Megan Gilligan
Biographic Data
| ID | 76752 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Megan Gilligan |
| GIVEN NAMES | Megan |
| FAMILY NAME | Gilligan |
| SIGNATURE | GILLIGAN M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Missouri |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-5321-5097 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 46 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 296 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 46 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2008 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 12 |
Patterns and Consequences of Adult Grandchildren’s Perceptions of Grandmothers' Differential Treatment on Well-Being
This paper expands research on within-family differences in later-life families by examining patterns and consequences of adult children’s perceptions of their grandmothers’ differential treatment. Mixed-methods data were collected from 221 adult grandchildren nested within 81 families as part of the Within-Family Differences Study. Multilevel linear regression and qualitative analyses were used to examine patterns, consequences, and explanations…
Sharing in Caring: Perceptions of (In)Equality and Mental Health Among Siblings Caring for a Parent With Dementia
Care for a parent with dementia is often shared among multiple adult children, yet it is not always evenly distributed. Guided by the family stress process model, this study examined associations between perceptions of care equality, depressive symptoms, loneliness, and positive affect among 208 adult children caring for a parent with dementia within 110 families from the Siblings Caring for a Parent with Dementia Study (mean age = 58.36, SD = 9.…
Impact of Sibling Death in Midlife on Tension Among Surviving Siblings
Objective This study investigates changes in sibling tension following the deaths of sibship members in midlife, as well as the processes underlying these changes, particularly as they vary by the gender of the deceased sibling. Background Relationships with siblings are among adults' most enduring ties across the life course, serving as important sources of support and shaping well‐being. Despite the salience of these ties, there has been little…
Differential Costs of Raising Grandchildren on Older Mother-Adult Child Relations in Black and White Families
Drawing from theories of affect, role strain and stress processes, we studied the impact of raising grandchildren on older mothers’ relationships with the adult offspring whose children they raised, with particular attention to how these patterns differ by race and ethnicity. We used mixed-methods data collected from 531 older mothers regarding their relationships with 1935 of their adult children as part of the Within-Family Differences Study. M…
Receiving Advice from Mothers and Depressive Symptoms in Midlife: Exploring the Moderating Roles of Gender and Relationship Quality
This study contributes to the literature on intergenerational relations by highlighting the ways in which gender and relationship quality shape the association between receiving advice and well-being in midlife
Sibling Violence Victimization in Adolescence and Intimate Partner Violence in Emerging Adulthood: A Growth Mixture Model Approach
Parents' psychological control and Latina young women's depressive symptoms: Examining the role of perceived dyadic coping behaviors from sisters
Given that Latina young women experience high rates of depressive symptoms, identifying how to improve mental health among this population is critical. Perceived psychological control from mothers and fathers is associated with Latine young adults' depressive symptoms. We examined how perceived supportive (e.g., showing empathy after stress disclosure) and negative (e.g., ignoring stress after stress disclosure) dyadic coping behaviors from siste…
The association between sibling ambivalence and well-being in older adulthood: The role of sibling gender composition
Family scholarship has documented negative associations between ambivalence and well-being in the context of parent-adult child relationships. As sibling ties remain salient throughout later life, ambivalence experienced in sibling relationships might also be related to older adult well-being. The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between sibling ambivalence and both psychological and physical well-being of older adults, as we…
Because He's My Baby: The Role of Birth Order in How Mothers Explain Favoritism Toward Adult Children
Last-born adult children are disproportionately likely to be their mothers' 'favored child.' Although past research shows that birth order shapes children's likelihood of being favored, little is known about whether or how it shapes the reasons a child is favored. Using qualitative interview data from 233 older mothers, we examine how mothers' explanations for favoring an adult child are shaped by their favored child's birth order. Findings show …
Maternal differential treatment and adult children's well-being when mothers have cognitive impairment
ObjectivesOur goal was to examine the role of perceptions of mothers' cognitive impairment (CI) in shaping the impact of maternal differential treatment on adult children's psychological well-being.BackgroundThe detrimental impact of mothers' differential treatment on adult children's psychological well-being has been well-documented; however, little is known about whether this association is moderated by mothers' CI.MethodsMixed-methods data wer…
Dyadic Ambivalence in Couples Managing Early-Stage Alzheimer’s Disease: Linking Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia to Life Satisfaction
