INTERGENERATIONAL EXCHANGES:
A STUDY OF ELDERLY AND THEIR MARRIED CHILDREN
Dr. Anupam Bahri
INTRODUCTION:
The parent-child bond is a continuum of emotional support that lasts a life time of both, the parent and the offspring. This bipolar, linear interaction can vary in frequency, quality and type depending on the age, interests and needs of the two generations. During early childhood the relationship between parent and child is constant and largely unidirectional, because the children are highly dependent on their parents for support. During adolescence, this interaction declines in frequency and becomes more reciprocal as both generations tend to influence each other either through conflict or concordance. The relationship would most probably be characterized by conflict over values, beliefs and behavior (Alpert and Richardson, 1980). Then these very children eventually establish their own families and begin to experience interactions from the parental perspective the relationship with their own parents may decrease further in quantity and quality as new demands are placed on them. Finally as new demands enter midlife and parents grow old, interaction may increase especially if elderly parent becomes increasingly dependent on an adult child. In this situation the relationship once again becomes primarily linear, but in the opposite direction that is, from that of the adult children. More help is given to parents, especially with respect to healthcare. However, there may be a continuing socio-cultural and economic exchange developing in both directions, although whether the direction is parent to child or child to parent may depend on the socio- economic status of the two generations.
Within the family there are physical, emotional, economic and social resources that can be exchanged in a serial or reciprocal manner, depending on the need of the parent or child generation. Serial exchanges tend to be prevalent and generally represent a downward flow of assistance from the older generation to the younger generation because of a sense of responsibility and affection (Moore, 1966). Reciprocal exchange or a two way flow is most common among the central and oldest generations, especially among the middle class. Johnson and Bursk (1977) found that 93 per cent of the elderly in the study, who had adult children, were engaged in a reciprocal pattern of exchange.
This process of exchange usually involved services like babysitting, and/ or nursing the infants that is their grandchildren, counseling, shopping, household maintenance, gifts like money, clothes, appliances, and air or train tickets for visits or interaction in the form of face to face visits, telephone calls or letters (Hill, 1965; Synge et.al., 1981). The form and frequency of exchange varies greatly among families and is influenced by a number of social factors. These include residential propinquity, social class, children?s sex, their own race and ethnicity as well as that of the children, age of the middle and oldest generations and the degree of filial maturity (that is growing concern about parents in the middle years: Blenkner, 1965).The greater the extent to which elderly parents live in proximity to children, the greater the likelihood of visiting and exchanging goods or services.
Class differences in frequency and type of exchange have been found in many studies (Troll and Bengtson, 1979; Neugartan 1979; Lacy and Hendricks, 1980). Shanas (1967), in a study of family help patterns among approximately 25,000 people over 65 years of age in Britain, Denmark and the United States, found that members of every social class were engaged in reciprocal assistance. However, since size of family, living arrangements, family values and economic position varied by social class, the amount, form and frequency of mutual aid also varied. Studies have shown that working?class parents are more likely to exchange services; that the middle class is more likely to exhibit patterns of serial exchange from the oldest to youngest generations. This form of reciprocity is more common among the working class and there is more face to face interaction among the working class. Among them there is more telephoning and letter writing among the middle class because of greater social and geographical mobility.
A marked difference in gender reciprocation has also been observed in familial exchange relationships. Sons often perceived assisting older parents as an instrumental act resulting from an obligation to repay a past debt, whereas daughters, because of long-standing, expressive lineal mother daughter ties, perceived assistance as an expressive, act which they wanted to or needed to perform. As a result, sons generally provided more financial assistance and frequently took decisions about the care of the parents. Daughters almost always seemed to be the primary caregivers (Horowitz, 1981). This may also be because women are more likely to play the traditional nurturing role, because the mother-daughter relationship is strengthened during the adult years, especially after the daughter has become a mother and subsequent sharing has taken place for the care of the little ones( Fischer, 1981). Marshall et.al., (1982) found that daughters worry about parental health more so than do sons. Interestingly enough it is the health of the father which generates more concern and worry than that of mother.
From the perspective of elderly parents, it appears that they primarily offer financial assistance to sons and services to daughters. However, there are great interfamily variations, depending on class and on the individual interest of the parents. If they are still employed, younger grandparents may have neither the time for nor the interest in performing baby sitting or other care-giving service roles. As a result, they may replace this personal assistance with loans or gifts of money.
Another factor influencing the type and frequency of exchange and assistance is the sense of filial responsibility or experiencing filial maturity. This represents the extent to which adult children feel obligated to meet the basic needs of their ageing parents. While the family is an important source of aid and support for the elderly, the expectations of the parents and children as to what should be done may or may not coincide. The chronological age of the children may determine their desirability to assist or interact with their parents. Adult children with very old parents may also be retired and have their own economic and health concerns. Therefore, they may be less able or willing to assist their ageing parents and may tend to abdicate some of their filial responsibility to public or private social service agencies (Gelfand et.al., 1978).
From the perspective of the ageing parents, expectations for filial responsibility seem to be higher with increasing age among females and among the widowed or divorced, if they have few economic resources, if health fails and if their general level of morale or life satisfaction is low (Seelback, 1977, 1978; Seelback and Sauer, 1977). In short, the perception of filial responsibility may influence interaction patterns in later years, where expectations differ, family solidarity is weakened, overt conflict is visible and public or private social agencies may be required to fill the void for visiting, health and household services.
Most research has focused on the type and frequency of exchange between ageing parents and adult children. Quantity rather than quality has been the central concern. Johnson and Bursk (1977) and Johnson (1978) found that the quality of the relationship is influenced by the health, economic and housing situation of the elderly and by attitudes to their personal ageing experience. The level of the affect was higher when the parents were in good health and held positive feelings about their personal ageing process. They also noted that there was more quality interaction in the relationship when parents were socially active outside the extended family. The studies on old age in India are still in their infancy as most of the studies were conducted in the 1960s, or efforts were made to explore the problems of old people. Later, in the 1970s and 1980s social scientists focused attention on issues like the status and role of old people in rural or urban communities and their adjustment in old age. As per Indian studies Mishra (1987) in his study conducted on retired male government employees in Chandigarh found a direct link and a positive correlation between health conditions and their subsequent adjustment. Poor health often leads to the redefinition of the scope of their parental role. Poor health leads to more assistance from adult offspring and it also contributes significantly to negative self feeling.
In other studies conducted by Jamuna (1984, 1987, 1988,1989, 1990,1991), Jumna and Ramamurti (1984, 1989) and Asha and Subramaniam (1990) the problems of aging like adjustment patterns, role activities and acceptance besides husband-wife communication have been examined in detail. They found that as the aging process goes on, it brings in several changes for the individual in terms of role playing and adjustments to be made at various stages. It requires adjustments to changing relations of authority and difference, to changing health situations, inter-generational problems, relations between the spouses, as also economic, social and psychological problems, following ?exit? situations like death and bereavement. All these call for adjustment between the aging individual and other members of the family as well as the community. Taking a clue from the research studies conducted in the area and in order to fill the gap in the existing studies the researcher in the present study has attempted to focus on the quality of exchanges rather than quantity of exchange among the elderly parents and their married children in the form of intergenerational exchanges.
MAIN OBJECTIVE:
(i)