Families and Aging

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Families and Aging

• Gero 300
• Chapter 11
• Oct 2008

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What does Family Mean?

• A group of people related by blood, marriage or
  adoption
• Def of family 11.1 page 273
• Families are divided into nuclear and extended,
  but family membership may change over time (page
  272)
• Nearly all the elderly are members of a family
  regardless of household living arrangements
• In the past the odds of 3 generations living at
  the same time was low.

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Families

• See table 11.2 page 274
• Collectivist societies prefer multi-generational
  living.
• In past, Western families did not revere their
  elders and wealth played a large part in status
  and treatment of the aged-The Golden Rule-he who
  has the gold makes the rules.
• State support may have reduced tension in
  families who could not afford to look after
  elderly

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Structure of Aging Families

• Marital Status-married seniors are healthier and
  live longer and non-married, widowed, divorced
• Unmarried seniors in particular females are more
  frequently in care
• Older men are more likely married than older
  women-but advanced age creates more widowhood.
  For women this is an expected life event and
  older males can marry younger females. Widows
  often do not want to remarry-look at factors of
  education and children

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Marital status

• High proportion of elderly in future will be
  divorced due to late life divorce-50 of all
  women over 65 in 2025 will not be in a marriage.
• What will be the economic impact?
• Living Arrangements-are a factor of marital
  status-impacted by institutionalization and
  gender
• 60 of elderly men live with their wives only (a
  couple household), a very different picture for
  women (p 280)

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Living arrangements

• Men tend to rely on wives for care while women
  rely on children and friends
• Women experience changes in living status in
  later life and this has implications for housing,
  health and social support.
• Living Alone-16 of males and 35 of females over
  65 live alone-see table 11.4 page 281
• Higher increase in female life expectancy, higher
  ratio men to women and declining fertility means
  competing for space in childrens homes

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Living arrangements

• Seniors may be able to afford and choose to live
  on their own (pension improvements). Issues of
  privacy, independence and individualism
• Multi-generational living-2001 2.2 65-74 lived
  in a three generational household-7 of Canadians
  live with other relatives and about 13 of
  elderly live in some kind of multi-generational
  living arrangement. Count in factors of ethnicity
  and immigrant families-see page 283

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Structure of Extended Families

• Vertical extension-more than one generation alive
  but each generation is smaller horizontal
  shrinkage
• Reconstituted or blended families-families formed
  from remarriage and children of divorce
• Mid-Life families p.284-sandwich generation-care
  demands of children and aging parents.
  Care-giving to parents mainly occurs after
  children have left home. Look at empty nest,
  cluttered nest and boomerang issues-page 285

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Family structure

• Economic factors and diminished opportunities
  play a role in adult children returning home and
  returning home gives a social and economic
  advantage to some young adults that others lack
• Impact on marriage-research shows mothers like
  the idea, but the boomerangers can be quite
  disruptive with an average stay of 6 months to
  two years.
• Intergenerational stake-preservation versus
  autonomy

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Introduction

• Families are the source of strong emotional bonds
  but have the potential for interpersonal conflict
• The family is the core element of the
  individuals social support system which are
  reciprocal in nature and result various kinds of
  assistance and exchanges over the life course.
• Social Support System Family, friends, social
  and religious organizations

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Support Networks

• Emotional and Instrumental support.
• Variables include-age, sex, longevity of
  relationship, geographical proximity
• Old people are firmly embedded in networks within
  which are divisions of labour
• Studies show remarkable stability in the
  networks, note factors of divorce, remarriage,
  education, geography, employment moves.
• Convoy model of social relations

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Social Support

• Women more likely to sustain network than men
• Women have more people in their networks and have
  more frequent contacts with more complex levels
  of relationships. This does open the door to
  network friction and conflict
• Changing Family Structures Nuclear and extended
  family have changed-factors to consider
  demography-quantitative and qualitative aging.
  The stripped down family with more complex
  social interactions

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Social Support

• Declining mortality-more complex kinship
  relationships, intergenerational family ties,
  living sibs, surviving husbands, increased
  divorce rates (50 of all marriages by year 2000)
• Results in verticalization of family
  systems-increases links with preceeding and
  subsequent generations with an overall increase
  in the number of generations in a family alive at
  the same time.

