Characteristics Of Adult Children Research Articles

Involvement of adult children in treatment decision-making for older patients with cancer — a qualitative study of perceptions and experiences of oncology surgeons and nurses

BackgroundMany older patients with cancer have their family members, often their adult children, involved in a process of treatment decision-making. Despite the growing awareness that family members can facilitate a process of shared decision-making, strategies for involving family members are scarce. Furthermore, literature about shared decision-making pays little attention to family involvement or to the impact that family relations have on the decision process. The purpose of this study was to explore how surgeons and nurses perceive the involvement of adult children of older patients with cancer in treatment decision-making. Subsequently, it identified strategies to ensure family involvement in the decision-making process, used in clinical practice.MethodsQualitative open in-depth interviews were conducted with 13 surgeons and 13 nurses working in a university or general hospital. Qualitative content analysis was conducted according to the steps of thematic analysis.ResultsBoth nurses and surgeons indicated that adult children’s involvement in decision-making about treatment increases when patients become frail. They mentioned several characteristics of adult children’s behaviour during the decision-making process. Most of these characteristics are beneficial, but they also can be challenging. The distinct nature of adult children’s involvement can help older patients with cancer reach better-informed treatment decisions. Health professionals reported six strategies to support positive family involvement in decision-making about treatment.ConclusionAdult children may facilitate a process of shared decision-making and help patients reach well-informed treatment decisions. Health professionals’ strategies deliberately support positive family involvement.

Adult children’s characteristics and intergenerational financial transfers in urban China

Financial transfers between adult children and their elderly parents should be viewed as part of larger family dynamics that can also involve siblings. This is particularly likely to be the case in China, where there has been a traditional emphasis on financial support within the extended family. Using data from the 1999 ‘Study of Family Life in Urban China’ and fixed effects models, this study examines how the characteristics of adult children and their adult siblings are associated with financial transfers between them and their elderly parents. Particular attention is given to sibling differences with regard to factors such as gender, birth order, education and financial situation. The findings revealed that in urban China the traditional gender pattern is changing, in that daughters, rather than sons, now provide more financial support to their parents. However, parents still tend to give more financial assistance to sons. Children with more education (i.e., those who received more parental investment) provided greater financial support to their parents, to repay this earlier investment. Furthermore, elderly parents redistributed resources within the extended family by receiving more financial transfers from financially better-off children and giving more financial transfers to financially worse-off children. These findings suggest that the Chinese family serves as a financial buffer, with intergenerational transfers operating as a micro-level welfare system.

Does home care for dependent elderly people improve their mental health?

While theoretical models on long-term care decisions assume that the health production function of dependent elderly depends positively on the care received, it has not received much attention in the empirical literature. We estimate the effects of both informal and formal home care on the mental health of elderly individuals in France needing help with daily activities. We adjust for the endogeneity of care with instrumental variables, using characteristics of adult children and geographical disparities in access to public long-term care coverage. The results show that informal care reduces the risk of depression of dependent elderly and that formal care increases their general mental health.

Intergenerational effects of parental wealth on children's housing wealth

Past research has shown a close association of housing characteristics between generations. Previous evidence on the similarity of homeownership and housing value between parents and children reflects that inheritances and intergenerational wealth transfers play important roles in reinforcing and extending wealth inequality across generations. The purpose of this study is to examine how housing wealth and the timing of initial homeownership are affected by different characteristics of adult children and their parents using the Korean Labor and Income Panel Study. Special attention is given to the influence of parental economic resources on housing wealth and the timing of their children's initial homeownership in order to discern any intergenerational effects. The paper extends knowledge of ongoing intergenerational effects by analyzing the extent to which parental economic resources have a long-term effect on children's accumulation of net housing wealth. The findings indicate that children of wealthier parents have an economic head start: they transit more quickly to homeownership. Comparing net housing wealth between homeowners and renters reveals an increasing gap between the two groups. The results also show that the large gap in housing wealth can be partly attributed to differing parental wealth.

Personality characteristics of adult children of alcoholics.

