Digital Contact as Strain or Support: How Does Type of Contact Shape the Association between Mother-child Interactions and Adult Children's Depressive Symptoms in Later-life Families?

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: This paper aims to extend research on the association between mother-child contact and adult children's psychological well-being in later-life families by differentiating between in-person, virtual, and written digital contact, examining the moderating role of children's gender, and exploring the processes that underlie these associations. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Mixed-methods data were collected from 250 adult children nested within 131 families as part of the third wave of the Within-Family Differences Study. On average, adult children were 59 and mothers were 88 years of age. RESULTS: Multilevel analyses revealed that interacting with mothers through written digital media was associated with higher depressive symptoms among adult children, whereas mother-child in-person and virtual digital contact was not associated with children's depressive symptoms. When stratifying the sample by children's gender, we found that mother-child written digital contact was associated with higher depressive symptoms among daughters, but not sons. Qualitative analyses suggested that adult daughters' psychological well-being was negatively associated with written digital contact with their mothers because this medium of interaction typically fell short of daughters' expectations for emotionally enriching exchanges. DISCUSSION: This study revealed differences in how virtual and written digital contact are associated with psychological well-being among adult daughters, but not sons, suggesting that it is important to consider type of contact, gender of interactants, and content of exchanges when studying the associations between digital communication and relational and psychological well-being and designing intervention programs and digital communication technologies.

Differential Costs of Raising Grandchildren on Older Mother-Adult Child Relations in Black and White Families.

Drawing from theories of affect, role strain and stress processes, we studied the impact of raising grandchildren on older mothers' relationships with the adult offspring whose children they raised, with particular attention to how these patterns differ by race and ethnicity. We used mixed-methods data collected from 531 older mothers regarding their relationships with 1935 of their adult children as part of the Within-Family Differences Study. Multilevel regression analyses showed that raising grandchildren was associated with greater mother-adult child closeness in Black families; however, in White families, raising grandchildren was associated with greater mother-adult child conflict. Qualitative analyses revealed that these differences could be explained by the tendency of Black grandmothers to emphasize positive aspects of raising grandchildren, compared to White grandmothers, who viewed raising grandchildren as demanding and who described their exchanges with their adult children as unequal. Overall, our findings reflect racial and ethnic differences in intergenerational solidarity.

Dyadic Ambivalence in Couples Managing Early-Stage Alzheimer's Disease: Linking Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia to Life Satisfaction.

OBJECTIVES: Caring for a spouse with Alzheimer's disease (AD) can elicit considerable distress but there are also positive moments. A growing body of work has examined caregivers' ambivalence in the care relationship and linked it to negative caregiver outcomes such as depression, but dyadic assessments of both parties' perspectives are missing. We examined ambivalence in both people with AD and their spousal caregivers, seeking to identify the correlates and well-being outcomes of such ambivalence in this unique context. METHODS: Participants included 72 couples managing early-stage AD. People with AD and spousal caregivers independently self-reported positive and negative relationship qualities (used to indirectly calculate their ambivalence) and life satisfaction. Caregivers reported both partners' demographic characteristics and their spouses' behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD), focusing on memory-related behaviors and psychological symptoms. RESULTS: Path analyses revealed that the number and frequency of psychological symptoms in people with AD were positively associated with their own and caregivers' ambivalence. Caregivers' distress ratings of memory-related behaviors and psychological symptoms were positively associated with their ambivalence. Greater ambivalence was associated with lower life satisfaction in both spouses. BPSD directly affected both spouses' life satisfaction but there were also indirect effects via ambivalence. DISCUSSION: This study utilizes a dyadic approach to assess ambivalence in dementia care. Findings reveal the conflicting emotions that couples experience as they cope with early-stage AD, identify sources of such ambivalence, and shed light on the development of dyadic interventions that can promote positive outcomes in both partners.

How Gender Shapes Sibling Tension in Adulthood Following Parental Death.