This study utilizes a dyadic approach to assess ambivalence in dementia care. Findings reveal the conflicting emotions that couples experience as they cope with early-stage AD, identify sources of such ambivalence, and shed light on the development of dyadic interventions that can promote positive outcomes in both partners
A Coordinated Data Analysis of Four Studies Exploring Age Differences in Social Interactions and Loneliness During a Global Pandemic
Applying the CDA methodological framework allowed us to detect common and divergent patterns of social interactions and loneliness across samples, ages, regions, periods, and study designs
Worrying Across the Generations: The Impact of Adult Grandchildren’s Problems on Grandparents’ Well-Being
These findings expand research on the importance of grandparent-adult grandchild relationships and contribute to research on multigenerational relationships and health by considering how problems experienced by members of younger generations affect the psychological well-being of older adults
Adult sibling tension and psychological well-being in the context of older mothers’ health limitations: Variation by gender and race
Research on sibling relationships has documented an association between sibling tension and psychological well-being across the life course, however, less is known about how sibling tension in adulthood shapes psychological well-being in the context of older parents’ health limitations. We extend research on sibling tension and psychological well-being by considering the following: (1) Does the association between sibling tension and depressive s…
How gender shapes sibling tension in adulthood following parental death
ObjectiveThis study investigates gender differences in the effect of parents' deaths on sibling tension among bereaved adult children.BackgroundPrevious scholarship on adult sibling relations following the deaths of parents presents inconsistent results. These disparate findings may stem from past studies not taking into consideration the gender of both the deceased parent and the bereaved child.MethodAnalyses are based on three harmonized waves …
Intergenerational transmission of relationship quality in later‐life families
Objective: This article examines the transmission of older women's relationship quality with their mothers and fathers to their relationship quality with their own adult children in midlife. We also investigate how the transmission is moderated by the dimension of relationship quality (closeness vs. strain) and the gender of both the older women's parents and their adult children. Background: Prior research has primarily examined parents' transmi…
Patterns and Processes of Intergenerational Estrangement: A Qualitative Study of Mother–Adult Child Relationships Across Time
Drawing from the life course perspective, we explored patterns of estrangement between mothers and their adult children across time, and the processes through which these ties remained estranged, or moved in or out of estrangement. We used a prospective design in which data were collected in face-to-face semi-structured interviews with 61 older mothers about their relationships with their 274 adult children at two time points 7 years apart. We be…
Mothers’ Functional Limitations and Relationship Quality With Adult Children: Exploring the Moderating Roles of Race and Gender
Theory and research on intergenerational relations emphasize the salient role that mothers and their adult children play in one another’s lives. However, little is known about how mothers’ health may shape mother–child relationship quality in later-life. We utilized data from the Within Family Differences Study to explore how mothers’ functional limitations affect multiple dimensions of mother–child relationship quality, as reported by mothers an…
Adult Children’s Education and Mothers’ Psychological Well-Being: Do Adult Children’s Problems Mediate This Relationship
This study underscores the importance of considering how resources and risks that affect well-being accumulate both across the life course and across generations. Providing education opportunities to younger generations and enhancing programs that address challenges that low-attaining children may face have the potential to help minimize socioeconomic disparities in psychological well-being among older adults
How Do Own and Siblings’ Genders Shape Caregivers’ Risk of Perceiving Care-Related Criticism From Siblings
Findings demonstrate how characteristics of caregivers and their sibships interact to affect caregivers' risk of perceiving criticism regarding their care to their mothers
Prodigal Children: Why Older Mothers Favor Their Once-Deviant Adult Children
Mothers' perceptions of children's behavioral reformations as being accompanied by greater dedication to family or reflecting a need for their mothers' support offer 2 explanations for why previously deviant adult children may become mothers' favored offspring. These findings contribute to a growing body of scholarship on the complexity of intergenerational relations by shedding new light on changing patterns of favoritism in families with a hist…
How Widowhood and Gender Shape the Impact of Maternal Favoritism on Adult Children’s Psychological Well-Being
The quantitative and qualitative findings we present underscore how social structural positions-in this case, mother's marital status and child's gender-combine with social psychological processes to shape how parent-child relations affect children's well-being in adulthood
Sibling relationships in older adulthood: Links with loneliness and well-being.
