 Does intergenerational social support influence the psychological well-being of older parents? The contingencies of declining health and widowhoodMerril Silverstein and Vern L. Bengtson Social Science & Medicine, 1994, vol. 38, issue 7, 943-957 Abstract: This study investigates whether social support from adult children improves the psychological well-being of elderly parents. Support is studied as a direct influence on emotional distress and as a moderator of the distressing consequences of health problems and widowhood. Research questions are addressed using data from elderly parents participating in 1985 and 1988 surveys of the U.S.C., Longitudinal Study of Three Generation Families. Results from multiple regression analyses indicate that instrumental and expressive forms of social support are weakly related to 3-year change in positive and negative aspects of psychological well-being. However, both types of support moderate declines in well-being associated with poor health and widowhood. We conclude that the psychological benefits of intergenerational social support are contingent on the vulnerability of the older parent, when expectations for assistance are at their greatest. This finding has considerable implications for family theory and policy. Keywords: Social; support; psychological; well-being; aging; families (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:socmed:v:38:y:1994:i:7:p:943-957 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from Access Statistics for this article Social Science & Medicine is currently edited by Ichiro (I.) Kawachi and S.V. (S.V.) Subramanian More articles in Social Science & Medicine from Elsevier |
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
EconPapers is hosted by the
School of Business at Örebro University.