Recent economic distress in midlife: Consequences for adult children’s relationships with their mothers

Abstract

For nearly a century, research on economic hardship has demonstrated its negative effects on family relations. However, with few exceptions, this work has focused on the consequences for marital quality and parenting behaviors in early stages of the life course. In contrast, in the present study, we examine how financial distress among adult children in midlife affects their relationships with their mothers in their 70s and early 80s. Specifically, we used quantitative and qualitative data collected from 387 mothers in 2001–2002 and 2008–2010 regarding their adult children’s recent financial problems and their levels of tension and closeness felt toward each child. Multilevel analyses revealed that both children’s financial problems within the past year and earlier problems that had been resolved predicted mothers’ reports of tension in their relationships with their adult children. Contrary to expectations, neither measure of children’s financial problems predicted mothers’ reports of closeness to their children. Examination of the qualitative data suggested that mothers attributed their children’s financial failures to personal failures of the adult children. In addition, the qualitative data revealed clear gender differences. Mothers disproportionately attributed their sons’ financial problems to lack of career success, whereas mothers were much more likely to express disappointment in daughters with financial problems because of marital dissolutions.

Citation

Gilligan, M., Suitor, J.J. and Pillemer, K. (2013), "Recent economic distress in midlife: Consequences for adult children’s relationships with their mothers", Visions of the 21st Century Family: Transforming Structures and Identities (Contemporary Perspectives in Family Research, Vol. 7), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 159-184. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1530-3535(2013)0000007009