Remembering Sacrifices: Attitude and Beliefs Among Second-generation Korean Americans Regarding Family Support

Korean immigration peaked in the mid-1980s, so that large cohorts of post-1965 immigrants are now approaching or entering retirement. As the baby boomer generation ages, few studies have examined how the lack of retirement savings and eldercare plans combined with cultural expectations such as filial piety may pose challenges for aging Korean immigrants and their adult children. This exploratory study examines attitudes and beliefs among 1.5 and 2nd generation Korean American adults regarding filial expectations and support for aging immigrant parents. In-depth interviews conducted with 124 adult children of immigrants show that their attitudes and beliefs around filial care were primarily motivated by feelings of gratitude and a strong sense of responsibility toward their parents. In addition, because Korean immigrant parents often face language and financial barriers, adult children were preparing themselves for future support of their parents’ finances, health care and long-term care needs. Although both adult sons and daughters expressed a desire to care for their parents, adult daughters often discussed in detail their concerns and worries about future care of their parents. The findings of this paper illustrate how the intersections of gender, culture, and class inform attitudes and beliefs regarding aging and family support among Korean American families.     

Attachment styles,memories of parental rearing and therapeutic bond: a study with eating disordered patients,their parents and therapists

Patients diagnosed with anorexia nervosa (n = 30) and bulimia nervosa (n = 27), their parents and therapists were recruited for this study aimed at examining differences between clinical groups and a control group (n = 35) in terms of attachment styles and perceptions of memories of parental rearing. Within the clinical groups, relations among these variables and therapeutic bond were explored. In addition, parents' and their daughters' attachment styles were compared. The results showed differences between clinical and control groups: the daughters in the control group reported lower levels of attachment anxiety compared to those of the clinical groups; their mothers exhibited higher security than mothers of anorectic patients and lower avoidance than mothers of bulimic patients. For the anorectic group, therapeutic bond was associated to higher father's emotional support and lower rejection; in the bulimic group, therapeutic bond was related to higher maternal emotional support and lower rejection as well as to lower paternal overprotection. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association.     

The Gendered Nature of Filial Piety — A Study among Chinese Canadians

This paper examines the modern face of filial piety enactment among Chinese families living away from their homeland. It empirically assesses filial piety practices among a random sample of diasporic Chinese Canadians, by studying the role of sons, daughters and spouses in providing assistance with basic activities of daily living, instrumental activities of daily living and perceptions of support; the relative contribution of the traditional Chinese caring unit (son plus daughter-in-law) with assistance provided; whether source of assistance changes when amount of care is taken into account, when the gendered nature of tasks is taken into account and when controlling for other factors in multivariate analyses. N = 2,272 Chinese seniors (age 55+) living in seven cities across Canada. The findings reveal that, among these diasporic Chinese, patterns found in other Chinese societies are evident in their tendency to live with children, even when the spouse is still living, and the involvement of sons and the son/daughter-in-law unit in providing care. However, similar to recent findings for China, daughters and spouses are involved in all 3 areas of support examined and importantly, their involvement increases as more assistance is provided while that from sons decreases, notably in terms of IADL. The participation of daughters-in-law tends to be lower than that of either sons or daughters. The involvement of spouses increases for perceived or emotional support. The findings suggest a blending of Chinese and Canadian patterns of care and are discussed in terms of the changing but still gendered nature of care. The data for this study were part of a larger project funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. The first author was a co-investigator on that project.     

Filial Piety and Functional Support: Understanding Intergenerational Solidarity Among Families with Migrated Children in Rural China

Using the intergenerational solidarity theory, the author examined how functional solidarity (intergenerational support regarding to elder care) impacts normative solidarity (filial piety) among families with migrated children in rural China. Data was drawn from a survey of 1,443 elders in three inland migrant-exporting provinces of China. The study revealed the following findings: (1) the elders did not evaluate children’s filial piety lower after their migration, which suggests an adjustment on the elderly parents’ part regarding the traditional expectations of filial piety. (2) Migrated son’s filial piety was indeed evaluated lower than those of daughters, which suggests a continuation of the traditional norms of patrilinealty for filial piety. (3) Elderly parents’ evaluations of migrated children’s filial piety were positively related to migrated children’s provision of financial care. (4) Elderly parents who took care of grandchildren had a positive evaluation of filial piety than those who did not. (5) An exchange-based intergenerational support mechanism did not have an impact on rural elderly parents’ evaluation of children’s filial piety. The author concludes that taking into consideration of the economic and cultural context of rural China, functional support, in the form of intergenerational support and exchange, suggest the continuation as well as changes of filial piety among rural families.     