The study examined whether eight characteristics attributed to adult children of alcoholics (ACOAs) by Woititz (1983) were supported by personality measures. The Children of Alcoholics Screening Test (CAST) and nine scales from the California Personality Inventory and the 16-PF were administered to 166 undergraduates. Forty-nine (29%) of these subjects were identified as ACOAs. ACOAs' scores on the personality measures were compared to an age- and gender-matched control group. No differences were identified between ACOA men and control men. ACOA women were found to be more flexible, impulsive, and pessimistic, with a sense of less wellbeing than control women. A significant discriminant function correctly classified 77.6% of the women subjects. This function indicated that easygoingness, independence, self-assurance, and self-directedness are associated with status as an ACOA for women.

Family Dynamics and Individual Characteristics of Adult Children of Alcoholics

This study investigates differences in family dynamics and individual characteristics among: (a) adult children of alcoholics receiving professional and self-help recovery services; (b) adult children of alcoholics not receiving such recovery services; and (c) adults from families where there was an absence of substance abuse, domestic violence, incest, and chronic psychiatric or physical problems. Using discriminant analysis, two family variables (family competence and family cohesion) and three individual variables (individuation from parents, control issues expressed through feelings and problems with self-esteem) were identified as best discriminating between the three groups. Classification analysis revealed that although the identitied variables predicted a relatively high percentage of correct classification of the overall sample (69.05%), the most accurate prediction of group membership was at the extreme levels of family and individual functioning (either high or low). Implications for practice w...

Personality characteristics of adult children of alcoholics, other adults from dysfunctional families, and adults from nondysfunctional families.

This study used the California Psychological Inventory (CPI) to examine the personality characteristics of adult children of alcoholics. The sample was noncollege age adults (N = 174). Subjects responding to advertisements were grouped into Adult Children of Alcoholics (ACOA) (56%), Adults with Dysfunctional Family Histories (ADFH) (21%), or Adults without Identified Dysfunctional Family Histories (AIDFH) (23%). Results indicated that the ACOA group was different from the AIDFH group on nine of the 28 CPI scales, but there were no significant differences between the ACOA and ADFH groups. The validity of clinical impressions of ACOAs and the utility of considering ACOAs as a distinct field of study are discussed.

Purported characteristics of adult children of alcoholics: A possible "Barnum effect."

Purported characteristics of adult children of alcoholics: A possible "Barnum effect."

Adult children of alcoholics.

Adult children of alcoholics are increasingly recognized as a population facing greater risk for developing emotional and physical problems. This article describes characteristics of adult children of alcoholics and presents a method for identifying those most at risk. Implications for practice are also discussed.

Characteristics of adult children of alcoholics.

Ninety-seven adult children of alcoholics (ACOAs), 36 adults with dysfunctional family histories, and 41 adults without identified dysfunctional family histories were compared on self-reports of 20 adult characteristics. Significant differences among the groups were found on 4 of the characteristics, with the ACOA group showing the highest frequency of occurrence on 17 of them. No differences due to gender of the alcoholic parent were found, and there was no group by gender interaction. The results suggested that the clinical characteristics attributed to ACOAs may have some empirical validity but the ACOAs seem fairly similar to adults with other types of dysfunctional family histories.

Personality Characteristics of Adult Children of Alcoholics

This article investigates personality characteristics of adult children of alcoholics (ACAs) by using the Children of Alcoholics Screening Test (CAST) and the Personal Orientation Inventory (POI)

Adult Children of Alcoholics: A Self Portrait

Lists the typical characteristics of adult children of alcoholics and draws implications for pastoral counselors working with such persons. Provides a reading list to assist pastoral counselors in their work with adult children of alcoholics.

The Understanding Heart: Aging Parents and Their Favorite Children

This paper compares the characteristics of adult children who provide comfort and sympathy and serve as confidants to parents with those whom parents perceive as disappointing. Interview information from 117 couples having children who had left home was analyzed using aggregate and intrafamilial strategies. The latter analyses compared the characteristics of the selected child with those of her or his sibs instead of comparing the aggregate of selected children with the aggregate of their siblings. Differences in the findings from the 2 techniques are discussed. The findings confirmed the importance of daughters who live nearby as understanding children. More important than proximity among the factors influencing parental judgments on disappointing and understanding children were intergenerational shared interests and values.