Gary R. Lee

Social Interaction, Loneliness, and Emotional Well-Being among the Elderly

This study examines the effects of interaction with different types of role partners on the emotional well-being (morale) of older persons, and the extent to which these effects are mediated by subjective feelings of social integration (loneliness). Hypotheses regarding the differential effects of friendship and kinship on these emotional states are developed and tested on a sample of 2872 respondents aged 55 and over. Consistent with the hypotheses, loneliness has a major negative effect on morale, and transmits large proportions of the effects of social integration measures. Feelings of loneliness are reduced, and morale increased, by interaction with friends and, to a lesser extent, neighbors. Interaction with children and grandchildren has no such effects.

Intergenerational Exchange and Subjective Well-being among the Elderly.

Previous research has generally found that no relationship exists between the morale or life satisfaction of the elderly and their interaction with kin, including adult offspring. This may be due to the fact that most studies have measured interaction in terms of quantity and/or frequency, ignoring other dimensions of these relationships. This study focuses on the exchange of aid between older persons and their children. Hypotheses regarding relationships between mutual aid and the morale of the elderly are developed and tested on a sample of 403 parents aged 60 and over. No relationships between morale and the exchange of aid are found. These results, while not conclusive in themselves, add to the growing body of evidence which suggests that interaction with kin has no demonstrable consequences for the emotional well-being of the elderly.

Kinship and Social Support of the Elderly: The Case of the United States

This paper deals with two related issues: (1) the extent to which older persons who require some assistance in the tasks of or resources needed for daily living actually receive such assistance from informal networks; and (2) the consequences of the receipt of this assistance for the older person.

Widowhood and Depression Gender Differences

Hypotheses predicting why widowhood should be more difficult psychologically for men than women are tested on a sample of 746 older persons. Widowhood does have a stronger effect on depression for men, partly because of the intervening effects of health and time since widowhood. However, much of the gender difference remains unexplained. Possible causes, including the fact that widowhood is a more usual component of the life cycle for women, are discussed.

Gender Differences in Retirement Satisfaction and its Antecedents

This article examines differences between men and women in levels of self-reported satisfaction with retirement and in selected antecedents of retirement satisfaction including health, marital status, occupational status, and income. Data from a sample of 1530 retired residents of Washington State are analyzed. The analysis suggests that retirement is not a categorically different experience for women than for men, particularly as retirement satisfaction seems responsive to the same causes regardless of gender. The lower levels of retirement satisfaction among women appear to be due to their lower incomes in retirement and, to a lesser extent, their lower probabilities of being married.

Social Relations and the Self-Esteem of Older Persons:

This study employs survey data from a sample of persons 55 years of age and older to examine the antecedents of self-esteem. Hypotheses are derived from a theoretical orientation that hinges on the ability of the individual to terminate relations that might be productive of negative reflected appraisals. Consistent with hypotheses, friendship interaction is positively related to self-esteem, whereas kinship interaction is not. Marital satisfaction also affects self-esteem positively; among men, this effect is stronger for the retired than for the employed. Finally, never-married and nonemployed older women have lower self-esteem than other women have. Implications are drawn regarding the importance and role of self-esteem in theories of psychological well-being among older persons.

Children and the Elderly: Interaction and Morale

This paper examines the extent to which frequency of interaction with adult offspring influences the morale of their elderly parents. Data were collected in the spring of 1975 from a sample of residents of Washington State aged 60 and over. The results show that (1) frequency of interaction with children, measured in several ways, is virtually uncorrelated with the morale of the elderly and (2) measures of interaction with children do not increase our explanatory power with respect to morale of the elderly beyond that attainable by variables which have been identified previously. These findings are discussed in terms of their cumulation with previous research and theory and their implications for further study of family relations for the elderly.

Marital Satisfaction in Later Life: The Effects of Nonmarital Roles.

Questions regarding trends in marital quality over the later stages of the family life cycle have frequently been addressed, but never resolved. A theory based on role overload and strain is developed here which predicts that marital satisfaction is higher in the later stages of the life cycle because of diminishing demands of other, nonmarital roles. The departure of children is indeed associated with higher levels of marital satisfaction, but other hypotheses based on the role overload theory receive no support and are contradicted in many cases. Implications for the explanation of marital quality in later life are discussed.

Intercountry Versus Transracial Adoption: Analysis of Adoptive Parents’ Motivations and Preferences in Adoption

The United States is one of the major baby-receiving countries in the world. Relatively little research has focused on why there is such a high demand for intercountry adoption. Using in-depth qualitative interviews with adoptive parents, the authors explored the reasons why Americans prefer to adopt foreign-born children instead of adopting minority children domestically. Other than infertility reasons, concerns about domestic adoption, and the uneven domestic supply and demand of “desirable” children, the authors’ findings suggested that there was a perception that American children available for adoption presented difficult problems whereas foreign children presented interesting challenges. The “problems” inherent in children from American foster care were confounded with race differences. Studying adoption motivations will not only help us better understand the domestic adoption situation, especially why so many Black children are left behind in foster care, it may also reveal important insights into current race relations and distances between groups in the United States.

Sibling Interaction and Morale The Effects of Family Relations on Older People

Previous research has found no relationship between the morale of the elderly and frequency of interaction with children. This is often explained in terms of cohort differences in attitudes, values, and interests between parents and children. This study examines the relationship between morale and interaction with siblings among the elderly and finds no relationship. The indicated conclusion is that, at least in terms of interaction frequency, relations with kin do not affect the morale of the elderly. Furthermore, age differences are not relevant to the explanation of this fact.