Objective: This study investigates gender differences in the effect of parents' deaths on sibling tension among bereaved adult children. Background: Previous scholarship on adult sibling relations following the deaths of parents presents inconsistent results. These disparate findings may stem from past studies not taking into consideration the gender of both the deceased parent and the bereaved child. Method: Analyses are based on three harmonized waves of quantitative and qualitative data collected from 654 adult children nested within 303 families as part of the Within-Family Differences Study. Results: Multilevel models revealed that for daughters, but not sons, mothers' deaths in the past five years were associated with increases in sibling tension, whereas fathers' deaths did not predict changes in either sons' or daughters' sibling tension, regardless of timing. Qualitative analyses showed marked differences by child's gender in perceptions of patterns of shared work and support surrounding parents' deaths. Typically, sons expressed solidarity with siblings when mothers died and felt that the division of caregiving prior to mothers' deaths and arrangements following their deaths were fair. In contrast, daughters expressed increased solidarity with sisters surrounding mothers' deaths and disdain toward brothers who failed to contribute caregiving, support, or instrumental tasks. Conclusion: These findings underscore how gender of both parents and adult children differentially shape changes in adult children's relationships with their siblings in the face parental deaths, much as they do in other contexts across the life course.

Worrying Across the Generations: The Impact of Adult Grandchildren's Problems on Grandparents' Well-Being.

OBJECTIVES: The intergenerational stake hypothesis and theories of the life course posit that older generations are invested in the well-being of younger generations. Consistent with this, previous research has shown that adult children's problems are associated with worse parental well-being. Because multigenerational ties have become increasingly important in the 21st century, we propose that adult grandchildren's problems may also impact grandparents' well-being. In this paper, we test this hypothesis and investigate the moderating effects of grandparents' race and maternal/paternal status. METHODS: The analytic sample includes 206 grandparents aged 65-95 who participated in the second wave of the Family Exchanges Study. Adult grandchildren's problems were operationalized as the proportions of adult grandchildren who experienced (1) physical-emotional problems and (2) lifestyle-behavioral problems. RESULTS: Main effects multilevel analyses suggested that adult grandchildren's problems did not predict grandparents' well-being. However, moderation analyses revealed that the association between grandparents' depressive symptoms and adult grandchildren's physical-emotional problems was larger among Black than White grandparents, and maternal than paternal grandparents. Adult grandchildren's lifestyle-behavioral problems did not predict grandparents' depression, and these effects were not conditioned by race or maternal/paternal status. DISCUSSION: These findings expand research on the importance of grandparent-adult grandchild relationships and contribute to research on multigenerational relationships and health by considering how problems experienced by members of younger generations affect the psychological well-being of older adults.

The influence of sibling relationship quality on emotional distress from adolescence to early midlife.

This study examines continuity and change in sibling relationship quality (warmth and hostility) from adolescence to adulthood, as well as how changes in sibling relationship quality across developmental stages are associated with early midlife emotional distress. Data come from the Family Transitions Project, a two-decade longitudinal study of youth and their families followed from adolescence to adulthood. The present study included target adolescent self-report data on warmth and hostility toward and received from their sibling over ten data points from ages 15 to 31. Target to sibling warmth decreased from ages 23 to 31, whereas sibling to target warmth increased in emerging adulthood and then decreased into adulthood. Both sibling to target and target to sibling hostility decreased in adolescence and emerging adulthood and then remained low and stable from emerging adulthood to adulthood. Target to sibling warmth at age 23 predicted lower levels of anxiety at age 41. Sibling to target warmth at age 23 also predicted lower levels of depressive symptoms. Target to sibling hostility at age 23 predicted anxiety and hostility in middle adulthood, whereas sibling to target hostility at age 23 predicted anxiety, depressive symptoms, and hostility. In addition, a slower decline in sibling to target hostility from ages 15 to 19 was associated with higher levels of anxiety at age 41. This study is one of the first to examine the quality of sibling relationships across developmental stages and exemplifies how relationship quality between siblings from adolescence to young adulthood can influence emotional distress into early midlife. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

A Coordinated Data Analysis of Four Studies Exploring Age Differences in Social Interactions and Loneliness During a Global Pandemic.

