Intergenerational Contact in Chinese Families: Structural and Cultural Explanations

Although the determinants of intergenerational contact have been well documented in Western countries, we know virtually nothing about the situation in China, a country that has recently experienced unprecedented socioeconomic and demographic change. This study analyzed the frequency of (a) visits and (b) other contact (phone, text message, etc.) in a representative sample of 16,715 adult child–parent dyads, focusing in particular on the role of migration as well as children's gender, marital status, and education level. Adult children generally maintained intensive social relations with parents, although distance was a major barrier to face‐to‐face contact. Sons visited more often than daughters, but daughters were more likely to stay in touch by other means. Moreover, the strength of parent–daughter ties was strongly dependent on education level. These findings suggest that women's empowerment and the spread of mobile technology have created new opportunities for intergenerational solidarity.     

Intergenerational Solidarity in Korean Immigrant Families

Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative study is to advance the concepts of the intergenerational solidarity model by using samples of Korean immigrant families. This advancement will be useful for subsequent quantitative studies. This exploratory study uncovered multiple themes that support intergenerational solidarity between Korean immigrant grandparents and grandchildren. These themes characterized supportive relationships based on affection, consensus, a mutual exchange of resources, familial norm, and structural factors such as cohabitation or religion. At the same time, this study showed disagreement and tensions between generations which resulted from different attitudes toward roles and values, as well as being burdened by care. The results of this study provide basic perspectives to clinicians, service providers, and researchers and will improve their understanding of intergenerational relationships among Korean immigrants.     

Intergenerational Relationships and Union Stability in Fragile Families

Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Well being Study (N= 2,656), we examined the association between intergenerational relationships and parents' union stability five years after a baby's birth. Results showed that more amiable relationships between parents and each partner's parents, and more time children spent with paternal grandparents, were associated with increased odds that parents were co-residing by the time their focal child was age five. More time that children spent with maternal grandparents reduced union stability, although this result was not robust to methods that better address selection. These findings underscore the importance of the broader social contexts affecting couple stability. Findings further suggest that even amidst changing demographic conditions, intergenerational family ties are important for couples-and by extension-their children.     

Cambodian Refugee Families: Impacts of Immigration-Related Stressors on Intergenerational Relationships

The purpose of this study was to elucidate Cambodian refugees’ perceptions of immigration-related stressors and their impacts on intergenerational relations during the processes of immigration and settlement. We used narrative analysis to evoke older immigrants’ voices as they transitioned to the United States. Thirty-one Cambodian immigrants were interviewed using open-ended interview guides informed by ethnographic tenets of data collection. Participants expressed (a) changes in family structure and elder isolation and (b) intergenerational ambivalence and elder’s dependence on adult children as products of immigration-related stressors. Implications of these results for refugee and immigrant mental health research are discussed.     

Claymation for Collective Intelligence and Intergenerational Learning in an Educational Environment

Elementary students, volunteering older adults, and university students use their collective intelligence as they engage in intergenerational learning during an after-school enrichment activity producing Claymation videos. Participant reflections, completed questionnaires, and candid photos document learning and relationship building, suggesting intergenerational visual art engagement as a replicable method of lifelong learning for multiages in a school environment.     

Intergenerational Programming for Foster-Adoptive Families

Abstract

Generations of Hope serves foster and adoptive children, their adoptive families and older adults through an innovative program that is breaking new ground in the development of caring intergenerational communities. It was created in 1993 as a non-profit social service agency designed to improve the service delivery and policies of the child welfare system; it ended up helping not only foster and adopted children but senior citizens as well. This paper examines critical social issues facing both foster children and senior citizens in the United States and how this program created a neighborhood that combines several generations of kin-like support to meet the needs of these vulnerable groups. We describe how the Generations of Hope model brings together in tangible ways critical shifts in perspective regarding foster care and gerontology. The lessons we have learned speak to research, policy making and practice.     

Bridging the Intergenerational Gap: Reflections for the Field

In this paper, the authors describe the first year of a project and the process undertaken to implement intergenerational (IG) programs in two sites: a continuing care retirement community and an early care and education center, which are located geographically close to one another in a small Midwestern town in the United States. The authors discuss the application and results based on the management framework for IG programming articulated by Jarrot and colleagues (2006) and its utility for planning and implementing IG programming in both sites. Reflections about the planning and implementation and outcomes of IG programs are also included.     

