The Impact of Living Alone and Intergenerational Support on Depressive Symptoms Among Older Mexican Americans: Does Gender Matter?

The study examined gender differences in the impact of living alone and intergenerational support on depressive symptoms among Mexican American older adults. The sample included 335 parent-adult child pairs which are nested within 92 Mexican American respondents, because each respondent reported their specific relationships with each child. Clustered regression analysis showed gender differences in the impact of living alone and intergenerational support on depressive symptoms among Mexican American older adults. In general, older men provided and received less intergenerational support than older women, but their depressive symptoms were more susceptible to living alone and different types of intergenerational support. Factors such as living alone, receiving instrumental support were associated with more depressive symptoms in older men than inolder women, whereas older men benefited more from the emotional closeness with children than older women. The findings highlight the need for a gender-specific approach to future research on this topic.

Parental history of moderate to severe infantile malnutrition is associated with cognitive deficits in their adult offspring.

OBJECTIVES: We compared the IQ and academic achievement of the young adult offspring of parents malnourished in infancy and those of a healthy control group in order to test the hypothesis that the offspring of previously malnourished individuals would show IQ and academic deficits that could be related to reduced parental socioeconomic status. METHODS: We conducted a group comparison study based on a community sample in Barbados (Barbados Nutrition Study). Participants were adult children ≥16 years of age whose parents had been malnourished during the first year of life (n = 64; Mean age 19.3 years; 42% male) or whose parents were healthy community controls (n = 50; Mean age 19.7 years; 48% male). The primary outcome was estimated IQ (Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence); a secondary outcome was academic achievement (Wide Range Achievement Test - Third Edition). Data were analyzed using PROC MIXED with and without adjusting for parental socioeconomic status (Hollingshead Index of Social Position). RESULTS: IQ was reduced in the offspring of previously malnourished parents relative to the offspring of controls (9.8 point deficit; P < 0.01), but this difference was not explained by parental socioeconomic status or parental IQ. The magnitude of the group difference was smaller for basic academic skills and did not meet criteria for statistical significance. DISCUSSION: The deleterious impact of infant malnutrition on cognitive function may be transmitted to the next generation; however, this intergenerational effect does not appear to be explained by the reduced socioeconomic status or IQ of the parent generation.

Adult Children's Education and Parents' Functional Limitations in Mexico.

This article asks how adult children's education influences older parents' physical health in Mexico, a context where older adults often lack access to institutional resources and rely on kin, primarily children, as a main source of support. Using logistic and negative binomial regression models and data from the first wave of the Mexican Health and Aging Study (N = 9,661), we find that parents whose children all completed high school are less likely to report any functional limitations as well as fewer limitations compared to parents with no children who completed high school. This association remains significant even after accounting for parent and offspring-level characteristics, including parents' income that accounts for children's financial transfers to parents. Future research should aim to understand the mechanisms that explain the association between adult children's education and changes to parents' health over time.

Parental Influence on Their Adult Children's Sexual Values: A Multi-National Comparison Between the United States, Spain, Costa Rica, and Peru.

We examined the influence of perceived parental sexual values, religiosity, and family environment on young adults' sexual values from the United States (n = 218), Spain (n = 240), Costa Rica (n = 172), and Peru (n = 105). On average, and across the four national groups, the messages young adults received from their parents about broad domains of sexual behaviors (masturbation, non-intercourse types of heterosexual sexual activity, premarital sex, same-sex activity, and cohabiting) were unequivocally restrictive. By contrast, across the four groups, young adults on average held rather permissive sexual values and their values differed significantly from those of their parents. Moreover, the nature of perceived parental sexual values (restrictive vs. permissive) was not associated significantly with young adults' sexual values, age of sexual debut, or number of sexual partners. Comparatively, Spanish young adults held the most permissive sexual values, whereas US young adults held the most restrictive sexual values. Religiosity was the strongest predictor of young adults' sexual values, followed by perceived parental sexual values and influence. In conclusion, it appears that despite having perceived restrictive parental messages about sex, these young adults currently hold permissive sexual attitudes, thus calling into question the influence parents actually have on their adult children's sexual values.

