How Gender Shapes Sibling Tension in Adulthood Following Parental Death.

Objective: This study investigates gender differences in the effect of parents' deaths on sibling tension among bereaved adult children.

Background: Previous scholarship on adult sibling relations following the deaths of parents presents inconsistent results. These disparate findings may stem from past studies not taking into consideration the gender of both the deceased parent and the bereaved child.

Worrying Across the Generations: The Impact of Adult Grandchildren's Problems on Grandparents' Well-Being.

Objectives: The intergenerational stake hypothesis and theories of the life course posit that older generations are invested in the well-being of younger generations. Consistent with this, previous research has shown that adult children's problems are associated with worse parental well-being. Because multigenerational ties have become increasingly important in the 21st century, we propose that adult grandchildren's problems may also impact grandparents' well-being.

Differential Costs of Raising Grandchildren on Older Mother-Adult Child Relations in Black and White Families.

Drawing from theories of affect, role strain and stress processes, we studied the impact of raising grandchildren on older mothers' relationships with the adult offspring whose children they raised, with particular attention to how these patterns differ by race and ethnicity. We used mixed-methods data collected from 531 older mothers regarding their relationships with 1935 of their adult children as part of the Within-Family Differences Study. Multilevel regression analyses showed that raising grandchildren was associated with greater mother-adult child closeness in Black families; however, in White families, raising grandchildren was associated with greater mother-adult child conflict.

Mothers' Functional Limitations and Relationship Quality With Adult Children: Exploring the Moderating Roles of Race and Gender.

Theory and research on intergenerational relations emphasize the salient role that mothers and their adult children play in one another's lives. However, little is known about how mothers' health may shape mother-child relationship quality in later-life. We utilized data from the Within Family Differences Study to explore how mothers' functional limitations affect multiple dimensions of mother-child relationship quality, as reported by mothers and their offspring, with particular emphasis on whether race, child's gender, or generational position moderated these associations.

How Widowhood and Gender Shape the Impact of Maternal Favoritism on Adult Children's Psychological Well-Being.

Objectives: Our goal was to extend research on within-family differences in mother-child relations in later life by focusing on 2 social structural characteristics of mothers and offspring that may play important roles in shaping the impact of maternal favoritism on adult children's depressive symptoms-mother's marital status and child's gender.

Methods: Mixed-methods data were collected as part of the Within-Family Differences Study from 641 adult children nested within 273 families in which: (a) there were at least 2 living adult siblings, and (b) mothers were married or widowed.

Results: Multilevel analyses indicated that perceiving oneself as the child to whom one's mother was most emotionally close was a strong predictor of higher depressive symptoms among daughters of widowed mothers; in contrast, perceptions of favoritism did not predict depressive symptoms among sons of either widowed or married mothers, or daughters of married mothers.