4.58) on average. Participants provided self-report data about their relationships and well-being. Results showed that older adults reported high levels of sibling warmth and low levels of sibling conflict and parental favoritism. Sister-sister pairs had warmer sibling relationships than other gender-compositions. Sibling conflict and parental favoritism were positively associated with symptoms of depression, anxiety, hostility, and loneliness. S…
Sibling Relationships in Adulthood: Research Findings and New Frontiers
Sibling relationships, the longest‐lasting relationships in most people's lives, have been understudied compared to other family relationships. The goal of this review is to increase understanding of sibling relationships from midlife to older adulthood by integrating aspects of psychological and sociological theories, including social exchange, family systems, and life course perspectives, to better understand the structure, function, processes,…
Multigenerational social support in the face of the Covid ‐19 pandemic
Research documents high levels of instrumental, financial, and expressive support exchanges within multigenerational families in the 21st century. The COVID-19 pandemic poses unique challenges to support exchanges between the generations; however, the pandemic may provide opportunities for greater solidarity within families. In this review, we draw from theoretical perspectives that have been used to study family relationships to understand the i…
Linked Lives and Cumulative Inequality: A Multigenerational Family Life Course Framework
Growing social and economic inequalities in the United States have been accompanied by shifts in family structure. Social and demographic changes may make multigenerational family ties (e.g., between grandparents, parents, and children) an even more important contributor than ever in perpetuating inequality. The family life course framework, which considers how dimensions of individual (age), sociohistorical (period, cohort), and processual (gene…
Sibling Relationships in Adulthood: Research Findings and New Frontiers
Sibling relationships, the longest‐lasting relationships in most people's lives, have been understudied compared to other family relationships. The goal of this review is to increase understanding of sibling relationships from midlife to older adulthood by integrating aspects of psychological and sociological theories, including social exchange, family systems, and life course perspectives, to better understand the structure, function, processes,…
Estrangement Between Mothers and Adult Children: The Role of Norms and Values
Relationships between mothers and their children are expected to be lifelong and rewarding for both members of the dyad. Because of the salience of these ties, they are likely to be disrupted only under conditions of extreme relational tension and dissatisfaction. In this work, the authors drew on theoretical arguments regarding societal norm violations and value similarity to examine the processes that lead to estrangement between mothers and ad…
Conceptualizing and Measuring Intergenerational Ambivalence in Later Life
The analyses presented here suggest that direct and indirect measures of intergenerational ambivalence may not be tapping the same underlying construct, particularly in the case of adult children and especially sons. Furthermore, direct measures may have an advantage over indirect measures when including sons in the study design. We conclude that direct and indirect measures cannot be used interchangeably across the combination of generation and …
Do Positive Feelings Hurt? Disaggregating Positive and Negative Components of Intergenerational Ambivalence
Ambivalence has become an important conceptual development in the study of parent-adult child relations, with evidence highlighting that intergenerational relationships are characterized by a mix of positive and negative components. Recent studies have shown that ambivalence has detrimental consequences for both parents' and adult children's psychological well-being. The underlying assumption of this line of research is that psychological distres…
Applying Within-Family Differences Approaches to Enhance Understanding of the Complexity of Intergenerational Relations
Within-family differences approaches have been shown to shed new light on intergenerational relations. Despite the value of within-family designs, their use may be limited by the higher investment of finances and time required to implement such studies
Differential Effects of Perceptions of Mothers' and Fathers' Favoritism on Sibling Tension in Adulthood
These findings contribute to a growing body of research demonstrating the consequences of parental favoritism in adulthood. Equally important, they demonstrate that perceptions of fathers' current favoritism plays an even greater role in shaping their adult children's sibling relations than do mothers' favoritism
The Role of Perceived Maternal Favoritism in Sibling Relations in Midlife
Data were collected from 708 adult children nested within 274 later-life families from the Within-Family Differences Study to explore the role of perceived maternal favoritism in the quality of sibling relations in midlife. Mixed-model analyses revealed that regardless of which sibling was favored, perceptions of current favoritism and recollections of favoritism in childhood reduced closeness among siblings. Recollections of maternal favoritism …
