Merril Silverstein

Mental, Physical and Social Components in Leisure Activities Equally Contribute to Decrease Dementia Risk

Background: There is accumulating evidence in the literature that leisure engagement has a beneficial effect on dementia. Most studies have grouped activities according to whether they were predominantly mental, physical or social. Since many activities contain more than one component, we aimed to verify the effect of all three major components on the dementia risk, as well as their combined effect. Methods: A mental, social and physical component score was estimated for each activity by the researchers and a sample of elderly persons. The correlation between the ratings of the authors and the means of the elderly subjects’ ratings was 0.86. The study population consisted of 776 nondemented subjects, aged 75 years and above, living in Stockholm, Sweden, who were still nondemented after 3 years and were followed for 3 more years to detect incident dementia cases. Results: Multi-adjusted relative risks (RRs) of dementia for subjects with higher mental, physical and social component score sums were 0.71 (95% CI: 0.49–1.03), 0.61 (95% CI: 0.42–0.87) and 0.68 (95% CI: 0.47–0.99), respectively. The most beneficial effect was present for subjects with high scores in all or in two of the components (RR of dementia = 0.53; 95% CI: 0.36–0.78). Conclusions: These findings suggest that a broad spectrum of activities containing more than one of the components seems to be more beneficial than to be engaged in only one type of activity.

Affection, Social Contact, and Geographic Distance between Adult Children and Their Parents.

This study investigates the following questions: whether greater affection between adult children and their parents leads to more social contact, whether frequent social contact leads to greater affection, or whether each of these mutually influences the other. Using nationally representative data collected in 1990 by the American Association of Retired Persons, we examine predictors of each dimension of solidarity and then estimate a causal model that tests the indirect and reciprocal influence among these dimensions. After finding a reciprocal influence between contact and affection in the mother-child relationship, but not in the father-child relationship, we conclude that the motivations for contact are different in adult-child relations with mothers compared to those with fathers. These differences are important for understanding the consequences of family disruption for intergenerational solidarity in adulthood. Also, parallels are drawn between parent-child relationships and voluntary friendships. Over the last decade, research on family relations has increasingly taken a multidimensional approach to studying adult intergenerational relationships, focusing on frequency of visits and phone calls, helping behavior, geographic distance between generations, and, more recently, the affection that one generation has for another. Each dimension of family relations is further interconnected with the others in ways that affect the well-being of both generations. For example, geographic mobility increases physical distance between generations, impeding the exchange of social and instrumental support (Dewit, Wister, & Burch, 1988; Litwak & Kulis, 1987). Additionally, because the dimensions are interconnected, the social forces that influence one dimension of the family relationships will indirectly influence the others. Changes in family structure, such as the increase in divorce and remarriage, may thus alter the functioning of intergenerational relationships by reshaping access to family members (Furstenberg, 1981, 1988). Therefore, a more accurate knowledge concerning parent-child relationships can be gained by considering the interrelated and mutually reinforcing dimensions as a system. In this article, we consider the mutual impact of affection, contact, and distance. A question arising in discussions about parent-child relations in later life is: Does greater affection lead to more frequent visiting, does more frequent visiting lead to greater affection, or does each of these mutually influence the other? Despite its theoretical plausibility and relevance to a more accurate interpretation of parent-child interactions in adult life, this question has remained unanswered. We address this question by examining three dimensions considered key to understanding the nature of adult parent-child relationships: affection, frequency of social contact, and geographic distance. First, we investigate each dimension of solidarity independently and then we develop a causal model to understand the interconnections among these dimensions, specifically how they mediate and reciprocally influence each other. BACKGROUND The literature on intergenerational family relations is generally sanguine about the state of intergenerational relationships in the contemporary family. Studies find that despite fears of mass alienation and abandonment, the vast majority of parents visit or speak once a week or more with at least one child (Shanas, 1979) and most live within an hour of one child (Lawton, Silverstein, & Bengtson, in press). Also, aging parents can and do rely on their children to provide caregiving and other forms of assistance (Brody & Schoonover, 1986). In spite of the generally optimistic tone of these conclusions, there are substantial sources of variation in the quality of intergenerational relations. For instance, while the level of affection between parents and children is generally high, it is weakened in the case of parental divorce, especially between divorced fathers and their children (Cooney & Uhlenberg, 1990; Lawton, 1990). …

