Relationships more important than Genetic
Ties when deciding who cares for Aging
Family Members, MU Researchers say
Divorce and remarriage affect beliefs about who should
care for elder relatives
October
18, 2011 – America’s elderly population will nearly
double by 2050, according to a Pew
Research report.
As baby boomers enter retirement, concern exists as to
who will care for them as they age.
Traditionally, children have accepted the caregiving
responsibilities, but those caregiving roles are
becoming blurred as more families are affected by
divorce and remarriage than in previous decades. Now,
University of Missouri researchers have found that
relationship quality trumps genetic ties when
determining caregiving obligations.
Lawrence Ganong, a professor and co-chair in the MU Department
of Human Development and Family Studies in
the College
of Human Environmental Sciences (HES),
studied how divorce and remarriage affect beliefs about
who should care for aging relatives.
He found that relationship quality, a
history of mutual help, and resource
availability influence decisions about
who cares for parents and stepparents.
“The idea that family obligations are based on genetic
ties is not true for most Americans,” Ganong said. “How
close family members are to each other, how much they
have been helped by them in the past, and what hardships
caregiving might place on family members are important
factors when people consider caring for older kin.”
Ganong and Marilyn
Coleman, Curators’ Professor in HES,
presented study participants with hypothetical
caregiving scenarios involving an aging parent or
stepparent and a child or stepchild.
Participants then responded to questions about their
perceptions of who should provide care.
The majority of participants said biological
factors are relevant in caregiving
decisions, but they do not automatically
require adult children to help older
relatives.
“Based on what happens before, during and after marital
transitions, family members may change what they think
their responsibilities are regarding helping and
providing care to kin,” Ganong said.
“As a society that relies on families to provide much of
the care for older adults, we need to better understand
the effects of changes in families due to divorce and
remarriage.”
Ganong recommends that middle-aged adults have honest
conversations with parents and stepparents about
expectations for caregiving and other types of
assistance before needs arise.
Ganong presented the paper, “Who Gets Custody of Grandma
After the Divorce? How Marital Transitions Affect Family
Caregiving Responsibilities,” at the 10th International
Family Nursing Conference in Kyoto, Japan, earlier this
year. Ganong has a joint appointment as a professor in
the MU Sinclair
School of Nursing. The research was funded by
the National
Institute on Aging, part of the U.S.
National Institutes of Health.
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