Jeffrey E. Stokes

Solidarity in the Grandparent–Adult Grandchild Relationship and Trajectories of Depressive Symptoms

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY Grandparent-adult grandchild relationships are becoming longer and more common, and therefore potentially more influential in the lives of individuals. This study examined the influence of solidarity (i.e., affinity, contact, and functional exchange) in the grandparent-adult grandchild relationship upon the depressive symptoms of both members of the dyad. DESIGN AND METHODS The study used data from the Longitudinal Study of Generations, a survey of 3- and 4-generation U.S. families that included 7 waves of data collection between 1985 and 2004. The sample was comprised of 374 grandparents and 356 adult grandchildren. We analyzed the data using multilevel growth curve models. RESULTS For both grandparents and adult grandchildren, greater affinity reduced depressive symptoms and more frequent contact increased symptoms. For grandparents only, receiving functional support without also providing it increased depressive symptoms. IMPLICATIONS The average grandparent-adult grandchild relationship is a source of both support and strain to both generations. These relationships exhibit great diversity, however, with large amounts of variation between dyads and within a single dyad over time. We suggest how policy makers and practitioners can identify the relational contexts that best promote the well-being of members of both generations.

Mechanisms Linking Neighborhood Age Composition to Health

Purpose of the Study Age integration theory posits that the age composition of spaces affects the social interactions in which people can engage. This study aimed to examine whether social interactions perceived to involve generativity (i.e., commitment to younger generations), daily discrimination, and/or social cohesion mediate associations between neighborhood age composition, self-reported health, and psychological well-being. Design and Methods We applied multilevel structural equation models to data from 4,017 participants aged 30-84 who participated in the 2004-2006 wave of National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States, merged with data on their 3,714 neighborhoods from the 2010U.S. Census. Results Neighborhoods that represented the age distribution of the United States and neighborhoods that overrepresented older adults were contexts in which residents reported the most generativity and social cohesion. In turn, generativity and social cohesion were associated with better self-reported health and higher psychological well-being. Implications The nature of social interaction links neighborhood age composition to health and well-being. These results clarify the results of prior studies, advance measurement, suggest elaborations to age integration theory, and point to new directions for aging-in-place initiatives.

Two-Wave Dyadic Analysis of Marital Quality and Loneliness in Later Life: Results From the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing

This study examines dyadic reports of marital quality and loneliness over a two-year period among 932 older married couples resident in Ireland. Data from the first two waves of The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (2009–2013) were analyzed to determine whether husbands’ and wives’ marital quality and loneliness at baseline predicted both spouses’ loneliness 2 years later. Two-wave lagged models tested the cognitive perspective on loneliness, the induction hypothesis, and actor–partner interdependence. Results indicated that perceptions of negative marital quality at baseline were related with greater loneliness 2 years later, supporting the cognitive perspective. Further, both spouses’ reports of loneliness at baseline were related with loneliness 2 years later, supporting the induction hypothesis. Partners’ reports of marital quality were not related with future loneliness, failing to support actor–partner interdependence. I discuss the implications of these findings for theory, practice, and future research concerning intimate relationships and loneliness in later life.

Who Are the People in Your Neighborhood? Neighborhood Age Composition and Age Discrimination

Age discrimination is pervasive in the United States, yet little is known about the social contexts in which it occurs. Older persons spend much of their time in their neighborhoods, where a density of other older persons may protect against age discrimination. Extending group density theory to age, we analyze data from 1,561 older adults from the second wave of the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States, using neighborhood-level data from the 2010 U.S. census. We examine (1) whether the concentration of older neighborhood residents influences perceived age discrimination and (2) whether that influence varies by age. Results indicate that the density of older residents protects against age discrimination for individuals entering old age but it is decreasingly influential as individuals approach oldest-old age and report less age discrimination regardless of neighborhood age composition. We discuss the implications of these findings for theory on age discrimination.

The influence of intergenerational relationships on marital quality following the death of a parent in adulthood

Bereavement not only is an individual psychological experience but also has meaningful social and familial impacts. This article examines how relationship quality with both a deceased and a surviving parent influence adult children’s marital quality over time and whether this differs by gender. Data were drawn from the Longitudinal Study of Generations, a study of three- and four-generation families from Southern California. The sample included married adult children who experienced the death of a parent between survey waves (N = 304). A series of multilevel random effects models were estimated using a before/after loss framework. Analyses revealed that improvements and declines in relationship quality with a surviving parent were related with improvements and declines in marital quality following the death of a first parent, regardless of gender. High pre-loss relationship quality with a deceased parent resulted in improved marital quality only for sons who lost mothers. Findings support the linked lives framework and offer some evidence for the “greedy marriage” thesis.

