Lori D. Campbell

The Incomplete Revolution Theorizing Gender When Studying Men Who Provide Care to Aging Parents

In a 1985 article, Judith Stacey and Barrie Thorne argued that the tendency to treat “gender” as an unproblematized dichotomous variable functioned to contain feminist influence in sociology. Although there has clearly been a revolution in gender studies since that time, there are still whole areas of sociological investigation where this revolution is at best incomplete. One such area involves the literature on the care that adult children provide to aging parents. Using arguments relating to gender-as-performance and hegemonic masculinity, the authors investigate conceptualizations of gender and masculinity in a sample of fifty-eight adult sons who provide care to an aging parent. What emerges from the interviews with these male caregivers is a vision of masculinity that is in some ways quite different from the hegemonic ideal. And yet, like earlier investigators who have studied hegemonic masculinity, the authors also find that the existence of a nonhegemonic vision of masculinity does not threaten the hegemonic ideal.

Sibling Ties in Later Life A Social Network Analysis

Using data from a study of 678 adults aged 55 and older, this article examines the role of siblings in four social support networks: confidants, companions, emotional support, and instrumental support, with a particular focus on the impact of gender and marital status on their role. Two types of analyses are used: probability analysis to determine the likelihood of specifying a given tie as a network member and compositional analysis of network membership. Three models of support (hierarchical compensatory, task specificity, functional specificity of relationships) are used to discuss the significant results regarding the probability of including a sibling in each network and the dominance of siblings in the overall composition of each network. The single, especially women, the childless, and widowed women stand out as having particularly involved sibling ties. Greatest support is found for the functional specificity model and for the value of combining probability and compositional analyses.

Caring Sons: Exploring Men's Involvement in Filial Care

This paper investigates socio-demographic, family structure and other factors that predict mens filial care involvement. The concepts guiding this investigation are related to family obligations or motivations to provide care — commitment to care, legitimate excuses, and caring by default. Data for this research come the Work and Eldercare Research Group of CARNET: The Canadian Aging Research Network. This work is based on a sample of 772 men who provide assistance to older parents or parents-in-law. Overall, findings demonstrate the value of the conceptual framework for explaining variations in mens care. For example, distance constraints and the commitment of young children, appear to be legitimate reasons for less care involvement. Further, living nearby and being without siblings may “default” men into being more involved in care. This research recognizes mens filial care as a more complex issue than a ‘gender difference’ focus on caregiving has allowed.

You're saying something by giving things to them: communication and family inheritance

The study purpose was to contribute to a more complete understanding of the experience and meaning of family inheritance. The aim of this article is to describe and discuss the meaning of communication in inheritance experiences among Canadian families. A constructivist/interpretive methodological approach guided this research. Participants were recruited through purposive, convenience sampling from two cities and one town in southern and southwestern Ontario, Canada. Fifty face-to-face, semi-structured, audio-taped, in-depth interviews were conducted between June 2006 and April 2007. NVivo software was used to organize and analyze the data. A content analysis method guided data analysis. Participants interpreted the meaning of family structure, relationships, feelings, and past inheritance experiences to construct their family inheritance communication. Analysis of the findings revealed four themes regarding the role of communication in family inheritance including: (a) avoiding conflict and preserving biological ties, (b) resisting conversations about possessions, (c) achieving confidence withpossession communication, and (d) lasting effects. Participants from non-blended and blended families experienced similar inheritance communication challenges related to past experience with their parents’ wills and distribution of their own possessions. Participants with past positive inheritance experiences with parents adopted similar strategies when communicating their own inheritance wishes. Negative messages conveyed to participants by their parent’s wills inspired participants to communicate in opposite ways in their own inheritance planning. The study findings are useful for gerontologists, lawyers, family counselors, and estate planners.