The effects of childlessness on the care and psychological well-being of older adults with disabilities

Aging and Mental Health

Volumn 14, Issue 6, 2010, Pages 712-719

  Chang, Echo ^a   Wilber, Kathleen H ^b   Silverstein, Merril ^b  

^a CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA   (United States)

Author keywords

assistive devices; childless; personal care; psychological well being

Indexed keywords

AGED; ARTICLE; DISABLED PERSON; FEMALE; HEALTH SURVEY; HUMAN; MALE; PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECT; SATISFACTION; SELF HELP; SEXUAL BEHAVIOR; STATISTICAL MODEL;

AGED, 80 AND OVER; DISABLED PERSONS; FEMALE; HEALTH SURVEYS; HUMANS; LOGISTIC MODELS; MALE; PERSONAL SATISFACTION; REPRODUCTIVE BEHAVIOR; SELF-HELP DEVICES;

EID: 77955330833     PISSN: 13607863     EISSN: 13646915     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/13607860903586151     Document Type: Article

References (54)

1. Agree, E.M., & Freedman, V.A. (2003). A comparison of assistive technology and personal care in alleviating disability and unmet need. The Gerontologist, 43, 335-344.
2. Agree, E.M., Freedman, V.A., Cornman, J.C., Wolf, D.A., & Marcotte, J.E. (2005). Reconsidering substitution in long-term care: When does assistive technology take the place of personal care? Journal of Gerontology, 60(5), S272-S280.
3. Assistive Technology Act of 1998, 105-394, S.2432. Retrieved December 4, 2008, from AT1998.html
4. Barrett, L.L. (2008). Healthy@home, a survey. Washington, DC: AARP Foundation.
5. Beckman, L.J., & Houser, B.B. (1982). The consequences of childlessness on the social-psychological well-being of older women. Journal of Gerontology, 37, 243-250.
6. Blake, J. (1979). Is zero preferred? American attitudes toward childlessness in the 1970s. Journal of Marriage and Family, 41, 245-257.
7. Boaz, R.F., & Hu, J. (1997). Determining the amount of help used by disabled elderly persons at home: The role of coping resources. Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 52B, S317-S324.
8. Boaz, R.F., & Muller, C.F. (1994). Predicting the risk of 'permanent' nursing home residence: The role of community help as indicated by family helpers and prior living arrangements. Health Service Research, 29, 391-414.
9. Cain, M. (2001). The childless revolution. Cambridge, MA: Perseus.
10. Chappell, N.L., & Badger, M. (1989). Social isolation and well-being. Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 44, S169-S176.
11. Cherlin, A.J., & Furstenberg Jr, F.F. (1994). Stepfamilies in the United States: A reconsideration. Annual Review of Sociology, 20, 359-381.
12. Choi, N.G. (1994). Patterns and determinants of social service utilization: Comparison of the childless elderly and elderly parents living with or apart from their children. The Gerontologist, 34, 353-362.
13. Connidis, I.A., & McMullin, J.A. (1994). Social support in older age: Assessing the impact of marital and parent status. Canadian Journal on Aging, 13, 510-527.
14. Diener, E., & Emmons, R.A. (1985). The independence of positive and negative affect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 47(5), 1105-1117.
15. Diener, E., Larsen, R.J., Levine, S., & Emmons, R.A. (1985). Intensity and frequency: Dimensions underlying positive and negative affect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 48(5), 1253-1265.
16. Dykstra, P.A., & Hagestad, G.O. (2007). Roads less taken: Developing a nuanced view of older adults without children. Journal of Family Issues, 28(10), 1275-1310.
17. Easterlin, R.A. (2003). Building a better theory of well-being. IZA Discussion Paper No. 742, IZA Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
18. Fisher, B. (1991). Affirming social value: Women without children. In R. Maines (Ed.), Social organization and social process (pp. 87-104). New York: Aldine de Gruyter.
19. Freedman, V. (1996). Family structure and the risk of nursing home admission. Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 51B, S61-S69.
20. Freedman, V.A., Agree, E.M., Martin, L.G., & Cornman, J.C. (2005). Trends in use of assistive technology and personal care for later-life disability, 1992-2001. The Gerontologist, 46(1), 124-127.
21. Gironda, M., Lubben, J.E., & Atchison, K.A. (1999). Social networks of elders without children. Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 31, 63-84.
22. Hann, D., Winter, K., & Jacobsen, P. (1999). Measurement of depressive symptoms in cancer patients: Evaluation of the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 46, 437-443.
23. Houser, B.B., Berkman, S.L., & Beckman, L.J. (1984). The relative rewards and costs of childlessness for older women. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 8, 395-398.
