Versão Portuguesa da Escala de Ansiedade Filial / Portuguese Version of the Filial Anxiety Scale

O aumento da longevidade e do envelhecimento da população aumenta a probabilidade dos filhos adultos assumirem os cuidados dos seus pais envelhecidos. Quando os filhos percepcionam que os pais podem vir a necessitar de cuidados podem evidenciar uma preocupação antecipada relativamente à sua capacidade para cuidar e ao bem-estar dos mesmos. Cicirelli (1988) denominou esta preocupação de ansiedade filial e desenvolveu a Escala de Ansiedade Filial para a avaliar. O presente estudo tem como objectivo apresentar o processo de validação da Escala de Ansiedade Filial (EAF, Cicirelli, 1988) para a língua portuguesa (Europa). Participaram no estudo 130 filhos adultos de meia-idade portugueses. Os resultados sugerem que a versão portuguesa apresenta características psicométricas adequadas, mostrando-se um instrumento válido.(AU)

The growth of longevity and aging increase the likelihood of adult children provide care to their aging parents. However, adult children may exhibit an anticipatory worry about their proficiency to provide care to their parents as well as about parents’ well-being. Cicirelli (1988) labeled this worry as filial anxiety and developed the Filial Anxiety Scale to measure it. The aim of the current study is to describe the translation process and validation of the European Portuguese version of the Escala de Ansiedade Filial (EAF; Cicirelli, 1998), by reporting the EAF main psychometric properties in a sample of 130 Portuguese middle-aged adult children. By demonstrating the satisfactory psychometric properties of the EAF, the results suggest the EAF as a valid instrument to measure the filial anxiety.(AU)

Versão portuguesa da escala de ansiedade filial / Portuguese version of the filial anxiety scale

O aumento da longevidade e do envelhecimento da população aumenta a probabilidade dos filhos adultos assumirem os cuidados dos seus pais envelhecidos. Quando os filhos percepcionam que os pais podem vir a necessitar de cuidados podem evidenciar uma preocupação antecipada relativamente à sua capacidade para cuidar e ao bem-estar dos mesmos. Cicirelli (1988) denominou esta preocupação de ansiedade filial e desenvolveu a Escala de Ansiedade Filial para a avaliar. O presente estudo tem como objectivo apresentar o processo de validação da Escala de Ansiedade Filial (EAF, Cicirelli, 1988) para a língua portuguesa (Europa). Participaram no estudo 130 filhos adultos de meia-idade portugueses. Os resultados sugerem que a versão portuguesa apresenta características psicométricas adequadas, mostrando-se um instrumento válido.

The growth of longevity and aging increase the likelihood of adult children provide care to their aging parents. However, adult children may exhibit an anticipatory worry about their proficiency to provide care to their parents as well as about parents’ well-being. Cicirelli (1988) labeled this worry as filial anxiety and developed the Filial Anxiety Scale to measure it. The aim of the current study is to describe the translation process and validation of the European Portuguese version of the Escala de Ansiedade Filial (EAF; Cicirelli, 1998), by reporting the EAF main psychometric properties in a sample of 130 Portuguese middle-aged adult children. By demonstrating the satisfactory psychometric properties of the EAF, the results suggest the EAF as a valid instrument to measure the filial anxiety.

Religious and nonreligious spirituality in relation to death acceptance or rejection.

Meanings of religious and nonreligious spirituality are explored, with implications for death acceptance, death rejection, and life extension. In the first of two exploratory studies, 16 elders low on intrinsic religiosity were compared with 116 elders high in religiosity; they differed both in qualitative responses and on death attitudes. In the second, 48 elders were assessed on religious and nonreligious spirituality and compared on attitudes toward death rejection, life extension, and death acceptance. Conclusions were that a sizable minority of elders hold nonreligious spirituality beliefs, and these beliefs are related to greater acceptance of life extension and death rejection.

Sibling death and death fear in relation to depressive symptomatology in older adults.

Previously overlooked factors in elders' depressive symptomatology were examined, including death fear, sibling death, and sibling closeness. Participants were 150 elders (61 men, 89 women) aged 65-97 years with at least one sibling. Measures were proportion of deceased siblings, sibling closeness, the Death Fear Subscale of the Death Attitude Profile-Revised, and the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression scale (20-item adult form). Age and education were exogenous variables in a structural equation model. Death fear, sibling closeness, and proportion of dead siblings were directly related to depression, with path coefficients of .42, -.24, and .13, respectively. Proportion of dead siblings had indirect effects on depression, as did age and education. Depressive symptomatology in old age is influenced by death fear related to sibling death as well as by poor relationships with them; it must be understood within a situational context including death fear and sibling relationships.

Caregiving decision making by older mothers and adult children: process and expected outcome.

Dyadic caregiving decision making was studied in 30 mother-son and 29 mother-daughter pairs (mother's age=65-94 years) who responded to a vignette depicting a caregiving decision situation. The observed decision-making process of mother-child pairs was largely naturalistic, with few alternatives proposed and quick convergence to a decision followed by a postdecision justification; a degree of more rational decision making was seen in some pairs. Among significant findings, adult children, especially sons, dominated the decision process, doing more talking and introducing more alternatives than did their mothers, who played a more subordinate role. Mother-son pairs expected more negative outcomes and greater regrets regarding their decisions than mother-daughter pairs. Closeness of the parent-child relationship influenced the decision-making process, expected outcomes, and regrets.

Fear of death in mid-old age.

A transition model hypothesizes that the discrepancy between desired and expected time left to live is greater for mid-old persons than young-old persons. This discrepancy arouses a greater fear of death, which is influenced by age, health, and purpose in life. With the use of the Multidimensional Fear of Death Scale, 192 older adults (60 to 84 years of age) were assessed on these variables and death fear. In structural analyses, purpose in life and the difference between the desired and the expected time left to live had direct effects on fear of body loss, with indirect effects of health; the relative size of effects differed as expected for two age groups. These variables were not related to fear of the unknown. An awareness of approaching death appears to arouse a greater fear of physical loss, but not mental or spiritual loss, in mid-old persons than in young-old persons.

God as the ultimate attachment figure for older adults.

Attachment to God among older adults is an area of research that has been neglected thus far. The existence of such an attachment was explored in a study of 109 elders aged 70-97. A modest proportion of elders displayed a strong attachment to God, assessed by coding interview data for indicators of attachment. Strength of attachment to God was related (p < .05) to greater religiosity, greater fear of death, loss of other attachment figures, religious affiliation, and being younger in age, Black, and of lower socioeconomic status. Participants belonging to fundamentalist or evangelical Protestant denominations had a stronger attachment to God than those with other affiliations. Findings are interpreted in relation to existing literature on attachment to God.

Fear of death in older adults: predictions from terror management theory.

Terror management theory asserts that death fear (fear of annihilation) is buffered by self-esteem and beliefs in literal and symbolic immortality achieved through participation in the cultural system. The aims of this study were to determine how variables suggested by the theory were related to fear of death measures. Participants were 123 Black and 265 White elders aged 60 to 100 years; they were assessed on the Multidimensional Fear of Death Scale (MFODS), self-esteem, religiosity, locus of control, socioeconomic status, social support, and health. Regression analysis findings ( p <.05) offered partial support to the theory, with greater Fear of the Unknown (fear of annihilation) related to weaker religiosity, less social support, and greater externality; the effect of self-esteem was mediated by externality. Other predictors were related to an overall fear score based on the remaining 7 MFODS subscales. Findings are interpreted in terms of changing sources of self-esteem in old age.