Worrying Across the Generations: The Impact of Adult Grandchildren's Problems on Grandparents' Well-Being.

Autor:	Frase RT; School of Anthropology, Political Science, & Sociology, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Illinois, USA., Suitor JJ; Department of Sociology, Center for Aging and the Life Course, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA., Gilligan M; Department of Human Development and Family Science, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, USA., Stepniak C; Department of Sociology, University of Lynchburg, Lynchburg, Virginia, USA., Ogle D; Department of Sociology, Center for Aging and the Life Course, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA., Fingerman KL; Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA.
Jazyk:	angličtina
Zdroj:	The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences [J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci] 2024 Nov 01; Vol. 79 (11).
DOI:	10.1093/geronb/gbae154
Abstrakt:	Objectives: The intergenerational stake hypothesis and theories of the life course posit that older generations are invested in the well-being of younger generations. Consistent with this, previous research has shown that adult children's problems are associated with worse parental well-being. Because multigenerational ties have become increasingly important in the 21st century, we propose that adult grandchildren's problems may also impact grandparents' well-being. In this paper, we test this hypothesis and investigate the moderating effects of grandparents' race and maternal/paternal status. Methods: The analytic sample includes 206 grandparents aged 65-95 who participated in the second wave of the Family Exchanges Study. Adult grandchildren's problems were operationalized as the proportions of adult grandchildren who experienced (1) physical-emotional problems and (2) lifestyle-behavioral problems. Results: Main effects multilevel analyses suggested that adult grandchildren's problems did not predict grandparents' well-being. However, moderation analyses revealed that the association between grandparents' depressive symptoms and adult grandchildren's physical-emotional problems was larger among Black than White grandparents, and maternal than paternal grandparents. Adult grandchildren's lifestyle-behavioral problems did not predict grandparents' depression, and these effects were not conditioned by race or maternal/paternal status. Discussion: These findings expand research on the importance of grandparent-adult grandchild relationships and contribute to research on multigenerational relationships and health by considering how problems experienced by members of younger generations affect the psychological well-being of older adults. (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For commercial re-use, please contact reprints@oup.com for reprints and translation rights for reprints. All other permissions can be obtained through our RightsLink service via the Permissions link on the article page on our site—for further information please contact journals.permissions@oup.com.)
Databáze:	MEDLINE
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