The intergenerational relationship patterns between aging parents and their adult children

Abstract

Background: Older parent-child relations and their impact on the elderly's lives are of importance; thus, the present study aimed to investigate the patterns of the intergenerational relationships between aging parents and their adult children.

Methods: The current cross-sectional study was conducted on 463 elderly men and women, aged ≥60 years who were residing in Tehran City, Iran. The study participants were selected using the stratified cluster sampling method. The Bai's (2017) 13-item Intergenerational Relationship Quality Scale for Aging Parents (IRQS-AP) was used to evaluate the patterns of intergenerational relationships among the study subjects. The obtained data were analyzed in SPSS. The significance level of the tests was set at P ≥ 0.05. The logistic regression model was employed to investigate the factors related to the patterns of intergenerational relationships.

Results: The mean ± SD age of the explored aging parents was 67.93 ± 7.0 years. Besides, the mean ± SD number of children in the study participants was 3.55 ± 1.80. The mean ± SD scores of solidarity (structural, associational, consensual, affectual, functional, and normative) and conflict were measured to be (58.95 ± 17.55) and (64.10 ± 20.92), respectively. Furthermore, the mean ± SD score of the ambivalence pattern was calculated as (51.46 ± 21.61). The mean score of conflict was higher than those of solidarity and ambivalence. Additionally, the mean score of consensual-normative solidarity was higher than those of other dimensions of solidarity. The obtained data suggested a significant difference between age and the patterns of intergenerational relationships (p ≤ 0.05). Moreover, the mean scores of solidarity and conflict in the examined female elderly and their adult children were higher than those of their male counterparts and their adult children; however, the mean score of ambivalence in the male elderly and their adult children was higher than that in their female counterparts. Logistic regression analysis results indicated that aging parents who were literate (OR = 1.5), those who lived alone (OR = 1.2), and those who assessed their general health status as good (OR = 4), reported high levels of solidarity with their adult children.

Conclusion: The present research results demonstrated that the level of conflict between aging parents and their adult children exceeded the solidarity level, indicating the intergenerational gap. Therefore, the necessary implications should be adopted to promote intergenerational relationships within the family by providing family counseling. Further research is recommended to consider the essential role of predictive factors, such as age, gender, educational level, occupational status, living arrangements, health status, and socioeconomic status of aging parents concerning the intergenerational relationships between aging parents and their adult children.

Keywords: Affectual closeness; aging parents; ambivalence; consensual-normative solidarity; intergenerational solidarity; structural-associational solidarity.