OBJECTIVES: Examining loneliness and social isolation during population-wide historical events may shed light on important theoretical questions about age differences, including whether these differences hold across different regions and the time course of the unfolding event. We used a systematic, preregistered approach of coordinated data analysis (CDA) of 4 studies (total N = 1,307; total observations = 18,492) that varied in design (intensive repeated-measures and cross-sectional), region, timing, and timescale during the first year of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. METHODS: We harmonized our data sets to a common period within 2020-2021 and created a common set of variables. We used a combination of ordinary least squares regression and multilevel modeling to address the extent to which there was within- and between-person variation in the associations between social isolation and loneliness, and whether these associations varied as a function of age. RESULTS: Within- and between-person effects of social interactions were negatively associated with loneliness in 1 study; in follow-up sensitivity analyses, these patterns held across early and later pandemic periods. Across all data sets, there was no evidence of age differences in the within-person or between-person associations of social interactions and loneliness. DISCUSSION: Applying the CDA methodological framework allowed us to detect common and divergent patterns of social interactions and loneliness across samples, ages, regions, periods, and study designs.

Intergenerational Transmission of Relationship Quality in Later-Life Families.

Objective: This article examines the transmission of older women's relationship quality with their mothers and fathers to their relationship quality with their own adult children in midlife. We also investigate how the transmission is moderated by the dimension of relationship quality (closeness vs. strain) and the gender of both the older women's parents and their adult children. Background: Prior research has primarily examined parents' transmission of relationship quality to young children with little attention to whether and when this pattern occurs in later-life families. Method: We conducted multilevel analyses using data collected from 249 older women and 643 of their adult children as part of the Within-Family Differences Study-I. Results: We found evidence for transmission of older women's reported closeness and tension with their mothers and fathers to their reported closeness and tension with their adult children. Adult children's reports also revealed that older women's closeness with their own mothers was transmitted to their adult children's reported closeness with the older women themselves. Mother-child closeness was transmitted more strongly than mother-child tension, and mother-child closeness was transmitted more strongly to daughters than sons, based on adult children's reports. Conclusion: This study demonstrates the continuity of intergenerational influence in later-life families and highlights the essential roles that selective social learning and social structural position (i.e., gender) play in conditioning the socialization process.

How Do Own and Siblings' Genders Shape Caregivers' Risk of Perceiving Care-Related Criticism From Siblings?

OBJECTIVES: Caring for a parent takes a greater psychological toll on daughters than sons. To minimize the psychological burden of parent care, it is important to understand what contributes to this gender disparity. Inspired by the caregiver stress process model and gender-as-relational perspective, we investigate how caregivers' gender, and the genders of their siblings, shape their risk of perceiving care-related criticism from siblings, a secondary stressor of caregiving with negative implications for psychological well-being. METHODS: Using data from 408 adult child caregivers nested within 231 families collected as part of the Within-Family Differences Study, we employ multilevel modeling to examine how caregivers' gender, as well as the gender composition of their sibship, interact to shape caregivers' probability of perceiving criticism from siblings regarding the care that they provide their mother. Qualitative data from the same caregivers are then analyzed to illuminate processes underlying these statistical associations. RESULTS: Quantitative analyses reveal that daughters in predominantly-son sibships have a lower risk of perceiving care-related criticism than daughters in sibships with higher proportions of daughters. Qualitative analyses elucidate these findings. Daughters in predominantly-son sibships report that their siblings defer to them regarding their mother's care. Conversely, daughters in higher proportion-daughter sibships perceive care-related criticism because they and their sibling(s) hold conflicting views regarding care, and there is less consensus regarding who best understands their mother's care needs and preferences. DISCUSSION: Findings demonstrate how characteristics of caregivers and their sibships interact to affect caregivers' risk of perceiving criticism regarding their care to their mothers.

Adult Children's Education and Mothers' Psychological Well-Being: Do Adult Children's Problems Mediate This Relationship?