LEISURE ACTIVITIES AND QUALITY OF LIFE AMONG THE OLDEST OLD IN SWEDEN

Drawing on Rowe and Kahn’s (1998) notion that “engagement with life” is a critical component of successful aging, this study tested whether change in leisure activities over a ten year period was associated with retrospectively assessed change in quality of life among older people in Sweden. Hypotheses were tested using a nationally rep resentative sample of 324 older Swedes living in the community, surveyed in 1981 and 1992. Fifteen leisure activities were divided into six domains: culture-entertainment, productive-personal growth, outdoor-physical, recreation-expressive, friendship, and formal-group. Ordered logit analysis revealed that those increasing their activity participation across domains tended to perceive an improvement in their life conditions. This effect was particularly strong among older adults who became widowed, developed functional impairments, and had relatively low contact with family. The results suggest that maximizing activity participation is an adaptive strategy taken by older adults to compensate for social and physical deficits in later life.

Intergenerational Support to Aging Parents The Role of Norms and Needs

This investigation examines how norms of filial responsibility influence adult children to provide social support to their aging parents. Relying on intergenerational solidarity and social capital theories, the authors hypothesize that filial responsibility as a latent resource is more strongly converted into support when (a) the parent experiences increased need and (b) the child in question is a daughter. Using data from 488 adult children in the Longitudinal Study of Generations, the authors examine change in support provided between 1997 and 2000. Declining health of either parent increases the strength with which filial norms predisposed children to provide support. The conversion of filial norms into support is stronger among daughters than among sons but only toward mothers. Results are discussed in terms of the contingent linkage between latent and manifest functions and the persistence of gender role differentiation in the modern family.

Factors That Predispose Middle-Aged Sons and Daughters to Provide Social Support to Older Parents.

What accounts for the willingness of adult children to serve the needs of their aging parents? Despite social changes-such as geographic mobility, divorce, and womens participation in the labor force -- that have presumably weakened intergenerational family cohesion, adult children, especially daughters, remain the most prodigious and reliable sources of instrumental social support to their parents (Eggebeen & Hogan, 1990; Lawton, Silverstein, & Bengtson, 1994b; Litwak, 1985) In this analysis we examine the reasons behind such support, and ask whether middle-aged sons and daughters are motivated by similar factors. Longitudinal data collected over three time periods are used to examine gender differences in the degree to which earlier expressions of intergenerational family solidarity and attitudes toward family life influence the propensity of children to provide social support to their elderly parents. II BACKGROUND The life course trajectory of family relationships is increasingly recognized by scholars as an important dimension in studying contemporary family relationships (Bengtson & Allen, 1993). Intergenerational relationships in the older family have been viewed as the culmination of a lifelong pattern of family experiences and exchange. Study of the role of earlier experiences and attitudes in contemporary family relations has generally relied on the retrospective reports of children (Anderson & Stevens, 1993; Simos, 1970; Whitbeck, Simons, & Conger, 1991). For example, Rossi and Rossi (1990) provided evidence that the quality of early family relationships as remembered by adult children influences current feelings of affection and normative obligations toward parents. Whitbeck, Simons, and Conger (1991) found that recollected parental rejection indirectly suppresses the volume of social support provided to parents by diminishing the quality of the contemporary parent-child relationship. While these studies have yielded some promising insights into the life course of the family, longitudinal data is needed to prospectively link earlier expressed values, attitudes, and sentiments in the family with later outcomes, and thus establish causal relationships among the constructs. Research on the family provision of social support to older relatives has a long and rich tradition in social gerontology (e.g., see Shanas, 1979). More recently, there has been a growth in the number of studies that focus exclusively on intergenerational family relationships as sources of support for the elderly. These studies have been made possible by the recent availability of detailed, multigenerational, and sometimes longitudinal data concerning family relations collected in national surveys (Hogan, Eggebeen, & Clogg, 1993; Lawton, Silverstein, & Bengtson, 1994b), in regional surveys (Bengtson Roberts, 1991; Rossi & Rossi, 1990; Spitze & Logan, 1990), and in surveys of ethnically diverse samples of African Americans (Chatters & Taylor, 1993) and Mexican Americans (Markides, Boldt, & Ray, 1986). Such research seeks to better understand the conditions under which social transfers are made between adult generations. In this article we use the construct of social solidarity to characterize the relationships between adult children and their parents. The paradigm of solidarity is widely used to specify variables in empirical studies of family relationships (Atkinson, Kivett, & Campbell, 1986; Bengtson & Roberts, 1991; Roberts & Bengtson, 1990; Rossi & Rossi 1990). We focus on four of the six identified components, or dimensions, of solidarity: functional solidarity, affectual solidarity, normative solidarity, and associational solidarity. While previous research suggests that affectual, normative, and associational forms of solidarity predispose children to provide social support to older parents, studies have rarely taken them into account simultaneously when explaining functional solidarity between generations (see Lee, Netzer, & Coward, 1994). …

