Intergenerational Solidarity: Norms, Affection, and Association in Caregiving and Noncaregiving Families

Intergenerational Solidarity: Norms, Affection, and Association in Caregiving and Noncaregiving Families

We investigated how elder care affects intergenerational solidarity for the young adult children of parents provi- ding care. The adult children of caregiving and noncaregiving families completed questionnaires that measured norms for family primacy, affectual solidarity, and associational solidarity. Comparisons of the two groups indicated that the adult children in caregiving families reported lower levels of affectual solidarity than the adult children in noncaregiving families did. Also, a marginally significant effect suggested that the adult children in caregiving families experience a lower level of associational solidarity than the adult children of noncaregiving families do. We concluded that elder care does have a negative effect on intergenerational solidarity of young adults in American Families.