What should adult children do for elderly parents? Opinions and preferences of three generations of women.

Three generations of women (N = 403) were surveyed to discover their opinions about appropriate filial behavior toward elderly parents and their personal preferences among various providers of services that they might need in old age. Opinions were elicited by a vignette focused on what hypothetical adult children with differing situational characteristics should do to help meet the needs of their dependent widowed mother. Preferences were obtained from subjects' rankings of six potential providers (representing formal and informal support systems) for eight types of services. In the responses to the vignette, adjustment of family schedules and help with costs of professional health care were seen as appropriate for adult children, but adjustment of work schedules and sharing of households were not. For themselves, the women preferred adult children as providers of emotional support and financial management but not of income. The middle generation was least in favor of receiving financial support or instrumental help from children, preferring formal services for such assistance.

Women's changing roles and help to elderly parents: attitudes of three generations of women.

Data on the effects of women's changing roles on attitudes toward responsibility for care of elderly adults were gathered from three generations of women (N = 403). Elderly women, middle-generation daughters, and young-adult granddaughters were compared on responses to Likert-scaled attitude items relating to gender-appropriate roles and care of elderly persons (including filial responsibility and acceptability of formal and informal supports). Significant generational differences occurred on attitude items relating to sharing of child care, parent care, and household tasks by men and women, but majorities of all generations were in favor of such sharing. The oldest generation was most receptive (and the youngest the least receptive) to formal services for elderly persons, but all three generations agreed that old people should be able to depend on adult children for help. Values about family care of elderly adults have not eroded despite demographic and socioeconomic changes.