The micropolitics of care in relationships between aging parents and adult children: Individualism, collectivism, and power

This research examines the power and emotional dynamics between aging parents and adult children. A preliminary data analysis found intergenerational power dynamics to be associated with individualist and collectivist systems of organizing family responses to elder care. The study explores that association and what it reveals about how aging parents and adult children negotiate their expectations for care. In-depth interviews with 67 members of 20 three-generation families from the Longitudinal Study of Generations were analyzed. Aging parents in individualist families were found to have greater power than those in collectivist families who received higher levels of care. This suggests a trade-off between power and care. The data also indicate that when aging parents receive care and don't reciprocate with deference, intergenerational relations become strained, and children are likely to set limits on their caregiving. Although the literature on aging families emphasizes values of filial piety and obligation in determining caregiving dynamics, these findings suggest that exchange principles and power processes also need to be considered.