Reciprocal associations between affectual, associational, and normative solidarity with parents during children's early to established adulthood.

Abstract

Intergenerational solidarity has become increasingly important to understand, as close family members mobilize the provision of social support across generations and contribute to family wellbeing. However, less is known about continuity and change in normative (eldercare norms), affectual, and associational solidarity with mothers and fathers as children emerge into full or established adulthood. Therefore, we focused on reciprocal associations between three dimensions of intergenerational solidarity (normative, affectual, and associational) as reported by young-adult children from their early twenties to late thirties. Data were derived from respondents in the Longitudinal Study of Generations: daughters reported about relationships with 291 mother-father pairs and sons reported about relationships with 309 mother-father pairs in 2000, 2005, and 2016. Autoregressive cross-lagged models prospectively predicted mutual influences among the three dimensions of solidarity across daughter-parent and son-parent relationships. In addition, multiple group analysis was conducted to examine the children's gender difference. We found that normative solidarity and emotional closeness with mothers were mutually reinforcing in daughters' and sons' parental relationships. However, normative solidarity predicted emotional closeness with fathers in both daughter-parent and son-parent relationships. The study concludes that sons and daughters establish eldercare norms based on emotional components of solidarity with mothers, and suggest that filial duty is a key reason why mother-child relations become close over the family life course.