Parent, Peer and Personal Determinants of Adolescent Drinking

This study examined direct and indirect influences of parents and peers on adolescent drinking. One hundred and six adolescents, their parents and a same-sex best friend of the adolescent each completed measures that tapped actual and perceived drinking behaviour, and normative standards for alcohol use. Of methodological interest was that adolescents of both sexes provided accurate reports of their parents' and peer's drinking, as well as drinking norms. Path analyses revealed different effects for male and female adolescents. Strongest predictors of alcohol use for males were their perceptions of their father's and mother's drinking, and their father's actual drinking. Best friend's drinking was positively related to the adolescent males' perceptions of themselves as a drinker. The single predictor of their internalized norms was the perception adolescent males had of their friend's drinking. Significantly, the adolescent male's own norms predicted how much and what they drank. For adolescent females, how much they believed their best friend drank, and their friend's normative standards, were the strongest predictors of alcohol use. Father's drinking also influenced the drinking practices of daughters, but mothers had no impact on their daughters' alcohol use. In contrast to young males, females' personal preferences or liking of alcohol successfully predicted most of their drinking behaviour.     

Making choices: a within-family study of caregiver selection

PURPOSE: This article reports on a within-family study to identify factors that lead mothers to expect that a particular child will serve in the role of primary caregiver. DESIGN AND METHODS: Data for this study were collected by in-person interviews with a representative sample of 566 mothers between the ages of 65 and 75 years residing in the greater Boston area, who provided detailed information regarding all of their adult children. Both multivariate and qualitative data analyses were conducted. RESULTS: Emotional closeness and similarity of gender and attitudes were strongly associated with which children mothers identified as probable caregivers. Findings regarding exchange were mixed. Mothers were more likely to name adult children who had provided them with support; however, mothers' past provision of assistance to children was unrelated to expectations regarding care. No aspects of children's availability besides proximity and employment of adult children affected mothers' expectations. In selecting a primary caregiver, mothers emphasized expressive characteristics of intergenerational relationships, rather than instrumental and contextual factors associated with children's availability. IMPLICATIONS: The findings indicated a discrepancy between maternal preference for care and actual patterns of support from adult children. Practitioners who work with older adults and their families should incorporate parents' views of the "likely" caregiver into family counseling protocols. Family counseling in both the precaregiving and actual care provision stages may be useful to clarify expected roles for children.     

Expectations about Appropriate Drinking Contexts: comparisons of parents,adolescents and best friends*

One hundred and six adolescents, their parents and the adolescent's best friend were separately asked their expectations about the social and motivational aspects of contexts for drinking alcohol. Convivial and utilitarian dimensions were recognized, with all groups tending to support drinking in social-convivial rather than personal-utilitarian contexts. Comparison of parents, sons and the son's best friend revealed that sons and their male friends held similar expectations, and were more likely than mothers and fathers to support drinking at celebrations for birthdays, graduations, job promotions and on receiving good news. Sons and their friends also supported drinking on occasions with friends or groups of people more than did parents. Fewer differences emerged in the standards reported by both parents, daughters and their best friends. Where differences did emerge, daughters and their best friends supported drinking at some celebrations. Results suggest a greater number of differences and sources of conflict in the norms about drinking contexts held by parents and their sons, than parents and their daughters.     

Depressive tendencies and lower levels of self‐sacrifice in mothers,and selflessness in their anorexic daughters

(1) To compare levels of selflessness (the tendency to ignore one's own needs and serve others') and asceticism of parents and daughters, in anorexic and control families. (2) To investigate the relationship between parents' depression and daughters' selflessness. Twenty‐eight anorexic daughters and their 28 mothers and 23 fathers were compared to 29 control daughters and their 29 mothers and 28 fathers, participants were administered the Beck Depression Inventory, the Selflessness Scale, the asceticism scale of the Eating Disorder Inventory and the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM‐IV. Anorexics' mothers showed significantly lower levels of selflessness and asceticism compared to control mothers; anorexic daughters showed significantly higher levels of selflessness and asceticism compared to control daughters. Depressive tendencies in anorexics' mothers were associated positively and significantly with their daughters' selflessness. The results support the clinical literature that depicts the anorexic daughters' readiness to sacrifice themselves for the family's needs. Clinical implications are drawn. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association.     

The relation between attachment and intergenerational support

This study investigated the relation between the internal representation of attachment and the perception of the actual exchange of intergenerational support within 100 dyads of adult daughters and their elderly mothers in Germany. Results showed relations between the daughters’ preoccupation and avoidance with their perception of receiving emotional support from their parents and providing instrumental support to them. No relations were found between the mothers’ attachment and the support they provided to the daughters. These results are discussed with respect to different conditions for emotional and instrumental support of adult daughters and their elderly mothers, and a relationship specific approach to attachment.

