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ࡗ Ambivalence in the Relationship of Adult Children to Aging Parents and In-LawsThe concept of ambivalence emphasizes the complexity of family relations and the potential for individuals to evaluate relationships as both positive and negative. Using multilevel models, we investigate ambivalence in adult children's relationships with their aging parents and in-laws (N ϭ 1,599). We focus on factors predicting adult children's ambivalence toward parents and inlaws within a gendered kinship structure that shapes these relations. We conclude that ambivalence is a useful concept for representing the complexity of parent-child relationships and is produced within the context of social relations structured by gender and kinship. Results show greater ambivalence among dyads of women, toward in-laws, among those in poor health, for daughters providing assistance, and for adult children with poor parental relations in early life.Understanding intergenerational relations and assistance across the later years has become increasingly important in conjunction with population aging and a lengthening life span. There is a tradition of sociological research that examines relationship quality among multiple generations of family members (

In this study, the authors use longitudinal data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and growth curve models to examine the utility of the concept of cumulative disadvantage as an explanation for race differences in life-course health (self-rated) in the United States. The authors ask whether socioeconomic resources equally benefit the health of Blacks and Whites, or if Whites receive higher rates of return to resources across the life course. The authors find that the relationship differs depending on the indicator of socioeconomic status that is examined. Education does not offer the same advantages for the health of Blacks as it does for Whites, particularly at higher levels of education, and this is compounded with age. In contrast, returns to income and wealth are similar for Blacks and Whites, and these resources remain equally important to protecting the health of Blacks and Whites across the life course. Over time, Blacks are at an increasing health disadvantage relative to Whites, a result that is not attenuated by educational attainment.

Over the course of several decades, prominent sociologists have examined the centrality of ambivalence in human relationships and social institutions (Coser 1966;Merton and Barber 1963;Smelser 1998). Merton and Barber (1963) noted that it is a key component of social statuses, roles, and institutions. More recently, Smelser (1998) argued that the idea of ambivalence is critical to understanding phenomena ranging from social organizations and movements to love and reactions to death. Social phenomena often are experienced as simultaneously positive and negative; in other words, they generate ambivalent sentiments.Recent scholarly exchange has focused on the relevance and utility of ambivalence for addressing the complexity of social relations. This exchange has generated greater interest in the concept and its application (Bengtson et al. 2002;Connidis andMcMullin 2002a, 2002b;Curran 2002;Lüscher 2002). The concept has intuitive appeal, particularly for intimate relations in families, but sociological studies have been challenged by the demanding theoretical and empirical tasks of assessing ambivalent sentiments.In this study we investigate the concept of ambivalence through an empirical analysis of mother-adult child relations. We examine these relations from both members' perspectives to identify factors that increase ambivalent feelings. Ambivalence arises from the interdependent nature of intimate relationships; thus it is essential to study people within the context of their relationships, and to incorporate the perspectives of both mem-

In this analysis we used data from the Health and Retirement Study to examine how couples organize transfers of assistance to aging parents and whether the flow of assistance is structured by family lineage. We found evidence of a tradeoff between types of assistance and a unilineal pattern of assistance. Few couples provided both time and money, and few assisted parents and parents-in-law. The determinants of assistance varied by type of care, recipient, and patterns of parental survival. Couples were more responsive to the needs of the wife's parent(s) and were less likely to exclude her parents from care even under circumstances of competition. Controlling for resources, African American and Hispanic couples were consistently more likely to provide assistance.Changes in the age structure of the U.S. population, resulting in part from increases in life expectancy and declines in fertility, will leave future generations of older Americans with fewer children and thus fewer sources of assistance to meet