Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
Gerontology. 2012;58(1):88-96. doi: 10.1159/000324512. Epub 2011 Apr 29.
We examined the context of intergenerational support exchanges with aging parents and its association with middle-aged couples' marital satisfaction. A sample of 197 middle-aged couples reported support they gave to and received from their parents (n = 440). Results indicated that couples provided more total support to and received more from their parents as a function of number of living parents, but the amount of support each parent received ('parent-adjusted support') was lower when there were more living parents. The amount of support given to and received from parents had no association with the couple's marital satisfaction, but discrepancies in support given to and received from parents did have a significant association with marital satisfaction. Husbands who gave more support to their living parent(s) than their wives reported lower marital satisfaction. A similar effect on marital satisfaction was found for wives who gave more support to their living parents than their husbands. These findings contrast with caregiving studies where amount of support affected marital satisfaction and suggest that inequalities in involvement with parents may be a critical dimension in marriages of midlife adults.
我们考察了与老年父母的代际支持交换的背景及其与中年夫妇婚姻满意度的关系。197 对中年夫妇报告了他们给予和从父母那里得到的支持（n=440）。结果表明，随着在世父母数量的增加，夫妇给予父母的总支持和从父母那里得到的支持越多，但每个父母得到的支持数量（“父母调整后的支持”）则越低。父母给予和接受的支持数量与夫妻的婚姻满意度没有关联，但给予和接受父母的支持之间的差异与婚姻满意度有显著关联。给予在世父母的支持比妻子多的丈夫报告说婚姻满意度较低。对于给予在世父母的支持比丈夫多的妻子，也发现了对婚姻满意度的类似影响。这些发现与照顾研究形成对比，在照顾研究中，支持的数量影响婚姻满意度，这表明与父母的参与不平等可能是中年成年人婚姻的一个关键维度。
