The University of Texas at Austin, Texas 78712, USA.
J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2012 Mar;67(2):184-93. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbr086. Epub 2011 Aug 19.
Middle-aged parents' well-being may be tied to successes and failures of grown children. Moreover, most parents have more than one child, but studies have not considered how different children's successes and failures may be associated with parental well-being.
Middle-aged adults (aged 40-60; N = 633) reported on each of their grown children (n = 1,384) and rated their own well-being. Participants indicated problems each child had experienced in the past two years, rated their children's successes, as well as positive and negative relationship qualities.
Analyses compared an exposure model (i.e., having one grown child with a problem or deemed successful) and a cumulative model (i.e., total problems or successes in the family). Consistent with the exposure and cumulative models, having one child with problems predicted poorer parental well-being and the more problems in the family, the worse parental well-being. Having one successful child did not predict well-being, but multiple grown children with higher total success in the family predicted enhanced parental well-being. Relationship qualities partially explained associations between children's successes and parental well-being.
Discussion focuses on benefits and detriments parents derive from how grown progeny turn out and particularly the implications of grown children's problems.
中年父母的幸福感可能与成年子女的成功和失败有关。此外，大多数父母都不止一个孩子，但现有研究尚未考虑不同孩子的成功和失败可能如何与父母的幸福感相关。
中年成年人（年龄在 40-60 岁之间；N=633）报告了他们每一个成年子女（n=1384）的情况，并对自己的幸福感进行了评估。参与者指出了过去两年中每个孩子经历的问题，对孩子的成功进行了评价，以及对亲子关系的积极和消极品质进行了评价。
分析比较了暴露模型（即，一个孩子有问题或被认为成功）和累积模型（即，家庭中总的问题或成功）。与暴露和累积模型一致，有一个孩子有问题预测了较差的父母幸福感，家庭中问题越多，父母幸福感越差。有一个成功的孩子并不预示着幸福感，但家庭中成年子女的总体成功越高，预示着父母幸福感越强。亲子关系质量部分解释了孩子的成功与父母幸福感之间的关联。
讨论集中在父母从成年子女的成长中获得的好处和坏处，特别是成年子女问题带来的影响。