The Role of Federal Policies in Supporting Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Families

Abstract

Grandparents caring for their grandchildren is among the oldest practices in child rearing with roots embedded in the traditions across many cultures. However, in recent years, the issue of “grandparents raising their grandchildren” has garnered the attention of researchers, advocates, service providers and even the popular press. Dynamic changes in family life, related social trends and child welfare policies in the United States have resulted in dramatic growth of intergenerational care giving among this population. The 2000 United States Census shows that there are 6 million children living in grandparent- and other relative-maintained households, which represents a thirty-percent increase from the last Census. This growth has created the need for effective federal policies that support and insure the well-being of these families.

This paper examines some of the reasons grandparents raising grandchildren are capturing public attention, and the growing needs for effective federal policies that support this burgeoning population. We will (1) provide a brief demographic sketch of grandparent-headed families, (2) identify some of the challenges faced by these families, and (3) explore some of the most effective federal public policies, in particular the new National Family Caregiver Support Program, which are emerging from an intergenerational agenda directed at assisting these families. We conclude by noting that the issue of “grandparents raising their grandchildren” presents a unique opportunity to develop coalitions and policies that cross sometimes rigidly defined age-based policy structures.     

Organizing for Intergenerational Learning and Knowledge Sharing

The increased age diversity in society challenges organizations to rethink the purpose and structuring of learning. This article proposes that an intergenerational learning (IL) approach can be useful for addressing the emergent needs, since IL implies a reciprocal process of learning and knowledge development. Taking an IL approach involves a shift from “succession of knowledge” to “co-creation of knowledge” in knowledge-sharing efforts. This shift becomes crucial as the digital generation enters the workforce. This paper presents insights from a case where students and entrepreneurs were engaged in an IL project to learn about business advantages and social media.     

Intergenerational Experiences of Discrimination in Chinese American Families: Influences of Socialization and Stress

In this longitudinal study, we investigated the mechanisms by which Chinese American parents' experiences of discrimination influenced their adolescents' ethnicity‐related stressors (i.e., cultural misfit, discrimination, attitudes toward education). We focused on whether parents' ethnic‐racial socialization practices and perpetual foreigner stress moderated or mediated this relationship. Participants were 444 Chinese American families. Results indicated no evidence of moderation, but we observed support for mediation. Parental experiences of discrimination were associated with more ethnic‐racial socialization practices and greater parental perpetual foreigner stress. More ethnic‐racial socialization was related to greater cultural misfit in adolescents, whereas more perpetual foreigner stress was related to adolescents' poorer attitudes toward education and more reported discrimination. Relationships between mediators and outcomes were stronger for fathers than for mothers.     

Measuring Intergenerational Obligations

Researchers have defined intergenerational obligations in diverse ways, and they have used many labels and ways of measuring intergenerational obligations. Using vignettes, we compared responses to questions about what family members should do when another family member needed assistance (normative obligations) with responses to questions about what respondents would do if they were in the situation in the vignette (felt responsibilities). Felt and normative obligations were similar. When there were disagreements, respondents indicated they would help more than they thought the character in the vignette should. The results point to the need for researchers to clearly define their terms, and they must carefully select operational definitions that match the conceptual definitions used when studying obligations about intergenerational assistance.     

Family Studies and Intergenerational Studies

ABSTRACT

This paper reviews key sources in the field of family studies in order to identify, in research and program development, intersections of theoretical, methodological, or programmatic interests. The purpose of the paper is to begin a dialogue between researchers and practitioners in the fields of family studies and intergenerational studies to foster collaborative projects in research and programming. The authors have chosen to limit the literature reviewed to sources that contain landmark reviews of research on intergenerational relationships from the perspective of the family studies field: Decade reviews that appeared in the primary journal of the National Council on Family Relations, the Journal of Marriage and the Family(Broderick, 1971a; Berardo, 1980; Booth, 1990; Milardo, 2000); the Handbook of Marriage and the Family(Sussman & Steinmetz, 1987; Sussman, Steinmetz, & Peterson, 1999); Families: Intergenerational and Generational Connections(Pfeifer & Sussman, 1991).     

School-Based Intergenerational Programs

Abstract

This paper focuses on experiences learned from being involved in the development of a sustainable school-based intergenerational program that simultaneously incorporated lifespan education into a Grade 2-3-4 curriculum. The program operated in an Australian primary school. A model was developed through this initiative that involved a tripartite collaborative partnership between school, university educators, and the primary school community (in particular its older adults). Older adult volunteers from the school's community were invited to teach students. Program monitoring consisted of contextual and observational analysis ensuring the program was sensitive to school culture and took account of participants' experiences. This monitoring process occurred throughout the planning, development, and implementation stages. Although school educators were always pressed for time, all participants actively contributed to the program. All of the educators saw purpose and worth in having the program. Ongoing support from teachers, the principal, and university personnel plus the provision of additional resources contributed to high student involvement and the overall success of the initiative. Having a school-based coordinator was found to be necessary, yet, for school educators, problematic because of constraints on their time. The findings from this project indicate that the older adult volunteers were enriched by their involvement in the program and able to provide meaningful learning experiences for students. As well, the study suggests that educators would be better prepared for implementing this area of learning opportunities if lifespan education were provided in their undergraduate and post-graduate courses as well as in professional development initiatives.     