OBJECTIVES: A growing body of literature documents a positive association between adult children's education and older parents' health, and existing studies have identified social support, social influence, and material transfers as factors linking adult children's education and various dimensions of older parents' health. The present study joins this literature by assessing adult children's problems as mechanisms that may underlie disparities in psychological well-being between mothers whose adult children have completed higher and lower levels of education. METHODS: Using 2 waves of longitudinal data collected in 2001-2003 and 2008-2011 from 400 mothers aged 73-85 years at the second wave as part of the Within-Family Differences Study, we examine the role of adult children's problems in mediating the association between adult children's education and mothers' depressive symptoms. RESULTS: Mothers with children who completed post-high school education reported fewer depressive symptoms than mothers whose children all completed high school or less. We found evidence that this relationship was mediated by the proportion of adult children who have experienced physical and emotional problems in the last 5 years. DISCUSSION: This study underscores the importance of considering how resources and risks that affect well-being accumulate both across the life course and across generations. Providing education opportunities to younger generations and enhancing programs that address challenges that low-attaining children may face have the potential to help minimize socioeconomic disparities in psychological well-being among older adults.

Patterns and Processes of Intergenerational Estrangement: A Qualitative Study of Mother-Adult Child Relationships Across Time.

Drawing from the life course perspective, we explored patterns of estrangement between mothers and their adult children across time, and the processes through which these ties remained estranged, or moved in or out of estrangement. We used a prospective design in which data were collected in face-to-face semi-structured interviews with 61 older mothers about their relationships with their 274 adult children at two time points 7 years apart. We began by examining the patterns of stability and change in intergenerational estrangement and identified movement in and out of estrangement across time. Qualitative analyses of the processes underlying estrangement revealed that movement in and out of estrangement reflected nuanced changes in contact and closeness over time rather than abrupt changes resulting from recent transitions in either mothers' or children's lives. Taken together, these findings illustrate the complexity of patterns and processes of intergenerational estrangement in later-life families.

Mothers' Functional Limitations and Relationship Quality With Adult Children: Exploring the Moderating Roles of Race and Gender.

Theory and research on intergenerational relations emphasize the salient role that mothers and their adult children play in one another's lives. However, little is known about how mothers' health may shape mother-child relationship quality in later-life. We utilized data from the Within Family Differences Study to explore how mothers' functional limitations affect multiple dimensions of mother-child relationship quality, as reported by mothers and their offspring, with particular emphasis on whether race, child's gender, or generational position moderated these associations. Although mothers' reports of relationship quality were not predicted by their functional limitations, adult children reported higher ambivalence when they perceived their mothers had limitations. Further, adult children in White families reported higher ambivalence when mothers had limitations than did those in Black families. This study highlights the importance of considering the roles of structural factors in shaping the conditions under which health limitations affect mother-child ties.

Prodigal Children: Why Older Mothers Favor Their Once-Deviant Adult Children.

OBJECTIVES: Past research suggests that adult children who reform their deviant behaviors (i.e., problems with drugs/alcohol or the law) are more likely to become favored by their mothers, yet the reasons underlying this phenomenon are unclear. This study employs a longitudinal, qualitative approach to explore why adult children's behavioral reforms shape changes in maternal favoritism. METHOD: Analyses are based on qualitative interview data collected at 2 points 7 years apart from older mothers regarding their adult children in 20 families. Each of these families had a "prodigal child"-a child for whom desistance from deviant behaviors between the 2 waves was accompanied by newfound maternal favoritism. RESULTS: Findings revealed 2 conditions under which mothers came to favor reformed deviants over their siblings. First, this occurred when adult children's behavioral reformations were accompanied by mothers' perceptions of these children as having grown more family-oriented. Second, this occurred when mothers came to see reformed deviants as exhibiting a stronger need and appreciation for maternal support, relative to their siblings. DISCUSSION: Mothers' perceptions of children's behavioral reformations as being accompanied by greater dedication to family or reflecting a need for their mothers' support offer 2 explanations for why previously deviant adult children may become mothers' favored offspring. These findings contribute to a growing body of scholarship on the complexity of intergenerational relations by shedding new light on changing patterns of favoritism in families with a history of parental disappointment, conflict, and strain.

How Widowhood and Gender Shape the Impact of Maternal Favoritism on Adult Children's Psychological Well-Being.