Family Networks and Psychological Well-Being in Midlife
Scholarship has highlighted the importance of kin relations for well-being in adulthood. Much focus has been on relationships between spouses and between parents and children. However, limited research has explored the role of adult sibling relationships in well-being, and no studies have made direct comparisons among the effects of tension with these multiple family members. Using data collected from 495 adult children nested within 254 families…
Role of Perceived Maternal Favoritism and Disfavoritism in Adult Children’s Psychological Well-Being
The findings shed new light on the role of intergenerational relations in adult children's well-being in midlife by taking into consideration the respondents' direct reports of their perceptions of their mothers' favoritism and disfavoritism. Further, the findings provide evidence that the association between maternal differentiation and psychological well-being in adulthood is stronger in Black than in White families. These patterns suggest that…
Multigenerational social support in the face of the Covid ‐19 pandemic
Research documents high levels of instrumental, financial, and expressive support exchanges within multigenerational families in the 21st century. The COVID-19 pandemic poses unique challenges to support exchanges between the generations; however, the pandemic may provide opportunities for greater solidarity within families. In this review, we draw from theoretical perspectives that have been used to study family relationships to understand the i…
Continuity and Change in Mothers' Favoritism Toward Offspring in Adulthood
The importance of parental favoritism in childhood and adulthood has been well documented; little is known, however, about changes over time in such within-family differentiation. Drawing on theories of life course processes and developmental psychology, the authors used 7-year panel data collected from 406 older mothers about their relationships with 1,514 adult children to explore patterns of favoritism regarding caregiving and emotional closen…
Conflict with Mothers and Siblings During Caregiving: Differential Costs for Black and White Adult Children
This study highlights ways in which the experiences of caregivers reflect broader patterns of differences between Black and White families in both intergenerational cohesion and health disparities in midlife
The Long Arm of Maternal Differential Treatment: Effects of Recalled and Current Favoritism on Adult Children’s Psychological Well-Being
Taken together, the findings from this investigation reflect principles of theories of social comparison and the life course in that both perceptions of current MDT and MDT recalled from childhood affect children's well-being in midlife. These findings contribute to a growing body of literature highlighting the role of within-family differences in parent-child relationships on well-being across the life course
Maternal Differential Treatment in Later Life Families and Within-Family Variations in Adult Sibling Closeness
Variability in the strength of sibling ties within families suggests that some individuals receive greater benefits from this relationship than do their brothers and sisters. These findings shed new light on such within-family variations in sibling closeness by identifying how specific patterns of maternal differential treatment draw offspring toward some siblings and away from others
My Pride and Joy? Predicting Favoritism and Disfavoritism in Mother-Adult Child Relations
In this article, we compare predictors of mothers' differentiation among their adult children regarding emotional closeness, pride, conflict, and disappointment. We distinguish between predictors of relational (closeness, conflict) and evaluative (pride, disappointment) dimensions of favoritism and disfavoritism. Multilevel modeling using data collected from 381 older mothers regarding their relationships with 1,421 adult children indicated that …
How gender shapes sibling tension in adulthood following parental death
ObjectiveThis study investigates gender differences in the effect of parents' deaths on sibling tension among bereaved adult children.BackgroundPrevious scholarship on adult sibling relations following the deaths of parents presents inconsistent results. These disparate findings may stem from past studies not taking into consideration the gender of both the deceased parent and the bereaved child.MethodAnalyses are based on three harmonized waves …
How Widowhood and Gender Shape the Impact of Maternal Favoritism on Adult Children’s Psychological Well-Being
The quantitative and qualitative findings we present underscore how social structural positions-in this case, mother's marital status and child's gender-combine with social psychological processes to shape how parent-child relations affect children's well-being in adulthood
Maternal Differential Treatment and Psychological Well-Being: The Mediating Role of Marital Tension and Sibling Tension