Who supports whom? Gender and intergenerational transfers in post-industrial Barbados.

This study examines the likelihood that older adults and their children in Bridgetown, Barbados engage in exchanges of financial, functional, and material support and the extent to which gender influences transfers. Data come from the 2000 Survey of Health, Well-Being and Aging in Latin America and the Caribbean (SABE) of Bridgetown, Barbados N = 3876 children, representing 1135 families. Multivariate logistic regression models examine the demographic and economic situations of both older and younger cohorts that encourage or constrain intergenerational exchanges. Results confirm, as in many developing countries, a higher proportion of older Barbadians receive rather than provide support. Gender differentiation in support transfers depends on the type of support examined and the living arrangements of parents and children. Support exchanges are highly conditioned by the socioeconomic circumstances of both generations but gender stratification in the labor market does not appear to mediate support exchanges. These findings suggest some flexibility in gender systems with respect to intergenerational support within Barbado.

Transmission of cultural values among Mexican-origin parents and their adolescent and emerging adult offspring.

The integration of the U.S. and Mexican culture is an important process associated with Mexican-origin youths' adjustment and family dynamics. The current study examined the reciprocal associations in parents' and two offspring's cultural values (i.e., familism and respect) in 246 Mexican-origin families. Overall, mothers' values were associated with increases in youths' values 5 years later. In contrast, youths' familism values were associated with increases in fathers' familism values 5 years later. In addition, developmental differences emerged where parent-to-offspring effects were more consistent for youth transitioning from early to late adolescence than for youth transitioning from middle adolescence to emerging adulthood. Finally, moderation by immigrant status revealed a youth-to-parent effect for mother-youth immigrant dyads, but not for dyads where youth were U.S.-raised. Our findings highlight the reciprocal nature of parent-youth value socialization and provide a nuanced understanding of these processes through the consideration of familism and respect values. As Mexican-origin youth represent a large and rapidly growing segment of the U.S. population, research that advances our understanding of how these youth develop values that foster family cohesion and support is crucial.

Transcultural adaptation of the filial responsibility interview schedule for Brazil.

BACKGROUND: In developed countries, filial responsibility in relation to caring for elderly parents has been systematically studied. In Brazil and other developing countries, however, it is a relatively new topic and has not yet been included in the research agenda on ageing. OBJECTIVE: To describe the process of cross-cultural adaptation of the qualitative phase of the filial responsibility interview schedule into Brazilian Portuguese. METHODS: An expert committee of six team members participated in the study. In addition, individual interviews were held with 11 caregivers of older persons to evaluate the quality of the final Portuguese version of the schedule. The process included examining conceptual, item, semantic and operational equivalencies. Conceptual and item equivalencies were based on a literature review and on discussions with the expert committee. Semantic equivalence was attained through translation, back-translation, expert committee evaluation and pre-testing. The final version was pre-tested in caregivers of older persons enrolled in the home care programme of a primary health care service in Southern Brazil. RESULTS: Conceptual, item, semantic and operational equivalencies were attained. Through the interviews, responses to the open-ended questions concerning filial responsibility in the care for elderly parents pertained to the following categories: possibility of institutionalization of elderly parents, caregiver expectations, difficulties in being a child caregiver and responsibility as a natural process. CONCLUSION: The Portuguese version presented good semantic equivalence and the results showed that the concepts and items are applicable to the Brazilian context.

The place of proximity: social support in mother-adult daughter relationships.

