Are filial eldercare norms related to intergenerational solidarity with older parents? A typological developmental approach.

Abstract

Intergenerational solidarity is multidimensional in nature, but the role of filial eldecare norms in structuring intergenerational solidarity is less understood. We examine how filial eldercare norms expressed in early adulthood and midlife are associated with intergenerational solidarity with older parents and how this association varies across parent-child gender combinations. We used data from 1985 to 2005 waves of the Longitudinal Study of Generation when the generation of interest was 32 and 52 years of age, respectively. A three-step latent class approach, culminating with a multinomial logistic regression, was conducted on a sample of 198 mother-son, 279 mother-daughter, 155 father-son, and 209 father-daughter dyads. A tightknit intergenerational type was uniquely identified in mother-daughter relations, and a social unsupportive type was uniquely identified in father-son and father-daughter relations. Daughters expressing stronger filial norms in early adulthood were more likely in middle adulthood to belong to a tight-knit relational type with mothers and a social unsupportive and intimate but distant relational type with fathers, compared to a detached relational type; these effects were mediated by contemporaneously measured filial norms. Our study complements previous studies on the relationship between filial eldercare norms and intergenerational solidarity with older parents by showing that these norms exert an influence by virtue of being stable in adult daughters over 20 years into middle age. These findings demonstrate that eldercare norms expressed by daughters prior to their parents' transition to old age structure intergenerational relationships in later life, suggesting that such norms are better considered as long-term endowments than as situational in their origins.

Intergenerational Solidarity With Grandparents in Emerging Adulthood: Associations With Providing Support to Older Parents in Established Adulthood

“…The intimate-but-geographically distant class was distinct from the tight-knit and detached classes, indicating strong emotional closeness and sharing values and attitudes between grandparents and grandchildren but a lack of in-person contact due to geographic distance. Given that most typology studies of intergenerational solidarity have focused on adult children and their older parents in later life (Barrett & Gunderson, 2021;Hwang et al, 2022;Mueller et al, 2002), our findings expand the spectrum of the intergenerational solidarity paradigm to include grandparent-grandchild relationships when grandchildren are in emerging adulthood. We found two noteworthy characteristics of intergenerational relationships between young adults and their grandparents when young adults are in emerging adulthood.…”

“…Latent class analysis is a person-centered approach, allowing for identification of unobserved subgroups (latent classes) on the basis of individuals’ responses to intergenerational solidarity indicators (Nylund-Gibson & Choi, 2018). Because intergenerational solidarity is a multidimensional construct (Bengtson & Roberts, 1991), latent class analysis represents an informative approach to simultaneously representing combined statuses on multiple intergenerational solidarity items (Hwang et al, 2022; Silverstein et al, 1997).…”

“…For example, Silverstein et al (1997) identified five types of intergenerational solidarity in relationships between parents and their adult children: tight-knit, sociable, intimate but distant, obligatory, and detached. Similarly, Hwang et al (2022) classified five types of intergenerational solidarity among middle-aged children and their older parents across four parent–child gender combinations: tight-knit, intimate-but-distant, socially supportive, socially unsupportive, and detached. However, most studies have focused on selected dimensions of the seven dimensions of intergenerational solidarity in their typological analyses (Guo et al, 2012; Li et al, 2019; Steinbach, 2008; Yi & Lin, 2009), and rarely is conflict considered.…”

“…On the basis of research by Silverstein et al (1997), we included six dimensions of intergenerational solidarity with grandparents—affectual, associational (in-person and phone contact), consensual, structural, and functional (receiving and providing support) solidarity, and conflict—that were available in our data. Based on previous typological studies of parent–child relationships (Guo et al, 2012; Hwang et al, 2022; Silverstein et al, 1997), we hypothesized that strong and weak intergenerational solidarity types (e.g., tight-knit and detached ) would similarly be found in grandparent–grandchild relationships. Based on this earlier research, we also hypothesized that heterogeneous types of intergenerational solidarity with grandparents would be identified—that is, strong on some dimensions and weak on others.…”

Do religious transitions from early to established adulthood predict filial elder‐care norms?

“…In its most reduced form, religiosity can be represented by its cognitive aspects (e.g., religious intensity and spirituality) and social/behavioral aspects (e.g., religious service attendance) (Silverstein & Bengtson, 2018). Examining change in religiosity in this context presents empirical challenges that have been addressed using transition analysis within latent class models (Hwang, Kim, Brown, et al, 2021; Vasilenko & Espinosa‐Hernández, 2019), an approach we take in the current research.…”