This research proposes a mental health study to accomplish a prospective longitudinal assessment of the differential impact which institutionalization of a parent has on the adult child. The goal of the study is to identify those factors which may influence the intensity, duration, and frequency of negative consequences of coping with the stressor.
The specific aims of the study are to examine the role of stressors, resources, and subjective perceptions of stressors as they affect: (1) the roles which the adult child plays vis-a-vis his/her institutionalized parent, and (2) the level of crisis/adaption experienced by the adult child. The study proposes to sample approximately 400 adult children whose parents are currently permanent residents of long-term care facilities. At intake to the study, parents will have experienced institutional stays of different lengths. Three interviews each at six month intervals will be done with each adult child during the course of one year. This procedure, which combines cross-sectional and longitudinal designs would yield information regarding the stresses experienced by adult children during the full course of institutionalization. The study would examine crisis and adaptation responses on the part of the adult child over time and extends previous life event research by considering the impact of a chronic, long-term stressor. The design provides for a stream of variation in stressors, allowing a regorous empirical test of the theoretical medel described by Hill (1949) and extended by McCubbin and Patterson (1982). Results are expected to provide the basis for testing and modifying an integrative model of crisis and adaption. The study is expected to provide significant new information relevant to identifying appropriate interventions and policies which could significantly reduce social and emotional problems experienced by adult children of institutionalized elderly and enable more positive parent-child and child-institution interactions to occur, thereby increasing the well-being of both adult children and their elderly institutionalized parents.
| Pruchno, R A; Peters, N D; Kleban, M H et al. (1994) Attachment among adult children and their institutionalized parents. J Gerontol 49:S209-18 |
| Pruchno, R; Kleban, M H (1993) Caring for an institutionalized parent: the role of coping strategies. Psychol Aging 8:18-25 |
| Brody, E M; Dempsey, N P; Pruchno, R A (1990) Mental health of sons and daughters of the institutionalized aged. Gerontologist 30:212-9 |