The evaluation of the stress proliferation process of maternal favoritism and disfavoritism can help us to understand the difference in effects across various dimensions of MDT. This study contributes to the literature on social relationships as social determinants of health by investigating how intergenerational relationships are connected to other family relationships to affect family members' health
Roles of egos’ and siblings’ perceptions of maternal favoritism in adult children’s depressive symptoms: A within-family network approach
It is well documented that intergenerational ties play important roles in adults’ well-being. However, most studies focus on the impact of individuals’ own perceptions of their ties without considering whether family members’ assessments of these ties affect well-being. We address this question using data from 296 adult children nested within 95 later-life families in which all offspring were interviewed. Applying a mixed-method within-family app…
The Caregiver Identity in Context: Consequences of Identity Threat From Siblings
These findings demonstrate how identity processes, as well as the family networks in which caregiving takes place, shape the experiences and consequences of parent care
Parents' psychological control and Latina young women's depressive symptoms: Examining the role of perceived dyadic coping behaviors from sisters
Given that Latina young women experience high rates of depressive symptoms, identifying how to improve mental health among this population is critical. Perceived psychological control from mothers and fathers is associated with Latine young adults' depressive symptoms. We examined how perceived supportive (e.g., showing empathy after stress disclosure) and negative (e.g., ignoring stress after stress disclosure) dyadic coping behaviors from siste…
Unforeseen Consequences of Mothers' Return to School: Children's Educational Aspirations and Outcomes
Parents' educational attainment is generally completed before offspring are born. Thus, there is little opportunity to study the ways in which children's observation of their parents' pursuit of education may augment the effects of structural factors on intergenerational transmission processes. In this article, the authors use qualitative and quantitative data collected from thirty-five women across a decade following their return to school to ex…
The association between sibling ambivalence and well-being in older adulthood: The role of sibling gender composition
Family scholarship has documented negative associations between ambivalence and well-being in the context of parent-adult child relationships. As sibling ties remain salient throughout later life, ambivalence experienced in sibling relationships might also be related to older adult well-being. The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between sibling ambivalence and both psychological and physical well-being of older adults, as we…
Adult sibling tension and psychological well-being in the context of older mothers’ health limitations: Variation by gender and race
Research on sibling relationships has documented an association between sibling tension and psychological well-being across the life course, however, less is known about how sibling tension in adulthood shapes psychological well-being in the context of older parents’ health limitations. We extend research on sibling tension and psychological well-being by considering the following: (1) Does the association between sibling tension and depressive s…
Unforeseen Consequences of Mothers' Return to School: Children's Educational Aspirations and Outcomes
Parents' educational attainment is generally completed before offspring are born. Thus, there is little opportunity to study the ways in which children's observation of their parents' pursuit of education may augment the effects of structural factors on intergenerational transmission processes. In this article, the authors use qualitative and quantitative data collected from thirty-five women across a decade following their return to school to ex…
The Role of Perceived Maternal Favoritism in Sibling Relations in Midlife
Data were collected from 708 adult children nested within 274 later-life families from the Within-Family Differences Study to explore the role of perceived maternal favoritism in the quality of sibling relations in midlife. Mixed-model analyses revealed that regardless of which sibling was favored, perceptions of current favoritism and recollections of favoritism in childhood reduced closeness among siblings. Recollections of maternal favoritism …
Conceptualizing and Measuring Intergenerational Ambivalence in Later Life
The analyses presented here suggest that direct and indirect measures of intergenerational ambivalence may not be tapping the same underlying construct, particularly in the case of adult children and especially sons. Furthermore, direct measures may have an advantage over indirect measures when including sons in the study design. We conclude that direct and indirect measures cannot be used interchangeably across the combination of generation and …
The Forgotten Kin: Aunts and Uncles - by Robert M. Milardo
How Widowhood Shapes Adult Children's Responses to Mothers' Preferences for Care
