Kenneth Heller

Too Much of a Good Thing? Intergenerational Social Support and the Psychological Well-Being of Older Parents

MEL SILVERSTEIN AND XUAN CHEN University of Southern California KENNETH HELLER Indiana University* We propose that, although moderate amounts of intergenerational support are beneficial to older adults, excessive support received from adult children and provided to children may be harmful by virtue of eroding competence and imposing excessive demands, respectively. We tested our hypotheses using a sample of 539 older participants in the University of Southern California Longitudinal Study of Generations. Lagged regression models are estimated to predict nonlinear change in positive and negative mood over 3 years. Results reveal that among the unmarried and those with low expectations for support, a greater volume of support from children initially elevates positive mood but after the improvement reaches an asymptote, greater support begins to depress positive mood. Providing support to children reduces depression associated with being unmarried in later life but does not appear to increase distress at high levels. Key Words: aging, depression, intergenerational support, well-being. Research findings are equivocal about whether aging parents derive psychological benefits from exchanging social support with their adult children. The inconsistency of findings may be due to the assumption, implicit in the use of linear models, that more support is better. We suggest that excessive support received from family members may increase distress by inducing dependence and eroding the autonomy of the older recipient and that excessive support provided to family members may increase distress by being burdensome to the older provider. Echoing a question first raised by Wheaton (1985), we ask, Can there be too much of a good thing? In this analysis we use nonlinear models to test both the positive and negative consequences of intergenerational social support exchanges in later life. The central hypothesis guiding this study is that intergenerational social support, although beneficial for the psychological well-being of older parents at moderate levels, may be harmful at high levels. RECEIVING SOCIAL SUPPORT Research on the psychological consequences of receiving social support in later life has produced a mixed set of findings. Some studies show that social support improves the psychological wellbeing of older people or buffers the impact of stressful events (Krause, 1986; Norris & Murrell, 1984; Russell & Cutrona, 1991; Silverstein & Bengtson, 1994; Thompson & Heller, 1990), but other studies find that social support has little bearing on well-being (Dean, Kolodny, & Wood, 1990; Krause, Liang, & Keith, 1990; Lee & Ellithorpe, 1982; Lee & Shehan, 1989; Umberson, 1992). However, several studies find that support received from others increases distress among older people (Arling, 1987; Dunham, 1995; Greene & Feld, 1989; Lee, Netzer, & Coward, 1995; Penning & Strain, 1994). These latter findings are generally interpreted in terms of the loss of autonomy and control associated with relying on others for the satisfaction of basic needs. Several perspectives on social support in the aging family suggest that over involvement by relatives-especially adult children-may cause distress in older persons. Overly vigorous support from children violates a deeply seated desire for independence on the part of many older parents (Blieszner & Mancini, 1987; Cohler, 1983; Pyke & Bengtson, 1996; Townsend & Poulshock, 1986). Research shows that parents generally prefer to remain functionally autonomous for as long as possible before relying on adult children for support and generally expect less support than their children are willing to provide (Lawton, Silverstein, & Bengtson, 1994). Indeed, at high levels of intensity, intergenerational social support may cause a painful reevaluation of the relationship around the difficult issue of role reversal (see Chappell, 1991). …

Peer support telephone dyads for elderly women: Was this the wrong intervention?

Tested a preventive intervention in which peer telephone dyads were developed for low-income, community-living, elderly women with low perceived social support. After an initial assessment, respondents were randomly assigned to either an assessment-only control or received 10 weeks of friendly staff telephone contact. After a second assessment, participants receiving the staff contact were randomly assigned to continue that contact or were paired in dyads to continue phone contact with one another. Dependent variables were measures of perceived social support, morale, depression, and loneliness. All groups, particularly the staff contact group, showed some improvement in mental health scores over time, but there were no significant differences between intervention groups, or between intervention and assessment-only control groups. The results suggest that participation in the study and in personal assessment interviews at home were probably morale enhancing, and that additional telephone contact did not significantly add to that effect. Evidence also indicates that, in this sample, low perceived family support was significantly related to poor mental health, so it is possible that a program designed to increase friend support may have been the wrong intervention.

Responses to nervous breakdowns in America over a 40-year period. Mental health policy implications.

The 1957 and 1976 Americans View Their Mental Health surveys from the Institute of Social Research were partially replicated in the 1996 General Social Survey (GSS) to examine the policy implications of peoples responses to feeling an impending nervous breakdown. Questions about problems in modern living were added to the GSS to provide a profile of the publics view of mental health problems. Results were compared for 1957, 1976, and 1996. In 1957, 19% of respondents had experienced an impending nervous breakdown; in 1996, 26% had had this experience. Between 1957 and 1996, participants increased their use of informal social supports, decreased their use of physicians, and increased their use of nonmedical mental health professionals. These findings support policies that strengthen informal support seeking and access to effective psychosocial treatments rather than current mental health reimbursement practices, which emphasize the role of primary care physicians.

Social support factors and drinking among college student males.

The present investigation focused on social support and social competence among male college freshmen and the relation of these variables to alcohol use and psychological adjustment. Recent critical analyses of the social support literature suggest that studies in this area have generally failed to distinguish between different modes of support. Therefore, measures pertaining to possible dimensions of the social support construct (i.e., social network characteristics and perceived social support) were administered to 137 male college freshmen, along with a measure of social competence, and these data were factor analyzed. As a result, three interpretable factors were identified: Network Functions, Perceived Intimacy/Support, and Social Competence. Measures representing social network characteristics (e.g., network size, density, amount of social contact), perceived support, and social competence were used to predict alcohol use and psychological symptomatology. Results indicated that alcohol use was positively related to social network characteristics that reflect high levels of social interaction (e.g., network density, amount of social contact) and measures of social competence. Drinking was not significantly related to measures of perceived social support. Psychological symptomatology was negatively related to measures of perceived support, social competence, and network density. Thus, this study concludes that different modes of support and different measures of psychological adjustment should not be treated as if they are equivalent. And this study reaffirms a growing concern that the social context provides frequent opportunities for alcohol use and abuse in a college community.

