Studies have revealed that children’s perceptions of maternal differential treatment (MDT) in adulthood, particularly perceptions of favoritism and disfavoritism, have a negative impact on psychological well-being; however, these studies have not considered the mechanisms underlying these processes. In particular, these studies have ignored the possibility that MDT may affect adult children’s well-being in part by disrupting other important family relationships, such as marital and sibling ties. Stress proliferation suggests that “primary” stressors, those to which people are initially exposed, can produce “secondary” stressors, in a process called “stress proliferation.” This study uses stress proliferation theory and the theme of linked lives to argue that MDT, as a primary stressor in mother-child relationships, can produce secondary stressors in other family relationships (e.g., sibling tension and marital tension), which in turn lead to lower psychological well-being. To investigate this mechanism, we conducted multilevel mediation analysis using data collected from 506 married adult children nested within 309 families, as part of the Within-Family Differences Study-II. We found that sibling tension mediated 15.6% of the association between MDT and depressive symptoms, whereas marital tension did not mediate this association. These findings suggest that perceptions of MDT not only have direct effects on adult children’s psychological well-being, but that such perceptions have indirect effects through tension with siblings. Thus, these findings contribute to a growing literature demonstrating the complex ways in which family members’ linked lives affect well-being.

Drawing from the life course concept of “linked lives,” we examine the associations between chronic stress, positive relationship quality (PRQ), negative relationship quality (NRQ) and medical multimorbidity (MMB) (number of chronic diseases) among married, heterosexual, later-life spouses. Utilizing data from 2,840 couples from the Health and Retirement Study and Actor-Partner Interdependence Models, we examine the direct and moderating effects of spousal chronic stress and relationship quality on MMB. Husbands’ and wives’ chronic stress was directly related to greater MMB for the individual and their partner. Wives’ reports of lower relationship quality were disease risk factors for wives. Conversely, husbands’ greater perceived PRQ was a disease risk factor for their wives. Further, wives’ PRQ and NRQ moderated the relationships between their own chronic stress and MMB. Findings suggest that husband’s and wife’s ongoing stress, coupled with their perceived relationship quality, plays a critical role in disease, particularly for older wives.

This symposium considers the role of gender in patterns and consequences of support across a variety of contexts within and outside of the family. The first two papers shed light on ways in which gender shapes intergenerational support. Huo, Graham, and Fingerman use data from the Daily Experiences and Well-Being Study to explore how empathy and gender interact to predict patterns of support to adult children, and the consequences of empathy-based support on parents’ worry. Next, Lin and Wu use data from the National Health and Aging Trends Study to highlight ways that siblings’ behaviors influence one another’s caregiving to older parents, and explore how this influence is modified by family gender composition. The second pair of papers considers the role of gender in the effects of caregiving within the context of marriage. Thomeer and Clark use data collected from 20 couples to examine gendered patterns in marital cost and caregiver burden when both husbands and wives have chronic conditions. Next, Suitor, Gilligan, Rurka, and Hou use data from the Within-Family Differences Study to explore ways in which adult children’s gender and maternal favoritism condition the effect of caregiving on marital tension. Finally, Fitzroy, Kemp, and Burgess use data collected on care networks of 28 residents in assisted living to study how gender intersects with structural and socioemotional characteristics to shape relationships between care workers and residents. This diverse set of studies reveals complex ways in which gender continues to shape patterns and consequences of support processes in later life.

Many low-income older adults who want to retire when they receive Medicaid/Medicare coverage often delay retirement due to low levels of life-time savings. Ties between older parents and adult children may provide an important source of financial support for low-income families. Therefore, the effects of Medicaid/Medicare on low-income older adults’ retirement decisions should be evaluated in an intergenerational framework to consider the connection between public government and private family safety nets upon which individuals and families rely. Using data collected from 58,833 older adults as part of the 2002−2014 Health and Retirement Study (HRS), we investigate whether financial support exchanges between older parents and adult children help or hinder older parents to bridge the gap between retirement needs and available resources to fulfil retirement plans. We address two research questions: 1) What is the impact of older adults’ receipt of financial support from their adult children on low-income parents’ retirement decisions in the context of Medicaid/Medicare coverage? and 2) What is the impact of low-income older adults’ provision of financial support to adult children on older parents’ retirement decisions in the context of Medicaid/Medicare coverage? The estimation results of panel regression with individual fixed-effects indicated that receipt of financial support from adult children moderated the association between Medicaid/Medicare and retirement plans. In contrast, older parents’ provision of financial support to adult children did not moderate this association. These findings indicate that the receipt of financial support from adult children may be an especially important income source for low-income older adults.

