USC News

Boomers Willing to Help Aging Parents

11/02/06
Adults demonstrate commitment toward parental caregiving, new study says, in spite of a historical decline in attitudes toward such care.
By Athan Bezaitis
The research followed individuals from 333 families over two generations.

A new study from the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology found a surge in positive attitudes from the baby boomer generation toward caring for their aging parents.

The shift indicated a renewed sense of continuity and protection provided by families and runs contrary to the popular notion that family cohesiveness is weakening.

The findings, which are published in the November issue of the journal Marriage and Family, examined expected behaviors of adult children toward their aging parents over a 15-year period.

The research, which was part of the USC Longitudinal Study of Generations (LSOG), followed individuals from 333 families over two generations.

“Our results suggest that families are still able to instill strong attitudes toward familial responsibilities after a period in which such attitudes were in decline,” said Daphna Gans, lead author of the study. “Our study provides evidence to the resilience of families in light of changing family dynamics and forms.”

According to the article, an adult child’s desire to care for an aging parent peaks at the age of 51 when individuals are most likely to be called upon to provide parental support. As expected, women consistently express stronger familial obligations toward parents than men.

Further findings also indicated that as parents get closer to death, they become more altruistic toward their children – that is, they make fewer demands of them in spite of their growing needs and increasing dependence.

“Very old adults give priority to their adult children and grandchildren and want to see them thrive, even if it means getting less care then they may actually need,” said co-author Merril Silverstein, professor at the USC Davis School.

Analyses were performed using four waves of data from the USC Longitudinal Study of Generations between 1985 and 2000. Estimations were made using 4,527 observations from 1,627 individuals nested within 333 families. Findings were discussed in terms of the flexibility of responsibility levels for older generations over the entire lifespan.