Views and experiences of adult children concerning intergenerational relationships with their older kin: a qualitative study from South India

Teddy Andrews Jaihind Jothikaran,Lena Ashok,Agnes Meershoek,Anja Krumeich

doi:10.1017/s0144686x21000593

Teddy Andrews Jaihind Jothikaran, Lena Ashok + Show 2 more

https://doi.org/10.1017/s0144686x21000593

Copy DOI

Abstract

AbstractThe tradition of intergenerational care and support exchanges in Indian families is assumed to be disturbed because of changes in family structure brought on by modern life, which is mainly based on studies investigating experiences of older adults regarding the impact of socio-economic change on their care arrangement. However, there is a large gap in understanding the experiences of adult children from a larger relational perspective, more than just care provision to their older relatives. Drawing on 26 in-depth interviews with adult children living in modern and traditional living arrangements from South India, the study explores their experiences with their parents with regard to reciprocity of care and support, the challenges they experience and strategies they adopt to overcome those challenges. The analysis shows adult children perceive the increased demands of modern work life and their older kin's preferences to be heard, lack of flexibility and related extra domestic work and costs, do cause a bigger burden for them in both living arrangements. However, adult children strive to uphold the traditional values of caring for their older kin and sharing emotional bonding with them. This inspiration helps them to employ strategies to accept their older relatives as they are, focus their attention on the benefits they receive from them and distribute care tasks with other relatives to overcome the challenges.

Highlights

India is known for the co-residential arrangements of multigenerational families
This section describes the experiences of adult children in traditional co-residential living arrangements and in modern nuclearised situations, starting with the challenges they encounter related to caring for their parents in the context of their daily life
In line with other studies (Grandey and Cropanzano, 1999; Carpenter, 2001; Bakker and Demerouti, 2007; Wang et al, 2011; Watt et al, 2014), i.e. holding full-time jobs compromises care responsibilities and interferes with upholding traditional family values, the interviews with the adult children in our study paint a picture in which adult children, irrespective of whether they live with their older kin under one roof or live apart, struggle to combine the requirements of modern life with the care for their parents

Summary

Introduction

India is known for the co-residential arrangements of multigenerational families. Within these arrangements, family members share economic resources and the responsibilities for household tasks. The distribution of different tasks between family members often follows a similar pattern, in which the older This traditional co-habitation arrangement could persevere for a long time because such an arrangement facilitates older adults in maintaining and passing along traditional values and customs, such as family cohesion, reciprocity, sharing and filial piety, to the younger generations (Chadha, 2004; Pillai et al, 2012; Kadoya and Khan, 2015), promoting the continuation of reciprocity in relationships in which younger generations who received throughout their life repay the eldest generation by meeting their needs when they grow old (Lamb, 2013; Watt et al, 2014)

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion