Gender and family structures affecting intergenerational support from adult children to older parents: A cross-national study in a developing country

Herrera, M. Soledad; Fernández, M. Beatriz

doi:10.1080/08952841.2022.2044709

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 80 publications

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“…Later in life, adult children’s support becomes even more instrumental in ensuring parents’ healthy aging (Evandrou et al, 2018; National Institute of Aging, 2011). Therefore, it is important that we understand the support processes between adult children and their aging parents (Evandrou et al, 2018; Herrera & Fernández, 2022). There is, however, a critical component of the support process that has been largely ignored in both the aging literature (Romano et al, 2021) and the support literature more generally (Forest et al, 2021).…”

Section: Adult Children Supporting Aging Parentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Older adults’ support seeking from their adult children: The Support-Seeking Strategy Scale.

Marshall¹,

Karantzas²,

Romano³

et al. 2023

Journal of Family Psychology

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Due to the unavailability of assessment tools focused on support recipients, the aged-care literature has not been able to document the support seeking that occurs within familial support contexts. Therefore, we developed and validated a Support-Seeking Strategy Scale in a large sample of aging parents receiving care from their adult children. A pool of items was developed by an expert panel and administered to 389 older adults (over 60 years of age), all of whom were receiving support from an adult child. Participants were recruited on Amazon mTurk and Prolific. The online survey included self-report measures assessing parents' perceptions of support received from their adult children. The Support-Seeking Strategies Scale was best represented by 12 items across three factors-one factor representing the directness with which support is sought (direct) and two factors regarding the intensity with which support is sought (hyperactivated and deactivated). Direct support seeking was associated with more positive perceptions of received support from an adult child, whereas hyperactivated and deactivated support seeking were associated with more negative perceptions of received support. Older parents use three distinct support-seeking strategies: direct, hyperactivated, and deactivated with their adult child. The results suggest that direct seeking of support is a more adaptive strategy, whereas persistent and intense seeking of support (i.e., hyperactivated support seeking) or suppressing the need for support (i.e., deactivated support seeking) are more maladaptive strategies. Future research using this scale will help us better understand support seeking within the familial aged-care context and beyond.

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Section: Adult Children Supporting Aging Parentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Older adults’ support seeking from their adult children: The Support-Seeking Strategy Scale.

Marshall¹,

Karantzas²,

Romano³

et al. 2023

Journal of Family Psychology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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Support for Older Parents in Need in Europe: The Role of the Social Network and of Individual and Relational Characteristics

Cohen

Shiovitz-Ezra

Erlich

2023

Innovation in Aging

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Background and Objectives Adult children form the backbone of informal care for older parents. To date, limited attention has been paid to the complex mechanism of providing support to older parents. The present study investigated mezzo- and micro-level correlates of provision of support to older parents. The focus was on the child-parent relationship in childhood and in the present. Research Design and Methods Data were derived from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). The analytic sample comprised respondents who participated in SHARE waves 6-8, and reported having an unhealthy mother (N=1,554) or father (N=478). We used hierarchical logistic regression to address three models including individual resources, child-parent characteristics, and social resources. We conducted separate analyses for mothers and fathers. Results Providing support to a parent depended primarily on personal resources followed by the quality of the relationship with the parent. A larger social network of the care provider was also related to increased likelihood of providing support. Support to a mother was associated with positive evaluations of the relationship with her in the present and in childhood. At the same time, negative evaluations of the relationship with the father in childhood were negatively related to providing support to him. Discussion and Implications The findings point to a multidimensional mechanism, in which the adult children’s resources are a prominent factor in shaping caregiving behaviors toward their parents. Clinical efforts should focus on adult children’s social resources and the quality of the child-parent relationship.

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Gender and family structures affecting intergenerational support from adult children to older parents: A cross-national study in a developing country

Cited by 2 publications

References 80 publications

Older adults’ support seeking from their adult children: The Support-Seeking Strategy Scale.

Older adults’ support seeking from their adult children: The Support-Seeking Strategy Scale.

Support for Older Parents in Need in Europe: The Role of the Social Network and of Individual and Relational Characteristics

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