Intergenerational Theory in Society

ABSTRACT

Now that the 21st century is underway, society is changing more rapidly than ever. People of all ages are facing new kinds of psychological and interpersonal issues. They are living longer and pioneering new kinds of family patterns and relationships. Given this, then, how can intergenerational programs and relationships both adapt to these new contexts and serve to help people better meet these new societal demands and changes? This article extends, deepens and elaborates upon earlier efforts by describing new societal trends that affect people in the life span, selecting some relevant concepts, exploring them, and suggesting how they might enhance our understanding. Given that this is the postmodern age in which there are questions rather than answers, the discussion of each concept ends with questions for future theory construction.     

Acculturation Gap,Intergenerational Conflict,Parenting Style,and Youth Distress in Immigrant Chinese American Families

This study examined mother–child acculturation gaps in relationship to youth distress and the possible mediating role of parent–child conflict and parenting style in a sample of 81 Chinese American families. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses provided partial support for a relationship between acculturation gaps and youth distress. No mediators of this relationship were found; however, post-hoc analyses indicated that intergenerational conflict and parenting style were associated with youth distress above and beyond acculturation gaps. These results suggest that interventions developed to reduce parent–child conflict and increase parental bonding (increase parental warmth and decrease parental overprotection) may be valuable for Chinese American adolescents, regardless of acculturation gap status.     

Intergenerational interaction between old and young in creative task

By comparing intergenerational to same-generation interactions in creative activities, we aimed to reveal characteristic behaviors of older and younger adults in intergenerational interactions using a wooden block task. Four categories (“Proposal request”, “New proposal”, “Reactions to proposal”, “Assessments of partner’s behavior”) were extracted from conversations during task performance. In intergenerational groups, the ratio of utterances of “Proposal request” (encouraging a new proposal to partner) were higher than in same-generation groups for older adults. In intergenerational groups, older people assumed the role of encouraging younger people to suggest new ideas, and older people’s such empathic behaviors might provoke lively arguments.     

Intergenerational Transmission of Constructive Parenting

Past research on the intergenerational transmission of parenting concentrates on the continuity of harsh or abusive parenting, for the most part relying on retrospective reports of early upbringing. This study investigates the intergenerational transmission of constructive parenting using a 3‐wave longitudinal data set that has spanned 2 decades, obtaining the respondents' contemporaneous reports in early adolescence, early adulthood, and middle adulthood respectively (N= 2,338 ). The results support the hypotheses that interpersonal relations, social participation, and role‐specific modeling explain the intergenerational continuity of constructive parenting.     

Terms for Intergenerational Relations Among the Tumbuka of Northern Malawi

ABSTRACT

Culturally enshrined ideas about generational relations affect language, the use of language, and linguistic conventions for expressing these ideas. Generation terms (or age-set terms) distinguish people in the social group according to their age and sex. The age set is a formally organized group of youths, or men or women which has collectively passed through a series of stages each of which has distinctive status, ceremonial, military or other activities. Membership of the group frequently involves ritual in initiation, accompanied by special teaching of the community's law and customs, instructions in sexual matters, and, in some societies, physical initiation that is the mark of attainment of maturity. But how is the system of intergenerational relationship manifested in a particular social group? How do the members of each generation use language differently? How does language treat the generations differently? How do such differences affect our perceptions, attitudes and behavior in everyday life? How do language and behavior reflect unity of the generation groups and their relationship to each other? In this paper we are going to examine the social, cultural, and linguistic characteristics that focus on features common to members of a particular generation and account for its relationship to other generations. We will do this by looking at the Tumbuka of northern Malawi, and examining their social organization and the system of terms and social behavior that is employed in addressing and referring to members of a particular generation. The learning of generation-type language by children and cross-cultural aspects of these questions will be considered.     

The Intergenerational Transmission of Financial Stress and Relationship Outcomes

Numerous studies have focused on the intergenerational transmission of poverty, financial stress, and family functioning. Other research has shown how financial stressors can predict various family processes, including parent–child interactions, family conflict, and couple communication, and relationship outcomes, including marital stability and satisfaction. This study shows continued evidence that financial stress from the male and female partner's family of origin may predict marital dissatisfaction using dyadic data techniques. Also, an exploration of indirect paths also found that the presence of current financial stress partially mediates these associations.