Research has shown that mothers are at an increased risk for declining psychological well-being when caregiving preferences are not met. Findings from this study suggest that mothers who are divorced or have been widowed for several years may be at greater risk for violation of their caregiving preferences, increasing their vulnerability to declines in psychological well-being
Differential Effects of Perceptions of Mothers' and Fathers' Favoritism on Sibling Tension in Adulthood
These findings contribute to a growing body of research demonstrating the consequences of parental favoritism in adulthood. Equally important, they demonstrate that perceptions of fathers' current favoritism plays an even greater role in shaping their adult children's sibling relations than do mothers' favoritism
Continuity and Change in Mothers' Favoritism Toward Offspring in Adulthood
The importance of parental favoritism in childhood and adulthood has been well documented; little is known, however, about changes over time in such within-family differentiation. Drawing on theories of life course processes and developmental psychology, the authors used 7-year panel data collected from 406 older mothers about their relationships with 1,514 adult children to explore patterns of favoritism regarding caregiving and emotional closen…
Maternal Differential Treatment in Later Life Families and Within-Family Variations in Adult Sibling Closeness
Variability in the strength of sibling ties within families suggests that some individuals receive greater benefits from this relationship than do their brothers and sisters. These findings shed new light on such within-family variations in sibling closeness by identifying how specific patterns of maternal differential treatment draw offspring toward some siblings and away from others
Role of Perceived Maternal Favoritism and Disfavoritism in Adult Children’s Psychological Well-Being
The findings shed new light on the role of intergenerational relations in adult children's well-being in midlife by taking into consideration the respondents' direct reports of their perceptions of their mothers' favoritism and disfavoritism. Further, the findings provide evidence that the association between maternal differentiation and psychological well-being in adulthood is stronger in Black than in White families. These patterns suggest that…
Estrangement Between Mothers and Adult Children: The Role of Norms and Values
Relationships between mothers and their children are expected to be lifelong and rewarding for both members of the dyad. Because of the salience of these ties, they are likely to be disrupted only under conditions of extreme relational tension and dissatisfaction. In this work, the authors drew on theoretical arguments regarding societal norm violations and value similarity to examine the processes that lead to estrangement between mothers and ad…
Do Positive Feelings Hurt? Disaggregating Positive and Negative Components of Intergenerational Ambivalence
Ambivalence has become an important conceptual development in the study of parent-adult child relations, with evidence highlighting that intergenerational relationships are characterized by a mix of positive and negative components. Recent studies have shown that ambivalence has detrimental consequences for both parents' and adult children's psychological well-being. The underlying assumption of this line of research is that psychological distres…
The Long Arm of Maternal Differential Treatment: Effects of Recalled and Current Favoritism on Adult Children’s Psychological Well-Being
Taken together, the findings from this investigation reflect principles of theories of social comparison and the life course in that both perceptions of current MDT and MDT recalled from childhood affect children's well-being in midlife. These findings contribute to a growing body of literature highlighting the role of within-family differences in parent-child relationships on well-being across the life course
My Pride and Joy? Predicting Favoritism and Disfavoritism in Mother-Adult Child Relations
In this article, we compare predictors of mothers' differentiation among their adult children regarding emotional closeness, pride, conflict, and disappointment. We distinguish between predictors of relational (closeness, conflict) and evaluative (pride, disappointment) dimensions of favoritism and disfavoritism. Multilevel modeling using data collected from 381 older mothers regarding their relationships with 1,421 adult children indicated that …
Applying Within-Family Differences Approaches to Enhance Understanding of the Complexity of Intergenerational Relations
Within-family differences approaches have been shown to shed new light on intergenerational relations. Despite the value of within-family designs, their use may be limited by the higher investment of finances and time required to implement such studies
Conflict with Mothers and Siblings During Caregiving: Differential Costs for Black and White Adult Children
This study highlights ways in which the experiences of caregivers reflect broader patterns of differences between Black and White families in both intergenerational cohesion and health disparities in midlife
Family Networks and Psychological Well-Being in Midlife
