Relationship Quality with Parents: Implications for Own and Partner Well‐Being in Middle‐Aged Couples

Abstract

Relationships with parents have significant implications for well-being throughout the lifespan. At midlife, these ties are situated within both developmental and family contexts that often involve the adult offspring's spouse. Yet, it is not known how ties with aging parents are related to psychological well-being within middle-aged couples. This study examined how middle-aged wives' and husbands' views of the current quality of relationships with their own parents (positive and negative) are linked to their own and their partner's psychological well-being. Using a sample of 132 middle-aged couples from Wave 1 of the Family Exchanges Study, we estimated actor-partner interdependence models to evaluate these dyadic associations while controlling for each spouse's marital satisfaction. Both actor and partner effects were observed. With respect to actor effects, wives who reported more negative relationship quality with their own parents had elevated depressive symptoms and lower life satisfaction. Husbands who reported more negative relationship quality with their own parents had lower life satisfaction. In terms of partner effects, husbands had lower depressive symptoms and greater life satisfaction when wives reported more positive relationship quality with their own parents. Finally, the link between wives' positive ties with parents and husbands' lower depressive symptoms was intensified when husbands had less positive relationships with their own parents. Findings suggest that relationship quality with wives' aging parents has implications for both spouses' well-being and may serve as a critical social resource for husbands.

<p>Family Functioning and Life Satisfaction: The Mediatory Role of Emotional Intelligence</p>

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Family Loneliness: Its Effects in the Development of Empathy, Teamwork and Lifelong Learning Abilities in Medical Students

“…Several authors agree that, due to their intensity, relationships between parents and their offspring have an important impact in adult offspring's life course (Polenick et al, 2018). According to Fingerman (2001), the main reason is the complexity of these types of relationships: mostly long-standing and emotionally intense.…”

Factors Associated With Support Provided by Middle‐Aged Children to Their Parents

“…Relationship quality was measured using two items regarding how much the individual loves and cares for the other and how important the individual is to them (Birditt, Tighe, Fingerman, & Zarit, 2012;Umberson, 1992). This measure has been used in other studies to assess positive aspects of marital relationships (Polenick, DePasquale, Eggebeen, Zarit, & Fingerman, 2016;Polenick, Fredman, Birditt, & Zarit, 2018). Response options for each item ranged from not at all (1) to a great deal (5), and the mean score between the two items was used.…”