This research involves a 10-year followup of aging parents and their middle-aged children, and the launching of 18-month time-series assessments, to examine the impact of health-related crises and normative life events on family relations in old age. The major research questions are: (1) To what extent is there stability or change over time in the family relationships of older individuals (defined by six aspects of """"""""solidarity"""""""")? (2) To what extent are there changes in measures of individual resources or incapacity that imply effective functioning in the middle and later years? (3) How does family solidarity exhibited in 1973 (T-1) predict coping with health-related crisis in 1983 (T-2) or in 1985 (T-3)? (4) What is the impact on family solidarity at T-2 and T-3 of health-related crises and """"""""normative"""""""" life events since T-1? Data to be collected will come from survivors of a 1973 study involving 516 elderly parents (G1, average age 67) and their 701 middle-aged children or children-in-law (G2, average age 42 in 1973). The 1973 (T-1) data were obtained from two lengthy (1 1/2 hour) questionnaires mailed to members of three-generation families, sampled from membership lists of a large (840,000) prepaid medical health plan. It is estimated that 1,100 individuals, and 303 primary G1-G2 dyads, will have survived since 1973; these will be the T-2 and T-3 survey recipients. Two types of data will be collected and analyzed, reflecting both survey and case-study approaches. The quantitative data will be comprised of comparable questionnaire batteries to enable 10-year (T-1 vs. T-2) and 18-month (T-2 vs. T-3) contrasts. One focus will be on six parameters of solidarity between generations (structure; association; affect; consensus; exchange; norms); these constructs have been refined, and their indicators validated, on the original sample. A second focus will be on health-related crises and perceived changes in family relations, as well on the occupational involvements of the middle-aged children. The qualitative data will come from interviews conducted with the following subsamples: families exhibiting greates change in solidarity; least change in solidarity; and greatest health-related crises.