Coming of age of prevention science. Comments on the 1994 National Institute of Mental Health-Institute of Medicine Prevention reports.

The impressive results of prevention research in the last decade should be seen as only an initial demonstration phase of a research agenda that will require sustained support at national, state, and local levels. Future research will need to address problems of long-term follow-up, attention to mediators of program effectiveness, resources to adequately administer programs, and current neglect of state and local prevention infrastructures. Research on factors to facilitate program adoption and dissemination should receive greater emphasis and should appear earlier in the prevention intervention research cycle.

Attributional style in aggressive adolescent boys

Past research suggests that aggressive children misattribute hostile intentions to peers during ambiguous provocative interactions. This study sought to extend the analysis of attributional differences between aggressive and nonaggressive boys to a sample of court-involved adolescents and their perceptions of interactions involving both peers and adults. Three groups of youngsters (nonoffenders, nonaggressive offenders, and aggressive offenders) participated in a structured interview and provided causal attributions for interpersonal problems commonly faced by teenagers. Results indicated that offenders were more likely than nonoffenders to attribute blame to others in ambiguous problem situations. Among offenders, external, person-centered blame attributions were.significantly related to aggressiveness. This relationship was found only in ambiguous situations, and the correlation between such person-centered attributions and aggressiveness was higher in adultoriented interactions than in peer-oriented ones. Overall, the results suggest that aggressiveness among offenders is associated with an attributional style that is characterized by the tendency to attribute blame for problems in ambiguous interactions to global, dispositional characteristics of others.

Support Interventions for Older Adults: Confidante Relationships, Perceived Family Support, and Meaningful Role Activity

The rationale and problems encountered in implementing a peer-support telephone intervention are described. The research conducted by Heller, Thompson, Trueba, Hogg, and Vlachos-Weber (1991) was based on epidemiological literature documenting the moral enhancing value of confidante relationships. However, that literature may be insufficiently precise to form the basis for an intervention without prior ethnographic study of the local target population. Furthermore, the positive effects of peer friendships may refer to long established relationships rather than to newly formed social ties. It is concluded that future support intervention research with older adults should concentrate on reinforcing meaningful role activities, and that greater attention should be given to strengthening indigenous ties before attempting to create new ones. While prior process research and formative evaluation are of value, we also emphasize the importance of well-controlled field studies in the ultimate test of intervention hypotheses.

Ingredients for effective community change: Some field observations

Described a project that initially failed and was later resurrected to highlight important processes and impediments to community change. A local ad hoc citizens group advocated a plan to base the allocation of human service dollars on information about community needs. Political opposition led to the plans abandonment; but as the community changed over the years, the project was reactivated. The ability of local communities to work toward solving citizen needs is discussed in terms of the availability of local resources, the importance of developing citizen constituency groups, and the power of human service professionals to influence local decision-making agendas. Why on earth would anyone want to study local politics in this day and age? After all, we are living in an era in which local communities control their own destiny less and less. The crucial decisions that affect the lives of their citizens are made by outside actors-large corporations and public authorities of various sorts. What happens in the local arena is less and less important. Why concentrate ones attention on this arena where there is so little of the action? Gamson, 1979

The effects of personal and social ties on satisfaction and perceived strain in changing neighborhoods

The relationship between changing neighborhood composition, social ties, and perceived neighborhood satisfaction was examined in a survey of residential districts which had experienced significant increases in student occupancy. Interviews were conducted with 233 nonstudent female respondents, ages 19–90, median age 60, residing in districts near a large university, concerning awareness of neighborhood characteristics, neighborhood satisfaction, and social and community contacts. Objective data concerning neighborhood demographic characteristics were obtained from the 1970 census and from a city directory. Results indicated that while respondents were able to perceive accurately the changing characteristics of their neighborhoods, awareness of neighborhood problems was not directly related to satisfaction. The best predictors of neighborhood satisfaction were indices of personal and social ties; e.g., friends in the neighborhood, and the companionship of a retired spouse. The findings were related to the growing literature on the importance of support networks.

What do network members know? Network members as reporters of depression among Caucasian-American and African-American older women

Objective: To determine whether family members and friends can be accurate reporters of depression in older women and whether their reports predict diagnostic depression concurrently and across a one-year time interval. Method: African-American and Caucasian older women (Nu2009=u2009153; mean ageu2009=u200975) previously screened for depression nominated network members (NMs) who could be contacted as informants. NMs completed an informant version of the CES-D, described their closeness to the participant, the extent of the participants support from family and friends, and their assessment of the participants typical coping strategies. These reports were then used to predict participant CES-D, Hamilton depression scores, and Structured Clinical Interview (SCID) depression diagnoses concurrently and at six-month and one-year intervals. Results: NMs’ estimates of participants CES-D status were highly correlated with participants own CES-D scores, and also predicted Hamilton depression scores and SCID diagnoses concurrently and at six months and one year later. NMs’ ratings of participants’ use of positive coping also predicted depression at six months and one year. Conclusion: NMs knew when elderly women were depressed and their reports were accurate predictors of depression even one year later, which implies that elderly depression does not abate spontaneously. Future research should test the possibility that family and friends might be recruited as allies in encouraging earlier treatment and in providing support to older adults through difficult life transitions.