Ganong Lawrence, Coleman Marilyn
Sinclair School of Nursing, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA.
J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2006 Mar;61(2):S80-8. doi: 10.1093/geronb/61.2.s80.
. The purpose of this study was to examine beliefs about responsibilities of an adult child to an older stepparent or parent who has remarried later in life. We also investigated the effects of relationship quality and acuity of needs on perceived responsibilities to parents and stepparents.
We obtained a sample of 487 men and 571 women from across the United States by using a multistage probability sampling design that used random-digit dialing of telephone numbers. We presented respondents with a multiple-segment vignette in which the type of relationship between the adults (i.e., parent-child or stepparent-stepchild), the relationship quality, and the acuity of the older person's need were randomly varied. Respondents indicated how much help the younger adult should give the older person and how obligated the younger adult was to help the older person. In addition, we asked respondents open-ended questions about the rationale for their judgments about intergenerational helping.
Perceived responsibilities to parents were greater than responsibilities to stepparents. Relationship quality and acuity of need were also related to obligation beliefs.
Stepparents acquired later in life generally are not seen as family members, and thus norms of family obligations do not apply to them.
本研究旨在探讨成年子女对老年继父母或晚年再婚父母的责任观念。我们还调查了关系质量和需求紧迫性对感知到的对父母和继父母责任的影响。
我们采用多阶段概率抽样设计，通过随机数字拨号电话号码，从美国各地抽取了487名男性和571名女性作为样本。我们向受访者展示了一个多段式情景描述，其中成年人之间的关系类型（即亲子或继父母与继子女）、关系质量和老年人需求的紧迫性是随机变化的。受访者指出年轻成年人应该给予老年人多少帮助，以及年轻成年人有多大义务帮助老年人。此外，我们还问了受访者一些开放式问题，询问他们对代际帮助判断的理由。
感知到的对父母的责任大于对继父母的责任。关系质量和需求紧迫性也与义务观念有关。
晚年获得的继父母通常不被视为家庭成员，因此家庭义务规范不适用于他们。