Scholarship has highlighted the importance of kin relations for well-being in adulthood. Much focus has been on relationships between spouses and between parents and children. However, limited research has explored the role of adult sibling relationships in well-being, and no studies have made direct comparisons among the effects of tension with these multiple family members. Using data collected from 495 adult children nested within 254 families…
Linked Lives and Cumulative Inequality: A Multigenerational Family Life Course Framework
Growing social and economic inequalities in the United States have been accompanied by shifts in family structure. Social and demographic changes may make multigenerational family ties (e.g., between grandparents, parents, and children) an even more important contributor than ever in perpetuating inequality. The family life course framework, which considers how dimensions of individual (age), sociohistorical (period, cohort), and processual (gene…
Older mother's health and adult children's education: Conceptualization of adult children's education and mother-child relationships
This study joins and extends an emerging body of work examining the association between adult children's education and their parents' health by (1) providing a conceptual treatment of adult children's education, (2) examining the link between adult children's education and older mothers' physical and mental health, and (3) investigating whether mother-child relationships moderate the association between children's education and mothers' health. D…
Maternal Differential Treatment and Psychological Well-Being: The Mediating Role of Marital Tension and Sibling Tension
The evaluation of the stress proliferation process of maternal favoritism and disfavoritism can help us to understand the difference in effects across various dimensions of MDT. This study contributes to the literature on social relationships as social determinants of health by investigating how intergenerational relationships are connected to other family relationships to affect family members' health
Roles of egos’ and siblings’ perceptions of maternal favoritism in adult children’s depressive symptoms: A within-family network approach
It is well documented that intergenerational ties play important roles in adults’ well-being. However, most studies focus on the impact of individuals’ own perceptions of their ties without considering whether family members’ assessments of these ties affect well-being. We address this question using data from 296 adult children nested within 95 later-life families in which all offspring were interviewed. Applying a mixed-method within-family app…
Sibling relationships in older adulthood: Links with loneliness and well-being.
4.58) on average. Participants provided self-report data about their relationships and well-being. Results showed that older adults reported high levels of sibling warmth and low levels of sibling conflict and parental favoritism. Sister-sister pairs had warmer sibling relationships than other gender-compositions. Sibling conflict and parental favoritism were positively associated with symptoms of depression, anxiety, hostility, and loneliness. S…
Sibling Relationships in Adulthood: Research Findings and New Frontiers
Sibling relationships, the longest‐lasting relationships in most people's lives, have been understudied compared to other family relationships. The goal of this review is to increase understanding of sibling relationships from midlife to older adulthood by integrating aspects of psychological and sociological theories, including social exchange, family systems, and life course perspectives, to better understand the structure, function, processes,…
Multigenerational social support in the face of the Covid ‐19 pandemic
Research documents high levels of instrumental, financial, and expressive support exchanges within multigenerational families in the 21st century. The COVID-19 pandemic poses unique challenges to support exchanges between the generations; however, the pandemic may provide opportunities for greater solidarity within families. In this review, we draw from theoretical perspectives that have been used to study family relationships to understand the i…
The Caregiver Identity in Context: Consequences of Identity Threat From Siblings
These findings demonstrate how identity processes, as well as the family networks in which caregiving takes place, shape the experiences and consequences of parent care
Prodigal Children: Why Older Mothers Favor Their Once-Deviant Adult Children
Mothers' perceptions of children's behavioral reformations as being accompanied by greater dedication to family or reflecting a need for their mothers' support offer 2 explanations for why previously deviant adult children may become mothers' favored offspring. These findings contribute to a growing body of scholarship on the complexity of intergenerational relations by shedding new light on changing patterns of favoritism in families with a hist…
Intergenerational Family Dynamics and Caregiving (43 works) · Psychology (42 works) · Developmental psychology (38 works) · Family Dynamics and Relationships (25 works) · Social Psychology (21 works) · Health disparities and outcomes (17 works) · Family Support in Illness (14 works) · Social Psychology (14 works) · Sibling (13 works) · Sociology (13 works)