Family Ties: Enduring Relations between Parents and Their Grown Children

Critics voice alarm about the deterioration of the American family. Studies are consistently grim, citing diminishing family size, changing gender roles, the rising incidence of divorce, and even the longer life spans of today’s older generation as factors that challenge the ability of the family to adequately support the older generation. While many studies focus on the impact of social change on younger generations, Family Ties deals comprehensively with family relationships over a longer period of the life cycle and reveals misconceptions about grown children caring for their aging parents. Glenna D. Spitze and John R. Logan offer conclusive evidence that relationships between parents and their adult children remain intact and challenge other myths of isolation and neglect of the older generation. The authors reveal that parents are not dependent on help from their grown children, as was previously assumed; in fact they contribute more assistance than they receive up until the age of 75. Also, while daughters are still the dominant caregivers, other forms of support like visiting and providing transportation are provided almost equally by sons and daughters. Logan and Spitze also report that even thought the day-to-day demands on adult children have increased with the changing economy, very few seem to be torn between these responsibilities and those of caring for their parents. This book offers reassuring news about the strength of the American family in the midst of social change. Family Ties should be a valuable resource for anyone interested in intergenerational relationships in adulthood.