The measurement, life course patterns, and outcomes of intergenerational ambivalence among parent-adult child dyads

The overall goal of this dissertation is to describe the measurement, trajectories, and consequences of intergenerational ambivalence among older parents and adult children. Ambivalence is the coexistence of affection and conflict within the intergenerational relationship and there are a variety of techniques in which to measure ambivalence. However, there is little certainty about their validity or equivalence of the measures within empirical research. Further, the majority of research on intergenerational ambivalence is cross-sectional, which limits family researchers' knowledge to only familial and individual characteristics associated with change in ambivalence. Ambivalence has been related to well-being, but there is little evidence of a causal relationship between ambivalence and psychological outcomes. Therefore, there is a need to validate measurements and test causes and/or consequences of ambivalence over the adult life course to advance the utility of the intergenerational ambivalence model. The objectives are: (1) to compare and validate two methods of quantitatively measuring intergenerational ambivalence within parent-child dyads; (2) to describe and explain change in ambivalence over time among two cohorts of parent- adult child dyads; and (3) to identify the effect of ambivalence over time on psychological well-being.;Analyses were performed using data from the USC Longitudinal Study of Generations (LSOG)—a multi-wave, multi-level, four-generation survey of American families. The first study analyzed 253 parent-child dyads from the 2005 wave of the LSOG. Bivariate and multivariate analyses showed differences between parents and children based on an indirect measure (but not a direct measure) of ambivalence and conceptual differences in the predictors of these two most commonly used measurement strategies. I discuss applying the labels of implicit ambivalence to the indirect measure and explicit ambivalence to the direct measure, as they each measure different conceptualizations of ambivalence. The second study analyzed 848 parent-child dyads from two birth cohorts across 10 years from the LSOG. The older cohort included parents born between 1916 and 1931 and their children born between 1945 and 1955. The younger cohort included parents born between 1945 and 1955 and their children born between 1978 and 1983. Latent growth models showed an overall significant decline in ambivalence over time, when both cohorts were combined. There was a positive covariation between the latent level and negative slope for the younger dyad. And for the older dyad, there was a nonlinear trend of decline from 1991 to 1997 and a slight increase after 2000. Social and/or historical factors, along with life course stages, help to explain the potential cohort differences observed in these varying trajectories. The final study tested the causal relationship between ambivalence and depression in over 900 parents using LSOG data from 1991 to 2005. Bivariate correlation analyses showed a significant positive relationship between ambivalence and depression, as expected. However, bivariate dual change-score analysis of the longitudinal data showed a significant negative influence of parents' depression on ambivalence towards adult children, when controlling for relationship characteristics, birth cohort of parent, gender, and health. Contrary to expectations, ambivalence does not seem to influence levels of depression over time. Although more depressed parents have greater levels of ambivalence, initially, they actually experience a decline (or moderating effect on change) in ambivalence towards adult children over time. These results highlight the complexity of the impact mental health has on older parents' relationships. The final discussion summarizes these findings and discusses how they fit into the larger theoretical context.