interdependence within families and the sensitivity of young adults to the needs of older parents through their earlier connection to grandparents.

IntroductionWe explored latent classes of helicopter parenting among Korean and Chinese college students. In addition, we examined whether these latent classes of helicopter parenting are related to Korean and Chinese students’ game and social media addictive behaviors.MethodsA three-step latent class analysis was conducted using 452 students from six universities in South Korea and 372 students from four universities in China.Results and discussionWe identified four distinct helicopter parenting latent classes among the parents of Korean and Chinese students: weak, strong, academic management, and academic and schedule management. We also found that Korean students in the strong class reported significantly higher levels of game and social media addictive behaviors than those in the other three classes, but this did not hold for Chinese students. This finding indicates that the association between helicopter parenting and college students’ game and social media addictive behaviors can be differentiated within Asian cultural contexts.

We incorporated intergenerational digital communication (frequency of texting, video call, and social media interaction) into the intergenerational solidarity paradigm and identified new types of intergenerational and digital solidarity with adult children among older parents during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, we examined whether those types are associated with older parents’ mental health (depressive symptoms, psychological well-being, and self-esteem). We used the 2021/2022 wave of the Longitudinal Study of Generations (LSOG), and a sample of 519 older parents (mean age = 69 years). Latent class analysis identified four classes describing intergenerational and digital solidarity with adult children (distant-but-digitally connected, tight-knit-traditional, detached, and ambivalent). We found that older parents who had distant-but-digitally connected and tight-knit-traditional relationships with their adult children reported better mental health, compared to those who had detached and ambivalent relationships with their adult children during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings suggest that intergenerational digital communication should be considered as a digital solidarity in intergenerational solidarity paradigm, which is useful for measuring multidimension of intergenerational relationships within family members during and after the pandemic.

ObjectiveThe goal of this study is to uncover latent classes of maternal and paternal helicopter parenting among American and Chinese college students, and to examine whether latent classes of maternal and paternal helicopter parenting are related to college students’ mental health (depression and self‐esteem).BackgroundPrevious studies have examined the association between helicopter parenting and college students’ well‐being. However, less is known about how the multidimensional construct of helicopter parenting is related to college students’ mental health across Western and Eastern cultural contexts.MethodWe conducted three‐step latent class analyses using nine helicopter parenting indicators for 1,386 mother–child and 1,214 father–child groups in the United States and 520 mother–child and 454 father–child groups in China. Next, we tested the association between the class membership of maternal and paternal helicopter parenting and college students’ mental health.ResultsWe identified distinct helicopter parenting latent classes among four American and Chinese parent–child groups. We also found that American college students in the strong maternal helicopter parenting latent class reported poorer mental health than those in other latent classes.ConclusionOur findings indicate that the multidimensional construct of helicopter parenting can be interpreted differently by parents and college‐aged children according to their social and cultural contexts.ImplicationsThe findings of this study suggest that it is necessary to strengthen understanding of the multidimensional construct of helicopter parenting for parents with college‐aged children to enable them to develop more appropriate parenting practices as well as support their children's well‐being.