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Older People's Belief of Filial Piety in China: Expectation and Non-expectation

This paper discusses the concept of filial piety and whether older generations of Chinese people have reduced their expectations of these behaviors from younger generations. The paper describes two studies (conducted in mainland China) that examine expectations for filial piety. The first study looks at the demographic variance on older adults' expectation of filial piety and finds no differences in the effects of age, gender, living area, educational level, etc., on levels of expectation. Close correlation exists, however, between well-being and levels of filial piety expectation. The second study introduces a modified version of filial piety expectation scale (FPE) and describes a dual model of filial piety that characterizes this concept in terms of two separate factors. The FPE is compared with attitudes to aging using a new standardized measure (the Attitudes toward Aging Questionnaire [AAQ]), and a strong positive relationship is evident. Data are discussed regarding the traditional value of filial piety, and its modifications, in current Mainland China.     

Filial Piety and Intergenerational Solidarity in Japan

The Confucian norm of filial piety is generally assumed as an underlying ideology of the traditional living arrangement of the Japanese elderly, ie., patri-lineal, patrt-local stem family. In this article, the author describes the changes in filial piety and co-residence, and observes social relationships of the contemporary Japanese elderly. A survey with 882 elderly community residents as subjects clearly showed differential roles of others played in the social world of the elderly, especially significant differences between daughters and daughters-in-law. Elderly parents feel emotionally close to their daughters whether they live together or apart, while they seldom feel emotionally close to co-resident daughters-in-law who actually provide instrumental support. Although living with a married son is still a preferred arrangement, it is likely to bring harmful interactions with coresident daughters-in-law. Therefore avoiding co-residence might be a meaningful choice for the elderly without immediate need of instrumental support. In Japan, intergenerational relationships between elderly parents and their adult children become more affection-based, convenience-oriented, and free from the norm of filial piety than they used to be.     

Perceptions of help given to healthy older mothers by adult daughters: ways of initiating help and types of help given

Older mother-adult daughter dyads (N = 43) addressed two issues pertaining to the ways in which help is initiated (offered, requested, and imposed help) and type of help given (instrumental help, advice, and emotional support) a) mothers' reasoning about these aspects of help, and b) daughters' understanding of mothers' feelings. Both groups noted that mothers were most comfortable with offered help; however, mothers indicated equal comfort with requested or imposed help, while daughters felt mothers were more comfortable with requested help than imposed help. Mothers and daughters both felt that mothers were less comfortable receiving additional instrumental help or advice than emotional support. Reasons given for mothers' feelings indicated that mothers saw both positive and negative elements in the help given by their adult daughters. Overall, daughters demonstrated a good understanding of mothers' feelings about the helping relationship.     

Filial Piety and Parental Depressive Symptoms: All Children Matter – Evidence from Rural Northern China

Little research has considered all children while investigating adult children’s role in their older parents’ health and well-being. In this study, we examine the effect of filial piety across all children on parental depressive symptoms. A sample of 432 older parents with 1,223 adult children in a rural county in northern China rated the filial piety level for each child individually. Ratings were then combined across multiple children and organized into an ordinal variable of filial piety including three levels: all children being filial, some of the children being filial, and none of the children being filial. Ordinary least squares linear regression analyses were performed. The results reveal a significant and negative relationship between adult children’s filial piety levels and older parents’ depressive symptoms after controlling for age, gender, marital status, financial strain, chronic conditions, and social support from family and friends, respectively. That is, one level lower in the adult children’s filial piety corresponds to increase in level of older parents’ depressive symptoms. Filial piety seems to benefit older Chinese parents’ mental health net of social support from family and friends in this sample. Including information from all children in the analyses is informative for better understanding the psychological significance of filial piety for healthy aging in China.

     

Intentions to use an automated external defibrillator during a cardiac emergency among a group of seniors trained in its operation.

OBJECTIVE: By decreasing the time to defibrillation, automated external defibrillators (AEDs) provide an opportunity for lay people to improve survival in out-of-hospital sudden cardiac arrest. We examined how beliefs, expectations, and actual performance are related to intentions to use an AED during a future heart emergency among a group of seniors. DESIGN AND OUTCOME MEASURES: One hundred fifty-nine seniors who had been previously trained in the operation of an AED were tested on their AED skills and asked about their perceptions regarding their AED skills; their expectations that an AED would save the life of a cardiac arrest victim; and their intentions to use an AED during a future cardiac event. RESULTS: Logistic regression analyses showed that greater self-perceived ability to use an AED better actual performance on skills assessment but not expectations regarding the efficacy of AED treatment were independently associated with positive intentions to use an AED in a future heart emergency. CONCLUSIONS: The likelihood that an elderly lay bystander will actually use an AED during a cardiac event may be closely tied to perceptions of his or her ability to operate an AED.     