OBJECTIVES: Our goal was to extend research on within-family differences in mother-child relations in later life by focusing on 2 social structural characteristics of mothers and offspring that may play important roles in shaping the impact of maternal favoritism on adult children's depressive symptoms-mother's marital status and child's gender. METHODS: Mixed-methods data were collected as part of the Within-Family Differences Study from 641 adult children nested within 273 families in which: (a) there were at least 2 living adult siblings, and (b) mothers were married or widowed. RESULTS: Multilevel analyses indicated that perceiving oneself as the child to whom one's mother was most emotionally close was a strong predictor of higher depressive symptoms among daughters of widowed mothers; in contrast, perceptions of favoritism did not predict depressive symptoms among sons of either widowed or married mothers, or daughters of married mothers. Qualitative analyses revealed that daughters, but not sons, of widowed mothers tended to attribute their greater closeness with their mothers to their roles as their mothers' "emotional caregivers," particularly solo caregivers, during times when mothers faced negative life events that neither they nor their children could control or ameliorate. DISCUSSION: The quantitative and qualitative findings we present underscore how social structural positions-in this case, mother's marital status and child's gender-combine with social psychological processes to shape how parent-child relations affect children's well-being in adulthood.

Maternal Differential Treatment and Psychological Well-Being: The Mediating Role of Marital Tension and Sibling Tension?

OBJECTIVES: Past research used equity theory and social comparison theory to explain the direct effect of maternal differential treatment (MDT) on psychological well-being. However, this focus on psychological pathways ignores possible social pathways, such as indirect effects of MDT on well-being through disrupting other family relationships. This study uses stress proliferation theory to argue that MDT, as a primary stressor in mother-child relationships, can produce secondary stressors in other family relationships (e.g., sibling tension and marital tension), which in turn leads to lower psychological well-being. METHODS: To investigate this mechanism, we conducted multilevel mediation analysis using data collected from 720 adult children nested within 308 families, as part of the Within-Family Differences Study. RESULTS: We found that sibling tension mediates the association between adult children's perceptions of maternal disfavoritism and their psychological well-being-a process we call the stress proliferation of maternal disfavoritism. In contrast, adult children's perceptions of maternal favoritism cannot trigger this stress proliferation process of producing marital tension nor sibling tension. DISCUSSION: The evaluation of the stress proliferation process of maternal favoritism and disfavoritism can help us to understand the difference in effects across various dimensions of MDT. This study contributes to the literature on social relationships as social determinants of health by investigating how intergenerational relationships are connected to other family relationships to affect family members' health.

The Caregiver Identity in Context: Consequences of Identity Threat From Siblings.

OBJECTIVES: Although siblings represent central members of the networks of caregivers and their parents, there has been limited attention to how siblings affect one another's well-being during caregiving. In this article, we draw from theories of identity and stress to examine the impact that siblings have on caregivers' psychological well-being. Specifically, we employ a mixed-methods approach to explore whether caregivers' perceptions that their siblings are critical of the care they provide their mother are associated with higher depressive symptoms and the mechanisms underlying this association. METHODS: Using quantitative data collected from 404 caregivers nested within 231 families as part of the Within-Family Differences Study, we conduct mediation analyses to examine whether perceived sibling criticisms are associated with caregivers' depressive symptoms (a) directly and/or (b) indirectly through sibling tension. We then analyze qualitative data collected from the same caregivers to gain insight into the processes underlying statistical associations. RESULTS: Quantitative analyses revealed that there was no direct relationship between perceived sibling criticisms and depressive symptoms; there was, however, an indirect relationship such that perceived sibling criticisms were associated with greater sibling tension, which in turn was associated with higher depressive symptoms. These quantitative findings were corroborated by qualitative analyses, which demonstrated that, in an effort to mitigate the negative impact of sibling criticisms, caregivers often employed strategies that may have fueled sibling tension. DISCUSSION: These findings demonstrate how identity processes, as well as the family networks in which caregiving takes place, shape the experiences and consequences of parent care.

Roles of egos' and siblings' perceptions of maternal favoritism in adult children's depressive symptoms: A within-family network approach.

