It is well established that family members,
particularly adult children, are involved in their frail
parents' decision making. It remains unclear however, how
intergenerational decision-making influence is exercised and
how it relates to personal and relationship characteristics.
This study examined the impact of decision-making strategies
and a mother's level of dependence on her daughter on
perceived relationship quality as measured by intimacy.
The purposive sample consisted of 64 pairs of elderly
mothers and their caregiving daughters. Face-to-face
interviews explored the connections of various decision-making
influence strategies, demographic characteristics,
and relationship quality. Mother's level of dependence on
her daughter for assistance was measured by a list of 53
caregiving tasks and activities. A series of four multiple
regression analyses was used to predict relationship quality
from the decision-making influence strategies (i.e., option-seeking,
overt negative, covert negative, positive) used by
elderly mothers and their caregiving daughters and mother's
level of dependence on her daughter.
The factors that were most predictive of mothers'
perceived intimacy were: (a) mothers' reported use of
positive decision-making strategies (e.g., asking partner
how she feels, imagining her feelings) and mothers' reported
use of fewer covert negative strategies (e.g., ignoring the
need for a decision, withholding support); and (b)
daughters' reported use of fewer overt negative strategies
(e.g., showing anger, irritation, criticizing).
The factors that were most predictive of daughters'
perceived intimacy were: (a) daughters' reported use of
fewer overt negative strategies (e.g., showing anger,
irritation, criticizing); (b) daughters' reported use of
positive influence strategies (e.g., asking partner how she
feels, imagining her feelings); and (c) mothers' reported
use of positive strategies (e.g., asking how she feels,
trying to imagine her feelings).
Mother's level of dependence on her daughter was not
found to be predictive of mothers' or daughters' perceived
intimacy. These results as well as recommendations for
future research and practice are presented. / Graduation date: 1993
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/36150 |
| Date | 09 October 1992 |
| Creators | Jones-Aust, Laura Lynn |
| Contributors | Pratt, Clara C. |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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