Adult children often incur a wide array of psychological, personal and interpersonal costs when caring for parents in later life, including to their marital relationships. These costs are moderated by many factors, including characteristics of the parent, the child, and the caregiver’s spouse. One potentially important moderator that has not been considered is the role of children’s perceptions of whether they are their parents’ preferred caregivers. In this paper, we used mixed-method data collected from 506 adult children as part of the Within-Family Differences Study-II to explore how gender and perceptions of mothers’ caregiving preferences interacted to affect marital tension. Multi-level modeling revealed that among daughters, but not sons, marital tension was lower when spouses perceived that they were their mothers’ preferred caregivers. Qualitative analyses suggested this occurred because husbands were more understanding of their wives’ heavy caregiving responsibilities when they perceived their wives were motivated by their mothers’ needs.

Romantic relationships are one of the most central familial ties shaping well-being across the life course. This symposium contributes to our understanding of the complex ways in which romantic partners impact the psychological well-being, physical health, and health behaviors of older adults. The first set of papers use dyadic data to highlight the unique effects romantic partners have on each other’s health and well-being during later life. Kim and colleagues use data from the Korean Baby Boomer Panel Study (KBBPS) (2014) to identify profiles of health behaviors among Korean baby boomer couples based on the couples’ reports of risk and preventive health behaviors. Liu, Shen, and Hsieh use data from the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP) (2010–11) to examine how giving and receiving oral sex is related to relationship quality and mental health during older adulthood. Using data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), Jasper and Gilligan investigate how older spousal partners’ chronic stress and perceived relationship quality are related to risk for multiple chronic diseases. Franks, Thomas, Rector and Friedman use data from the Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS) to examine the moderating effects of marital status on the mediated pathway linking multimorbidity to mortality through mobility limitations. A discussion will follow to summarize and integrate the papers to highlight the processes through which romantic relationships are linked to health and well-being in later life. Special attention will given to gender differences in the associations between romantic relationships and well-being.

In this symposium, we consider patterns and consequences of parent-adult child ties, using data collected from multiple nations and from Black and white families within the U.S. The first two papers shed light on the social factors that shape relationship quality, support and interaction between parents and adult offspring. Deane and Zhou use NFSH data to explore parent-child contact and support in Black and white families, focusing on separating between- from within-family effects on these processes. Next, Deng, Thomese, and Silverstein use the Chinese Longitudinal Aging Social Survey to assign relationships to four relationship/family types distinguishing co-residence, exchange of support, and emotional closeness. The second set of papers examines the consequences of parent-child relations on well-being. Graham, Kim, Birditt, Zarit and Fingerman use data from the Family Exchanges Study to explore how middle-aged adults’ provision of support to parents and grown children differentially affects cortisol levels depending on the contexts of the support. Next, Suitor, Gilligan, Peng and Pillemer use panel data from the Within-Family Differences Study to compare the relative risk of single-time versus sustained perceptions of mothers’ favoritism and disfavoritism on adult children’s depressive symptoms in Black and white families. Finally, Kalmijn and Leopold use the Netherlands Kinship Panel Study to examine how parental death changes relationship quality, interaction, and support among adult siblings. Taken together, this diverse set of studies, using data from China, the Netherlands, and from Black and white families in the U.S., explores the complexity of patterns and consequences of later-life intergenerational ties.

Recent studies have revealed that both mothers and adult children report that maternal favoritism and disfavoritism are common in later-life families; however, little is known about whether children’s perceptions of differentiation mirror mothers’ own reports. In this paper we use data from 310 mothers and 725 offspring from the Within-Family Differences Study to examine patterns and predictors of congruence regarding reports of favoritism and disfavoritism. Contrary to the intergenerational stake hypothesis, mothers and offspring reported similar rates of favoritism and disfavoritism; however, children were very inaccurate reporters of which offspring mothers favored and disfavored. Congruence was more likely when mothers and offspring were the same gender, shared values, and frequently exchanged support. Greater congruence was found in Black than White families. Given that adult children’s perceptions of such differential treatment strongly predict depressive symptoms, shedding light on these processes is important in understanding the role of intergenerational relations in well-being.

In the present paper, we explore the consequences of sibling death on surviving adult children’s psychological well-being and the quality of their relationships with their remaining siblings. Data were collected from ~800 adult siblings nested with ~400 families as part of the second wave of the Within-Family Differences Study. Nearly a quarter of the adult children in the WFDS panel experienced the loss of a sibling at some point in their lives. Using the combination of quantitative and qualitative data collected from surviving siblings, we examine how sibling loss affects relational and psychological well-being, as well as how these outcomes differ by timing of the death and race. Preliminary findings reveal that sibling death predicts depressive symptoms regardless of the timing, whereas the effects on sibling relations occur only for more recent losses. Further, the consequences of sibling loss on both outcomes are greater in Black than white families.