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Marital Issues

• 2000 52 of females 65-74 were married and 26 75
  
• For males 74 and 71 respectively
• Males seldom marry older women than themselves.
  Married people report greater well-being, better
  health, lower mortality.
• Family life cycle-evolution of family over life
  course. Conservative model did not account for
  divorce rates of 50

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Marital Issues

• This raises issues of single parenting, second or
  multiple families and accumulation of children.
  Typical model only applies to a small percentage
  of families.
• Need to add to model-post childbearing
  retirement, early retirement, late
  retirement-last three can last 30 years of adult
  life.
• Marital satisfaction over life course-high early,
  lower during childrearing, rise during
  retirement-issues of role conflict and multiple
  role demands

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Marital Issues

• 74 of all divorces are before 40 and 1.3 after
  65
• lt 3 of marriages last 50 years
• Compatibility across the life span includes
  similar interests, values, goals, abilities,
  conflict resolution. Long term relationships give
  enduring social support, improved mental health,
  and overall well-being.
• Enduring role strain may predict sustainability

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Sexual Activity

• Overall sexual activity declines with age-men
  report less decline than women.
• This is across all sexual behaviors, but
  satisfaction in sexual behavior continues across
  the life cycle. Issues such as monotony,
  psychological fatigue, changes in appearance,
  decreased interest post menopause, erectile
  dysfunction. Interest in sexual behavior and
  activity can last into old old age.

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Sexual Activity

• In women the i.mportant predictor of continued
  sexual activity was being married-42-2.7
  married to singles. This is not as significant
  for males 47-31
• Gender and Marriage-traditional marriages have
  traditional roles. Wives are influenced by
  husbands perceptions of marriage, personality
  traits, energy, positiveness, health. Husbands
  strongest influenced by his own health perception
  

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Marital

• Males derive more benefits from marriage than
  females and therefore have a higher degree of
  satisfaction. Men confide in their spouses while
  women are more likely to mention children or
  friends.
• Parent Child Relationships-More than 50 years
  growing together. There are now tiers of parent
  child relationships over several generations. The
  relationship is permanent and involuntary

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Child/Parent

• Older persons with positive child parent
  relationships are less likely to be depressed or
  lonely with higher morale and life satisfaction
• Six basic issues that cause C/P conflict in adult
  years-communication, lifestyles, personal habits,
  child rearing practices, religion, politics.
• Social Interchange-Intergenerational
  solidarity-families adjust living arrangements to
  reflect changing needs and resources of different
  generations

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Social Exchange

• Issues of economic and health needs influence
  involvement and proximity
• Families can re-constitute themselves in later
  life
• Issues of social class are a factor on education
  and employment and as a result the amount and
  kind of social support
• Intergenerational Solidarity-6 components-frequenc
  y of interaction-amount-positive sentiments
  towards family-shared values and beliefs-service
  exchange-proximity

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Social Exchange

• Being concerned and staying in touch with elderly
  parents is a predictor of the amount of support
  children will provide their parents when required
• Dysfunctional relationships will affect normative
  responses
• Family tension, chronic disease, cognitive
  decline can result in elder abuse by acts of
  omission or commission. This can result in
  neglect, financial exploitation and physical
  abuse.

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Social Support

• Emotional abuse may be prevalent but difficult to
  assess and prove.
• Sexual abuse is much more difficult to determine
  and often goes un-reported.
• Elder Abuse can range from 1-11 of the elderly
  and in some cases it would not be seen as abuse
  by the stressed caregiver or the adult child who
  was treated badly by their parents and feels this
  is expected behavior.

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Social Support

• Factors such as mental illness, drug addiction
  and previous abuse histories are significant
  variables in determining elder abuse.
• Divorce and Remarriage-Changes the nature of the
  parent/child relationship and obligations
• Who cares for step-parents? Are there gender
  differences in response to blended families?
• Ties may be weaker between parents and families
  in step-families and therefore support systems
  may not be intact

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Sib Relationships

• Unmarried elderly about 5. Rely on totally
  different network, but about 75 may have no
  support network available.
• They may however be more self-reliant,
  independent, and used to being alone.
• Siblings may re-enter the support network around
  major illness, retirement, widowhood.
• Grandparenting-50 of north Americans are GPs by
  age 50

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GP

• 3 styles of GP-remote, companionate, involved.
• Remote-ritualistic and symbolic
• Companionate-leisure activities, friendly and
  easy interaction, norm of non-interference
• Involved-active role in parenting, daily contact,
  surrogate roles after divorce or death or single
  parenting
• Involved GP may experience decline in well-being

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GPs

• Parents model the interaction with GP from their
  own interaction with their parents
• Reciprocity and links strengthen
  intergenerational activity and vice-versa
• As grandchildren age they may become part of the
  support system to their GPs
• Grandchildren may provide the only links in
  divorced families and divorce rates have changed
  the family structure and extended kin networks

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Gay Elderly

• Cannot count on traditional support systems and
  typically live in their own networks of friends
  and significant others.
• Friends are important contacts as they act as
  surrogate family members and seniors may rely
  heavily on friendships rather than family.
  Friendships may change over the life course and
  the elderly may have fewer friends but more
  intimate ones. This is especially true for widows
  who rely more on single sex friends