24. Hurt, L.S., Ronsmans, C., & Thomas, S.L. (2006). The effect of number of births on women's mortality: Systematic review of the evidence for women who have completed their child-bearing. Population Studies, 60, 55-71.
25. Jaccard, J., Turrisi, R., & Wan, C.K. (1990). Interaction effects in multiple regression. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
26. Johnson, C.L., & Catalano, D.J. (1981). Childless elderly & their family support. The Gerontologist, 21(6), 610-618.
27. Johnson, C.L., & Troll, L. (1992). Family functioning in late life. Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 47, S66-S72.
28. Koropeckyj-Cox, T. (1998). Loneliness and depression in middle and old age: Are the childless more vulnerable? Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 53B, S303-S312.
29. Koropeckyj-Cox, T. (2002). Beyond parental status: Psychological well-being in middle and old age. Journal of Marriage and Family, 64, 957-971.
30. Koropeckyj-Cox, T. (2007). Characteristics of older childless persons and parents. Journal of Family Issues, 28, 1362-1414.
31. Larsson, K., & Silverstein, M. (2004). The effects of marital and parental status on informal support and service utilization: A study of older Swedes living alone. Journal of Aging Studies, 18, 231-244.
32. Lee, G.R., & Ihinger-Tallman, M. (1980). Sibling interaction and morale: The effects of family relations on older people. Research on Aging, 2, 367-391.
33. Mann, W.C., Ottenbacher, K.J., Fraas, L., Tornita, M., & Granger, C.G. (1999). Effectiveness of assistive technology and environmental interventions in maintaining independence and reducing home care costs for the frail elderly: A randomized control trial. Archives of Family Medicine, 8, 210-217.
34. McDowell, I., & Newell, C. (1996). Measuring health: A guide to rating scales and questionnaires (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.
35. Messeri, P., Silverstein, M., & Litwak, E. (1993). Choosing optimal support groups: A review and reformulation. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 34, 122-137.
36. Miall, C.E. (1986). The stigma of involuntary childlessness. Social Problems, 33, 268-282.
37. Pew, R.W., & Van Hemel, S.B. (Eds.). (2004). Technology for adaptive aging. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
38. Pruchno, R.A., Burant, C.J., & Peters, N.D. (1997). Understanding the well-being of care receivers. The Gerontologist, 37(1), 102-109.
39. Radloff, L.S. (1977). The CES-D scale: A self-report depression scale for research in the general population. Applied Psychological Measurement, 1, 385-401.
40. Rogers, W.H. (1993). Regression standard errors in clustered samples. Stata Technical Bulletin, 13, 19-23.
41. Rossi, A., & Rossi, P. (1990). Of human bonding: Parent- child relations across the life course. New York: Aldine de Gruyter.
42. Shanas, E. (1979). Social myths as hypothesis: The case of family relations of old people. The Gerontologist, 19, 3-9.
43. Spillman, B.C., & Pezzin, L.E. (2000). Potential and active family caregivers: Changing networks and the 'sandwich generation'. Milbank Quarterly, 78, 347-374.
44. Taylor, D.H., & Hoenig, H. (2004). The effect of equipment usage and residual task difficulty on use of personal assistance, days in bed, and nursing home placement. Journal of the American Geriatric Society, 52, 72-79.
45. Veevers, J.E. (1980). Childless by choice. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Butterworths.
46. Verbrugge, L.M., Rennert, C., & Madans, J.H. (1997). The great efficacy of personal and equipment assistance in reducing disability. American Journal of Public Health, 87, 384-392.
47. Verbrugge, L.M., & Sevak, P. (2002). Use, type and efficacy of assistance for disability. Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 57B, S366-S379.
48. Wachter, K.W. (1997). Kinship resources for the elderly. Philosophical Transition: Biological Sciences, 352, 1811-1817.
49. Watson, D., Clark, L.A., & Tellegen, A. (1988). Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: The PANAS scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 1063-1070.
50. Wenger, G.C., Dykstra, P.A., Melkas, T., & Knipscheer, K.C.P.M. (2007). Social embeddedness and late-life parenthood. Journal of Family Issues, 28(11), 1419-1456.
51. Williams, R.L. (2000). A note on robust variance estimation for cluster-correlated data. Biometrics, 56, 645-646.
52. Wolff, J.L., & Agree, E.M. (2004). Depression among recipients of informal care: The effects of reciprocity, respect, and adequacy of support. Journals of Gerontology, 59 (3), S173-S180.
53. Wolff, J.L., & Kasper, J.D. (2006). Caregivers of frail elders: Updating a national profile. The Gerontologist, 46, 344-356.
54. Zhang, Z., & Hayward, M. (2001). Childlessness and the psychological well-being of older persons. Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 56B, S311-S320.