<p>The life course perspective, especially the theme
of linked lives, posits that human lives are embedded in social
relationships with family across the life course. Inspired by this framework, the purpose of this dissertation
is to extend understanding of the impact of intergenerational relationships on
psychological and relational well-being by examining a more complex network of
family relationships than has been considered in previous research. Guided by stress theories
and spillover theory, this dissertation addresses two research questions
that emphasize the complexity and interconnectedness of later-life families: 1)
Does the tension with other family relationships—specifically those with
siblings and spouses—mediate the association between maternal differential
treatment and psychological well-being in adulthood? 2) How does the quality of
the ties between mothers and their adult children shape the quality of the ties
between mothers and their children-in-law? To address these research questions,
I use data collected as part of the Within-Family Differences Study. For the
first question, I use data collected from adult children as part of the
WFDS-II. For the second research question, I use data collected from mothers as
part of the WFDS-I & II.</p>
<p>Past research used equity
theory and social comparison theory to explain the direct effect of maternal
differential treatment (MDT) on psychological well-being. However, this focus
on psychological pathways ignores possible social pathways, such as indirect
effects of MDT on well-being through disrupting other family relationships.
Using the life course perspective and stress proliferation theory, the first
study found that sibling tension mediates the association between adult
children’s perceptions of maternal disfavoritism and their psychological
well-being—a process I call the stress proliferation of maternal disfavoritism.
In contrast, adult children’s perceptions of maternal favoritism cannot trigger
this stress proliferation process of producing marital tension nor sibling
tension. </p>
<p>In line with the life course
perspective, principles of classic theories of social interaction in both
sociology and psychology suggest that the mother-child tie would be affected by
the introduction of the child’s spouse into the original dyad. However,
only a small
number of qualitative studies have investigated the association between
mother-child-in-law relationships and mother-child relationships. To fill this
knowledge gap, the second study used spillover effect theory and found that older
mothers’ tension with adult children predicted change in mothers’ tension with
children-in-law across 7 years, whereas older mothers’ tension with children-in-law
did not predict change in mothers’ tension with children across 7 years. This
study suggests that the association between mother-child relations and mother-child-in-law
relations may be the result of the unidirectional effect of mother-child
relations on mother-child-in-law relations rather than the reciprocal
association found in the previous qualitative studies. In other words, mothers’
evaluation of mother-child-in-law relations is dependent on their evaluation of
mother-child relations, whereas the reverse is not true. In addition, I did not
find gender differences in the association between mother-child tension and
mother-child-in-law tension over time.</p>
Taken together, this dissertation sheds new light
on the ways in which mothers’ intergenerational relationships with their adult
children and their children-in-law shape the relational and psychological
well-being of members of both generations. A deeper understanding the
implications of dynamics among mother-child relationship and other family
relationships for health could aid
in developing interventions aimed at improving health and family relationships.
More broadly, this dissertation contributes to the literature on social
relationships as social determinants of health by showing how intergenerational
relationships are connected to other family relationships to affect family
members’ health.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:purdue.edu/oai:figshare.com:article/8266625 |
| Date | 02 August 2019 |
| Creators | Siyun Peng (6833033) |
| Source Sets | Purdue University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis |
| Rights | CC BY 4.0 |
| Relation | https://figshare.com/articles/PATTERNS_PREDICTORS_AND_CONSEQUENCES_OF_INTERGENERATIONAL_RELATIONSHIPS_BETWEEN_MOTHERS_AND_ADULT_CHILDREN_IN_LATER_LIFE/8266625 |
Page generated in 0.0026 seconds