Intergenerational Social Support and the Psychological Well-Being of Older Parents in China:

This study explores the relationship between intergenerational social support and the psychological well-being of older Chinese parents. Effects of structural, functional, emotional, and appraisal social support on older Chinese parents’ well-being were tested by analyzing data collected from a random sample of 3,039 persons aged 55 and over who participated in the 1992 baseline survey of the Beijing Multidimensional Longitudinal Study on Aging (BMLSOA). Multiple regression is used to determine whether intergenerational exchanges of social support influence older parents’ morale. Findings reveal that providing instrumental support to children and satisfaction with children directly improve parents’well-being. The benefits of receiving support from children are fully mediated by parents’satisfaction with their children. The positive effects of providing functional support are magnified among parents who adhere to more traditional norms regarding family support. The results suggest that the psychological benefits of intergenerational support exchanges should not be ignored when developing elder care policy in China.

Does intergenerational social support influence the psychological well-being of older parents? The contingencies of declining health and widowhood

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.

Stability and change in temporal distance between the elderly and their children

Drawing on a developmental model of late-life migration, this paper investigates how older people’s health and social characteristics influence stability and change in their temporal distance from their children. Data from the Longitudinal Study of Aging are used to examine both discrete transitions and continuous change in distance over a four-year period. Decline in older parents’ physical health increased the propensity of parents and children to become temporally closer to each other. Among those parent-child pairs who had become closer, the conjunction of declining health and widowhood increased both the degree of non-coresident proximity and the likelihood of transition to coresidence. The findings portray a geographically resilient family that adjusts to the changing needs of its older members.

Organizational theory social supports and mortality rates: a theoretical convergence.

Theorists and researchers have explicitly or implicitly made use of primary groups to explain a wide range of social behaviors such as work productivity mass media communication combat morale job search services to elderly and mortality rates. Typically they have not systematically distinguished primary group from formal organization effects. Consequently it is not known what primary groups uniquely contribute to social behavior. An expanded organizational contingency theory of group structure is advanced which fills in this gap and shows that primary group theory and organizational contingency theory share a common framework. To demonstrate the power of this formulation [U.S.] national data on mortality are analyzed to predict which causes of death can and which cannot be reduced by primary groups. (EXCERPT)

Observing the onset of disability in older adults

One of the greatest threats to the ability of older adults to live independently is the onset of disability in activities adults perform in their daily lives, such as dressing, eating, toileting, managing ones money, preparing meals and so on. This article examines the onset of disability in older adult Americans using three waves of the Asset and Health Dynamics Among the Oldest Old (AHEAD) survey (1993, 1995, 1998; n=4228). We use medical/demographic factors (arthritis, heart disease, diabetes; age, gender, race/ethnicity, wealth), baseline characteristics (affect, cognition, health behaviors, medical insurance), and time-varying covariates (changes in chronic conditions and baseline characteristics) to predict the onset of activities of daily living (ADLs) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) disability, individually and in the aggregate, over time. We find the onset of ADL and IADL disability is a complex process, suggesting important roles for medical, demographic, social, psychological, and behavioral triggers, specifically negative affect, higher body weight, and by the lack of vigorous exercise. We also find that individual ADL and IADL impairments are predicted by a variety of different factors, suggesting that summary measures of disability may be masking a wealth of potentially useful interventions. In general, public health efforts in the area of controlling obesity and treating depressive symptoms should be supported.