The mother-adult daughter relationship has been highlighted in both the social sciences and the public health literature as an important facet of social support networks, particularly as they pertain to maternal and child health. Evolutionary anthropologists also have shown positive associations between support from maternal grandmothers and various outcomes related to reproductive success; however, many of these studies rely on proximity as a surrogate measure of support. Here I present data from the Puerto Rican Maternal and Infant Health Survey (PRMIHS) comparing geographic proximity of mother and daughter with a self-reported measure of mother-to-daughter support. These two measures were used to predict infant health outcomes as well as various measures of instrumental and emotional aid provided during pregnancy and after birth. Primary support was shown to have a positive effect across the analyses, whereas geographic proximity was associated with an increased risk of infant mortality and low birth weight as well as reduced odds of receiving support. This paradox was then examined using a combination variable that teased out the interactions of maternal support and proximity. Women who were geographically close to their mothers but who did not consider them a primary source of support had increased odds of infant death and low birth weight, and were less likely to receive either tangible or intangible forms of aid, while women whose mothers were both close and primary showed uniformly positive outcomes. These results place the role of propinquity within the larger context of social support and highlight the need for more detailed studies of social support within evolutionary anthropology.

Lessons learned in instrument pilot testing with Mexican American caregivers of elders.

Given the fast-growing Mexican American (MA) population, it is common for investigators to be pressured into using Spanish translated instruments developed for English-speaking populations. However, these translated instruments may have limited relevance for data collection without adequate assessment and vetting. The purpose of this paper is to present lessons learned from the pilot testing of instruments designed for use with Mexican Americans. Pilot testing of two instruments was conducted with 22 Mexican American family caregivers of older adults. Issues that emerged were classified into three categories-instrumentation, methodology, and demographic data. Within the area of instrumentation, six issues were identified-level of abstraction, concreteness, pronoun use, clarity, exclusiveness, and response format. Methodological concerns were focused on test-retest administration and inclusion criteria. Issues within the demographic data were concerned with marital status, country of birth, household size and income, and validity of self-rated scales. By addressing those concerns, investigators may be more likely to have culturally sensitive measures and greater generalization to relevant MA populations.

Psychometric tests of Expectations of Filial Piety Scale in a Mexican-American population.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: This paper reports the development of the Expectations of Filial Piety Scale for use with Mexican-American parents regarding expectations they have of their adult children for care and support. BACKGROUND: Earlier work by the authors demonstrated that filial piety is a cross-cultural construct that can be used with Hispanic/Latino populations. More refined development of the construct required testing with more homogeneous subsets (i.e. Mexican-Americans) within the broad designation of Hispanic/Latino adults. DESIGN: Non-experimental methodological design for field testing of the instrument's psychometric properties. METHODS: A convenient sample of 80 Mexican-American adults in California and Texas completed a brief biographical survey and field tested the Expectations of Filial Piety Scale. RESULTS: Common factor analysis with orthogonal rotation was used to extract three factors, which accounted for 58% of the variance in scale scores. These factors included: I: respect for parents (24.05%); II: honouring parents (12.5%); and III: family unity (16.56%). Overall scale reliability was 0.87 with individual factor reliability coefficients ranging from 0.74 to 0.87 and test-retest correlation was 0.73. CONCLUSIONS: The results show that the Expectations of Filial Piety Scale is an internally consistent and reliable tool for use in studies of the Mexican-American population. Mexican elders historically underuse formal services; a large portion of this population will most likely depend on support from their family members when they reach advanced ages. There is a lack of culturally sensitive instruments to measure family values in caring for older adults in Mexican-Americans. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: This scale can enable case workers and nurses in long-term care settings to assess the elder's expectations for family support accurately and compare these expectations with available family support, children's intentions to care for a dependent parent or other family member and the need for supplemental care in Mexican-American families.

Perceptions of help given to healthy older mothers by adult daughters: ways of initiating help and types of help given.

Older mother-adult daughter dyads (N = 43) addressed two issues pertaining to the ways in which help is initiated (offered, requested, and imposed help) and type of help given (instrumental help, advice, and emotional support) a) mothers' reasoning about these aspects of help, and b) daughters' understanding of mothers' feelings. Both groups noted that mothers were most comfortable with offered help; however, mothers indicated equal comfort with requested or imposed help, while daughters felt mothers were more comfortable with requested help than imposed help. Mothers and daughters both felt that mothers were less comfortable receiving additional instrumental help or advice than emotional support. Reasons given for mothers' feelings indicated that mothers saw both positive and negative elements in the help given by their adult daughters. Overall, daughters demonstrated a good understanding of mothers' feelings about the helping relationship.