In this symposium, we consider the roles of siblings in the lives of adults in the middle and later years, using data collected from several nations and from Black and white families within the U.S. All four studies use within-family approaches to explore the ways in which ties within the sibship and with other family members affect adult children’s relational and psychological well-being. In the first paper, Bedford and Avioli use data from the U.S. to examine how relationships with other siblings affects twins’ dyadic closeness in adulthood. In the second, Rosendahl uses data from Sweden to examine how siblings’ relationships with one another are shaped by whether twins are perceived as “units” by other family members. Next, Horge-Freeman uses data from Salvador, Bahia, and Brazil to investigate the role of racial features (skin color, hair, nose shape) in parents’ differential treatment of their children, and the long-term consequences of such differentiation on emotional, behavioral and material well-being. Finally, Gilligan, Suitor, Rurka, and Holst use data collected in the U.S. from Black and white families to explore the consequences of sibling death on the sibling relations and psychological well-being of surviving adult children, with particular focus on variations by race and timing of the loss. Taken together, these studies show that the family dynamics that shape both sibling relationship quality and the consequences of sibling relations on well-being are far more similar than different across races, cultures and nationalities.

The life course concept of linked-lives indicates that intergenerational relationships are shaped by the life events of individual family members. In this paper, we examined how adult children’s job loss during the Great Recession impacted parent-adult child relationship quality. In particular, we focused on how employed parents experienced adult children’s job loss. In addition, we examined the mediating role of parents’ evaluation of themselves and their children in the association between job loss and parent-child relationship quality. This study draws on 396 parents (M age =66.44, SD=5.71) from the MIDUS wave3 (2013–2014). All of the parents were employed and reported on whether their children experienced job loss in the last year (M age =41.34, SD=8.26). To explore how the employment status of children affects the relationship quality between employed parents and their children, we performed linear regression analysis. We conducted mediation analysis to examine the role of parents’ evaluation of themselves and their children. Regression analysis demonstrated that the employment status of children had a negative effect on the quality of parent-child relationship (β=-.107, p<.05). Mediation analysis indicated that parents’ positive evaluation of themselves and their negative evaluation of their children helped to explain the association between adult children’s employment status and the quality of parent-child relationships. These findings indicate that adult children’s job loss influences the parent-adult child relationship quality. Further, parents’ evaluation of themselves and their children mediates this association. Taken together, this research highlights the linked lives between parents and adult children.

Although many Korean women want to pursue both successful careers and families, Korean culture limits women’s ability to maintain work-family balance. Constrained by their ability to both work and care for their children, working Korean women tend to call on their aging mothers for assistance. The purpose of this study was to better understand the important role of grandmothers in working Korean women’s work-family balance. We conducted in-depth interviews with 22 married, working women living in Korea (M=35.9 years) who have at least one young child (infant / preschooler) and who rely on their mothers (M=62.5 years) for child care. Several themes emerged from these newly available data. Women who had good relationships with their mothers tended to be more appreciative of their mother’s help. Several women expressed feelings of guilt that their mothers took care of grandchildren because several of the grandmothers were experiencing health concerns of their own. However, despite these feelings of guilt, the women indicated that they hoped that their mothers would take care of their children until their children enter elementary school. Also, the women expressed the Korean government’s childcare policy is unrealistic and they indicated that it would be beneficial if the Korean government provided support to grandmothers caring for grandchildren. Overall, our findings suggested that work-family balance is an important concern of many working Korean women. Often these women rely on support from their mothers in an attempt to obtain work-family balance. However, many of these grandmothers experience their own health concerns.

Perceptions of mothers’ favoritism and disfavoritism in adulthood are strong predictors of psychological well-being; however, it is not known whether perceptions that are sustained across time increase the risk for depressive symptoms beyond those found at a single point in time. In the present paper, we use data collected from 479 adult children nested within 219 later-life families as part of the first and second waves of the Within-Family Differences Study to explore the relative risk of single-time versus sustained perceptions of mothers’ differentiation. Preliminary findings reveal that adult children’s perceptions of both favoritism and disfavoritism are relatively stable, consistent with findings based on mothers’ own reports. Consistent with theories of cumulative stress, perceptions of sustained favoritism and disfavoritism were found to be stronger predictors of depressive symptoms than were perceptions at any single point. The effects are particularly strong for Black offspring who perceive sustained disfavoritism.

advantages of the twin relationship.Twins' children described the twins' contributions to the family network.Some friends were sensitized to provide their twin friend with space for their special relationship.Both child and friend reported a greater consciousness about twins more generally.Finally, we considered applications of findings to nontwin relationships.