Parental health limitations,caregiving and loneliness among women with widowed parents: longitudinal evidence from France

We investigate how daughters’ feelings of loneliness are impacted when widowed parents develop health limitations, and when daughters take on personal care tasks in response. Using longitudinal data from daughters of widowed parents drawn from the French Family and Intergenerational Relationships Study (ERFI, 1485 observations nested in 557 daughters), we assess (a) whether health limitations of widowed parents are associated with daughters’ feelings of loneliness regardless of whether or not daughters provide personal care and (b) whether there is an effect of care provision on loneliness that cannot be explained by parental health limitations. Fixed effect regression analyses show that widowed parents’ health limitations were associated with raised feelings of loneliness among their daughters. No significant additional effect of providing personal care to a widowed parent was found. Prior research on the impact of health limitations of older parents on the lives of their adult–children has focused mostly on issues related to informal caregiving. Our findings suggest that more attention to the psychosocial impact of parental health limitations—net of actual caregiving—on adult children’s lives is warranted.     

Parenting mechanisms in links between parents' and adolescents' alcohol use behaviors

Background: Adolescence has been identified as a critical period with regard to the initiation and early escalation of alcohol use. Moreover, research on familial risk and protective processes provides independent support for multiple domains of parental influence on adolescent drinking; including parents’ own drinking behaviors, as well as the practices they employ to socialize their children. Despite this prevalence of findings, whether and how these distinct associations are related to one another is still not entirely clear. Methods: The present study used data from 4,731 adolescents and their parents to test the nature of associations between (a) parents’ frequencies of alcohol use and intoxication, and lifetime alcohol‐related problems, (b) adolescents’ perceptions of the parenting that they receive, and (c) adolescents’ prevalence of alcohol use and intoxication at 14 and 17½ years of age. As such, multiple mediation modeling was used to assess whether parental alcohol use behaviors influence adolescent alcohol use directly, or if they operate through indirect associations with various aspects of parenting that subsequently influence adolescent use. Results: Examination of simple associations demonstrated that maternal and paternal alcohol use behaviors were positively linked with adolescent use behaviors at 14 and 17½ years of age. Likewise, several parenting behaviors were independently associated with both parental and adolescent drinking. Examined collectively, multivariate path analyses indicated that associations between parents’ and adolescents’ alcohol‐related behaviors were mediated, in part, by adolescents’ perceptions of the parenting that they received, especially at 14 years of age. Furthermore, perceived parental monitoring and discipline had unique mediating capabilities, net the effects of all other parenting behaviors. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that parenting is an important mediator of the association between parental and adolescent drinking practices. An important area for future research will be to study how adolescents can avoid alcohol‐related problems despite being reared within a risk laden parenting environment and/or having parents who drink frequently.     

SOCIAL SUPPORT SYSTEMS OF WOMEN OFFENDERS WHO USE DRUGS: A FOCUS ON THE MOTHER-DAUGHTER RELATIONSHIP

Conceptually, social support among very heavily drug-involved women is complex and multidimensional. This article examines the structure and function of the social support systems of women offenders (N = 100) who used drugs during the last 6 months before entering court-mandated drug-free treatment programs. These systems typically contain about nine supporters, almost equally divided between men and women, and about half of the women's supporters are family members. The women identify parents and partners as their major providers of practical help and advice. They look most to their partners for a sympathetic ear, and to their parents for affirmation of their self-worth. Overall, two-thirds of the women identify their mothers as among their supporters. These mothers are often anxious to do whatever they can to help their daughters stop using drugs. Paradoxically, the assistance many mothers give their daughters in providing money or basic life necessities often enables the daughter's drug use. Although many daughters appreciate their mother's help, there is an element of distrust and control in many of the mother-daughter relationships, and some daughters receive unwanted help from their mothers. Drug treatment providers can benefit from understanding their clients' social support systems, especially the dynamics of important relationships with main pretreatment supporters, such as parents. By gaining this understanding and helping their clients to effectively accept and use social support, treatment providers can assist them in maintaining their recovery when they leave treatment and return to their communities.     

Autonomy and decision making between single older women and their caregiving daughters

We examined perceptions of decisional autonomy and decision-making processes among 64 elderly, single mothers and their caregiving daughters. Mothers were highly involved in decisions affecting their lives, ranging from daily care to major health decisions; daughters were particularly influential over major health, financial and housing decisions. Mothers' level of personal care dependency was negatively associated with both mothers' and daughters' confidence in the mothers' decision-making abilities.