Parent Adult-Child Relations: Within Family Differences

描述（由申请人提供）：拟议研究的目标是调查家庭内的父母与子女的关系在以后的生活中的差异，以及这些差异对父母和他们的孩子的后果。在2001年，我们发起了第一个大规模的研究家庭内的父母与成年子女的关系的差异：家庭内差异研究（WFDS-I）。数据收集自566位65-75岁的母亲，773位成年子女和130位丈夫。从母亲和父亲那里收集了关于父母与每个成年子女关系的信息;在300个家庭中，从两代人的成员那里收集了数据。WFDS-I显示，大多数父母在他们的成年子女之间存在差异，这些模式可以通过社会结构和价值观相似性、代际交换和发展因素来预测。WFDS-I非常适合研究晚年家庭内分化的模式;然而，其横截面设计不允许检查分化随时间的变化或这种分化的后果。在本申请中，我们建议进行第二波数据收集，其中父母和成年子女将在他们参加原始研究后约五年接受采访。这个设计将使我们能够解决三个具体目标：1）检查在父母和孩子的生活中的事件，随着时间的推移，父母和孩子的关系的家庭内差异的模式变化的方式。2)研究成年子女向养育的过渡，包括预测为什么一些儿童承担更大的养育责任的因素，以及父母和儿童的结果如何受到儿童成为照顾者的影响。3)了解儿童问题对父母幸福的影响，以及这种关系如何受到家庭内部在此类问题的发生和特点方面的差异的调节。黑人家庭的过度抽样允许在整个分析过程中考虑种族因素。拟议的项目显然与公共卫生问题有关。这项研究将提供有关家庭关系作为晚年身心健康预测因素的新数据。此外，它将使人们对成年子女向老年人提供护理的性质和动态有新的认识;这一信息可能有助于制定和完善干预措施，以帮助护理者和被护理者。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goal of the proposed study is to investigate within-family differences in parent-child relations in later life, and the consequences of these differences for parents and their children. In 2001, we initiated the first large- scale study of within-family differences in parent-adult child relations: The Within-Family Differences Study (WFDS-I). Data were collected from 566 mothers ages 65-75, 773 of their adult children, and 130 of their husbands. Information about parents' relationships with each of their adult children was collected from mothers and fathers; in 300 families, data were collected from members of both generations. The WFDS-I revealed that most parents differentiate among their adult children, and that these patterns can be predicted by social structural and value similarity, intergenerational exchange, and developmental factors. The WFDS-I Was ideally suited to investigate patterns of within-family differentiation in later life; however its cross- sectional design did not allow examination of changes across time in differentiation or the consequences of such differentiation. In this application, we propose conducting a second wave of data collection, in which parents and adult children will be interviewed approximately five years after they participated in the original study. This design will allow us to address three specific aims: 1) Examining the ways in which patterns of within-family differences in parent-child relations change across time in response to events in parents' and children's lives. 2) Studying the transition to caregiving among adult children, including factors that predict why some children assume greater caregiving responsibilities, and how outcomes for both parents and children are affected by which children become caregivers. 3) Understanding of the effects of children's problems on parents' well-being and how this relationship is moderated by within-family differences in both the occurrence and characteristics of such problems. An oversample of Black families allows for consideration of race throughout the analyses. The proposed project has clear relevance to public health issues. The study will provide new data regarding the role of family relationships as predictors of physical and mental health in later life. Further, it will shed new light on the nature and dynamics of the provision of care to older persons by adult children; this information is likely to be useful in developing and refining interventions to assist both caregivers and care recipients.