It is well documented that intergenerational ties play important roles in adults' well-being. However, most studies focus on the impact of individuals' own perceptions of their ties without considering whether family members' assessments of these ties affect well-being. We address this question using data from 296 adult children nested within 95 later-life families in which all offspring were interviewed. Applying a mixed-method within-family approach, we explored whether the effect of perceived maternal favoritism on depressive symptoms was increased when siblings shared ego's perceptions. Multilevel regression analyses revealed that ego's own perceptions predicted depressive symptoms, but only among daughters. Siblings' perceptions that egos were most close to mothers did not affect the well-being of daughters or sons. Qualitative analyses suggested that differential effects of perceived favoritism by gender reflected differences in the meaning sons and daughters associated with being favored children. Favored daughters were more likely than favored sons to report that they were emotional caregivers to their mothers; this pattern was especially strong when siblings reinforced egos' perceptions of being "best suited" for this role. These findings emphasize the salience of egos' own perceptions, relative to those of family network members, in shaping role embracement and psychological well-being, especially among women.

Multigenerational social support in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Research documents high levels of instrumental, financial, and expressive support exchanges within multigenerational families in the 21st century. The COVID-19 pandemic poses unique challenges to support exchanges between the generations; however, the pandemic may provide opportunities for greater solidarity within families. In this review, we draw from theoretical perspectives that have been used to study family relationships to understand the implications of the pandemic for multigenerational families: the life course perspective, the intergenerational solidarity model, and rational choice/social exchange theory. We review literature on multigenerational relationships in the United States and discuss how established social support patterns and processes may be altered by the COVID-19 pandemic. We reflect on how the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on multigenerational relationships may vary by gender, race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. Finally, we provide directions for future researchers to pursue in order to understand the lasting impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on multigenerational ties.

The Impact of Distal Influences and Proximal Resources on the Mental Health of African American Older Adults: Findings From the Georgia Centenarian Study.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Over the years, a large amount of research has been devoted to the investigation of factors that led to mental health outcomes in older adults. For African American older adults, their lived experiences place them at high risk for mental health problems. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of early life influences (i.e., education, childhood life events, and childhood financial well-being) and present psychosocial resources (i.e., individual, financial, and social) on current mental health outcomes in a sample of African American older adults in their 60s, 80s, and 100s. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Using data from the Georgia Centenarian Study, 125 participants were interviewed about their mental health, resources, and early life influences. RESULTS: A structural equation model was tested and resulted in a good fit. Results indicated that the more social resources African American older adults had available, the lower the number of depressive symptoms they reported. African Americans with higher levels of financial well-being during childhood reported higher self-rated mental health. Older adults had higher levels of financial resources. Level of education showed a positive relationship with financial resources. Indirect effects of distal influences on health outcomes via current resources were not found. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS: The findings are of direct practical relevance and can be used to more readily identify older African Americans who may be susceptible to poorer mental health outcomes based upon the impact of their unique distal and proximal psychosocial resources.

Sibling relationships in older adulthood: Links with loneliness and well-being.

Researchers have documented associations between family relationships and a variety of well-being outcomes. Yet, sibling relationships, the longest lasting relationships in most people's lives, have received very little research attention beyond young adulthood. The goals of the current study were to: provide descriptive information about sibling relationships in later adulthood, investigate predictors of individual differences in sibling relationship quality, and examine associations among sibling relationship quality, loneliness, and well-being in later adulthood. The sample included 608 older adults (329 men, 279 women) who were 64.6 years old (SD = 4.58) on average. Participants provided self-report data about their relationships and well-being. Results showed that older adults reported high levels of sibling warmth and low levels of sibling conflict and parental favoritism. Sister-sister pairs had warmer sibling relationships than other gender-compositions. Sibling conflict and parental favoritism were positively associated with symptoms of depression, anxiety, hostility, and loneliness. Sibling warmth was negatively associated with loneliness. Loneliness partially mediated the associations between sibling relationship quality and well-being. Results from this study highlight the importance of sibling relationships in older adults' health and well-being. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).