Do “His” and “Her” Marriages Influence One Another? Contagion in Personal Assessments of Marital Quality among Older Spouses over a Four-Year Span

Husbands and wives differ in their evaluations of marital quality, with “his” marriage typically proving better than “her” marriage. However, spouses’ perceptions of marital quality tend to be significantly correlated with one another. Prior research has addressed the existence and implications of gender differences in marital quality but has focused less on spouses’ similarities in their perceptions. In particular, prior studies have not examined the extent to which spouses’ assessments of marital quality may be reciprocally related. In short, do his and her marriages influence one another? This study analyzes longitudinal dyadic data from 209 older married couples who participated in the first two waves of the Disability and Use of Time supplement to the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (2009–2013). Two-wave lagged models tested emotional and social contagion theory by examining whether husbands’ and wives’ reports of marital quality at baseline predicted both spouses’ marital quality after four years. Results indicated that (a) husbands reported better marital quality than their wives in both 2009 and 2013; (b) for both husbands and wives, baseline marital quality was significantly related with one’s own and one’s partner’s marital quality four years later; and (c) there were no differences in effects according to gender. These findings offer support for the framework of his and her marriage as well as emotional and social contagion theory.

Marital quality and loneliness in later life: A dyadic analysis of older married couples in Ireland

Loneliness is not merely an unpleasant experience but is harmful for older adults’ health and well-being as well. While marriage buffers against loneliness in later life, even married adults experience loneliness, and aspects of adults’ marriages may either protect against or actually foster loneliness among spouses. The current study analyzed dyadic data from 1,114 opposite-sex married Irish couples who participated in the initial wave of The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (2009–2011) in order to extend findings of two prior dyadic studies of marital quality and loneliness in the U.S. to older married couples in Ireland and to directly compare two theoretical and methodological frameworks used by these studies to explain associations between husbands’ and wives’ reports of marital quality and loneliness in later life. Results revealed that both spouses’ perceptions of positive and negative marital quality were significantly related with husbands’ and wives’ loneliness and that spouses’ reports of loneliness were significantly related with one another. Findings also indicated that associations between marital quality and loneliness were similar for Irish and American couples in later life. Comparison of differing modeling strategies suggested that emotional contagion may serve as a pathway for dyadic partner effects.

Rewriting age to overcome misaligned age and gender norms in later life

In this paper we suggest that older adults undergo a misalignment between societal age norms and personal lived experience, and attempt reconciliation through discursive strategies: They rewrite how they frame chronological age as well as their subjective relations to it. Using a sample of 4041 midlife and older adults from the 2004-2006 wave of the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS II), we explore associations of age and gender with subjective age and at what age respondents felt people enter later life. Our results confirm that as men and women age, they push up the age at which they think people enter later life, and slow down subjective aging (there is a growing gap between subjective and chronological age). Relations between a persons age and at what age they think people enter later life were stronger for men than for women. For every year they get older get older, men push up when they think people enter later life by 0.24years, women by 0.16years. Age norms surrounding the transition to later life may be more prominent for men than for women, and the difference in their tendencies to push up when they mark entry into later life may be a reflection of this greater prominence.

Surviving Parents’ Influence on Adult Children’s Depressive Symptoms Following the Death of a First Parent

Parents and children are linked across the life course, and they share common experiences. This article focuses on the bereavement experience of adult children’s loss of a first parent during adulthood and examines the downward influence of emotional closeness with a surviving parent on adult children’s depressive symptoms following loss. Analyses are based on adult children who experienced the death of a first parent (N = 227), drawn from the Longitudinal Study of Generations, a study of three-and four-generation families from Southern California. Multilevel lagged dependent variable models indicate that an emotionally close relationship with a surviving parent is related with fewer post-bereavement depressive symptoms when a mother survives a father, but not vice versa. This analysis extends the theory of linked lives and highlights the mutual influence parents and children exert, as well as the complex role of gender in shaping family relationships.