Intergenerational Support and Marital Satisfaction: Implications of Beliefs About Helping Aging Parents
| Author | Steven H. Zarit,Amber J. Seidel,Lauren R. Bangerter,Courtney A. Polenick,Kira S. Birditt,Karen L. Fingerman |
| Date | 01 February 2017 |
| Published date | 01 February 2017 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12334 |
C A. P S H. Z The Pennsylvania State University
K S. B University of Michigan∗
L R. B The Pennsylvania State University∗∗
A J. S Penn State York∗∗∗
K L. F The University of Texas at Austin∗∗∗∗
Intergenerational Support and Marital Satisfaction:
Implications of Beliefs About Helping Aging
Parents
Everyday support given to aging parents is a
salient aspect of married life that may have
implications for marital quality. Among 132
middle-aged couples drawn from Wave 1 of the
Family Exchanges Study, the authors examined
the moderating effects of each spouse’s norma-
tive and motivational beliefs about helping par-
ents on associations between the frequency of
Department of Human Development and Family Studies,
The Pennsylvania State University,119 Health and Human
Development Building, University Park, PA 16802
(cap317@psu.edu).
∗Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, 426
Thompson Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48104.
∗∗Department of Human Development and Family Studies,
The Pennsylvania State University 119 Health and Human
Development Building, University Park, PA 16802.
∗∗∗Department of Human Development and Family Studies,
Penn State York,1031 Edgecomb Avenue, York, PA17403.
∗∗∗∗Department of Human Development and Family
Sciences, The University of Texasat Austin, 1 University
Station, A2702, Austin, TX 78712.
This article was edited by Kelly Raley.
KeyWords: couples, intergenerationalrelationships, marital
quality,marriage, parent–child relationships, social support.
everyday support that wives and husbands gave
to their own parents and marital satisfaction.
Husbands’ more frequent provision of support
was linked to wives’ greater marital satisfac-
tion when reports of personal rewards linked to
helping parents were high for wives or low for
husbands. Conversely,wives’ more frequent pro-
vision of support was linked to husbands’ lower
marital satisfaction when reports of lial obli-
gation were low for husbands or high for wives.
Findings highlight the interdependence within
couples and indicate that both spouses’ percep-
tions are important in understanding linkages
between intergenerational support and marital
satisfaction.
Popular culture has long been rife with col-
orful characterizations of how relationships
with parents can affect marital functioning, as
depicted in television sitcoms such as Every-
body Loves Raymond (1996–2005) and movies
such as Monster-in-Law (2005). Likewise, the
consequences of intergenerational ties for satis-
faction within the marriage have been explored
as a theme in the family therapy literature (e.g.,
Bowen, 1978; Silverstein, 1990). Nevertheless,
Journal of Marriage and Family 79 (February 2017): 131–146 131
DOI:10.1111/jomf.12334
132 Journal of Marriage and Family
relatively little theoretical and empirical work
has examined the intersection of parent–child
ties in adulthood and marital relations. Scholars
have noted, however, that married couples often
have four or more parents with whom they share
their time, resources, and affection through
the provision of social support (Silverstein &
Giarrusso, 2010). Because everyday types of
help given to parents (e.g., advice, emotional
support, practical assistance, nancial aid) result
in less time and resources available to invest
in the marriage, the frequency of this support
may have critical implications for each spouse’s
marital satisfaction
The linkages between everyday support given
to parents and marital satisfaction are particu-
larly valuable to examine among middle-aged
couples for at least two reasons. First, prior
research indicates that middle-aged men and
women provide emotional support, advice, or
practical assistance to their parents at least
once per week (Fingerman, Kim, Tennant,
Birditt, & Zarit, 2015). Second, the frequency
of everyday support given to parents tends
to increase throughout midlife as a conse-
quence of parents’ emerging health problems
and age-related life circumstances such as the
transition to widowhood (Kim et al., 2016).
Hence, for middle-aged couples, everyday
support given to aging parents is likely to
represent a salient and enduring aspect of
married life. In this study, we used a dyadic
perspective to examine associations between
the everyday support that wives and husbands
gave to their own parents and marital satisfac-
tion. We also considered how each spouse’s
beliefs about helping parents condition these
associations.
B
Theoretical Framework
This study was guided by three complementary
theoretical perspectives that suggest the inter-
dependence among married couples with regard
to implications of each spouse’s family support
roles for marital quality. According to family
systems theory, tension between spouses will
often arise as a result of a third party’s involve-
ment in their lives (Bowen, 1978). In particu-
lar, a partner’s lack of differentiationfrom his or
her family of origin can be problematic for the
marital system. With respect to everydaysupport
given to parents, the provision of more frequent
support may reect the presence of a powerful
parent–child bond that diminishes the role of the
adult child’s spouse. Consequently, the spouse
may be dissatised with the couple’s relation-
ship. A wife who gives more frequent everyday
help to her own parents, for example, may be
highly interdependent with her parents in a way
that interferes with functioning in her marital
role. As a result, her husband may be unhappy
with the marriage because he resents this inter-
ference and the amount of time his wife spends
with her parents.
Furthermore, role theory asserts that ideals,
values, and role responsibilities are inevitably
in conict over the distribution of one’s lim-
ited resources (e.g., time, emotions, material
goods; Goode, 1960). Applied to everyday sup-
port given to parents, providing more frequent
help may be linked to lower marital satisfaction
because spending a greater amount of time and
energy in the adult child role results in less avail-
able time and energy to devote to one’s marital
role. Spouses may view aging parents as com-
petitors for time and affection, so high levels of
support given to parents by one spouse may lead
to feelings of jealousy and rivalry in his or her
partner (Chasin, Grunebaum, & Herzig, 1990;
Silverstein, 1990).
Finally, interdependence theory proposes that
partners inuence each other’s experiences and
depend on one another to obtain valued needs
including social support, affection, and emo-
tional closeness (Rusbult & Buunk, 1993). In
turn, levels of relationship satisfaction reect the
extent to which each individual favorably evalu-
ates the relationship and believes that his or her
partner adequately fullls these relational needs.
Specic to middle-aged couples, it is therefore
possible that more frequent everyday support
given to parents may be related to lower mari-
tal satisfaction in both partners because working
to fulll the needs of parents invariably takes
time away from attending to needs within the
marriage.
Intergenerational Support and Marriage
Parents are an important source of support in
their adult offspring’s marriage but may also
contribute to marital strain (e.g., Bryant, Conger,
& Meehan, 2001; Reczek, Lui, & Umberson,
2010). The relationship dynamics among grown
children, their parents, and their spouses are
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