Biracial Adult Children Raised by White Mothers

Costs of Raising Grandchildren on Grandmother-Adult Child Relations in Black and White Families

Innovation in Aging ◽

10.1093/geroni/igab046.1524 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽

pp. 393-394

Author(s):

Yifei Hou ◽

J Jill Suitor ◽

Megan Gilligan ◽

Destiny Ogle ◽

Catherine Stepniak ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Racial Differences ◽

Adult Children ◽

Process Model ◽

Adult Child ◽

Family Solidarity ◽

White Families ◽

Black And White ◽

Child Relationship ◽

White Mothers ◽

The Impact

Abstract The cost of raising grandchildren on grandmothers’ mental and physical health has been well-documented; however, little is known about whether raising grandchildren also has a cost on grandmothers’ relationships with the adult children whose children the grandmothers have raised. Drawing from theories of exchange and affect, stress process model, and racial differences in intergenerational solidarity, we tested how raising grandchildren affects grandmother-adult child relations. Further, we explored the extent to which these patterns differed by race. To address this question, we used mixed-methods data collected from 553 older mothers regarding their relationships with their 2,016 adult children; approximately 10% of the mothers had raised one or more of their grandchildren “as their own.” Data were provided by the Within-Family Differences Study-I. Multilevel analyses showed that raising grandchildren was associated with greater closeness in grandmother-adult child relationship in Black families; however, in White families, raising grandchildren was associated with greater conflict in the grandmother-adult child relationship. Further, the differences by race in the effects of raising grandchildren on closeness and conflict were statistically significant. Qualitative analyses revealed that race differences in the association between raising grandchildren and relationship quality could be explained by mothers’ reports of greater family solidarity in Black than White families. Our findings highlight the ways in which race and family solidarity interact to produce differences in the impact of raising grandchildren on Black and White mothers’ assessment of the quality of their relationships with their adult children, consistent with broader patterns of racial differences in intergenerational cohesion.

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RACE DIFFERENCES IN THE CONSEQUENCES OF ADULT CHILDREN’S PROBLEMS ON MOTHERS’ PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING

Innovation in Aging ◽

10.1093/geroni/igz038.2488 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽

pp. S673-S673

Author(s):

Catherine Stepniak ◽

J Jill Suitor ◽

Megan Gilligan ◽

Karl Pillemer ◽

Marissa Rurka

Keyword(s):

Adult Children ◽

Well Being ◽

Black Mothers ◽

Psychological Well Being ◽

Older Parents ◽

White Families ◽

Race Disparities ◽

White Mothers ◽

Life Circumstances ◽

The Impact

Abstract Adult children’s problems have been found to be strong predictors of older parents’ psychological well-being, regardless of whether the sources of the problems are psychological or physical health, life circumstances outside of the children’s control, or children’s poor life decisions. Further, this pattern remains regardless of the number or proportion of offspring with problems, or whether children with problems were favored or disfavored by their parents. One important question that has not been addressed is whether the impact of children’s problems differs in Black and White families. Race disparities in health and other life circumstances lead Black adult children to be at greater risk of experiencing problems than are their White counterparts. Thus, Black mothers are at greater risk of having adult children with problems; however, increased exposure does not necessarily lead to a stronger impact of children’s problems on well-being. Alternatively, it can be argued that due to stronger kin networks and higher levels of religiosity, children’s problems may have a weaker impact on Black than White mothers’ well-being. In this paper, we use mixed-methods data collected from 101 Black mothers and 295 White mothers as part of the Within-Family Differences Study to explore differences in the impact of adult children’s problems on mothers’ depressive symptoms. Preliminary analyses of quantitative and qualitative data suggest that mothers’ interpretations of the circumstances surrounding their children’s problems, rather than support or type of problem, play a greater role in the impact of those problems on well-being in Black than White families.

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When Mothers Have Favourites: Conditions under Which Mothers Differentiate among Their Adult Children

Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement ◽

10.3138/cja.26.2.085 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 26 (2) ◽

pp. 85-99 ◽

Cited By ~ 27

Author(s):

J. Jill Suitor ◽

Jori Sechrist ◽

Karl Pillemer

Keyword(s):

Adult Children ◽

Family Study ◽

Multivariate Analyses ◽

Black Mothers ◽

Emotional Closeness ◽

Value Similarity ◽

Older Mothers ◽

Family Level ◽

White Mothers ◽

Almost All

ABSTRACTResearch has shown that mothers often differentiate among their adult children in terms of closeness and support; however, studies have not addressed why some mothers report preferences among children and others do not. To distinguish between mothers who do and do not report favouring some of their adult children, we used data from a within-family study in which 553 older mothers were interviewed about each of their children. Almost all of the mothers reported differentiating among their children regarding emotional closeness, confiding, or preference among caregivers. Multivariate analyses revealed that mothers' values and mother-child value similarity predicted which mothers differentiated among their children regarding closeness and confiding, whereas mothers' and children's demographic characteristics predicted which mothers differentiated regarding preferred caregivers. Black mothers were less likely than white mothers to differentiate when seeking a confidant; however, race played no role in mothers' likelihood of differentiating regarding emotional closeness or help during illness. Taken together, these findings indicate that differentiating among adult children is common; further, family-level predictors of mothers' differentiating mirror the patterns shown in dyad-level analyses of mothers' favouritism.

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