LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF GENERATIONS AND MENTAL HEALTH

University Of Southern California, Los Angeles CA

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Abstract

DESCRIPTION: The goal of this research is to investigate effects of recent socio-historical change of the interactions and aging of successive family generations. The research has two general objectives: (1) to explore how the structure, functions, and consequence of intergenerational relationships may have changed across recent decades, in response to macro-social trends in population aging, female labor force participation, family formation and dissolution, occupational mobility and corporate downsizing, and values related to familism; and (2) to examine how intergenerational relationships influence well being in the context of life-course transitions from early to middle to late adulthood. This research will extend the Longitudinal study of Generations, which began collecting data in 1971 on over 200 adult members of three- (and later four-) generation families. By continuing the three-year collection of data through the years 2000 and 2003, we can realize the first fully elaborated generation-sequential design--comparing sets of parents and adult-children at the same age across different historical periods. Collection of two additional waves of data will allow investigation of four specific aims: (1) To chart the effects of socio-historical change on families, intergenerational relationships, and individual life-course development during the past three decades; (2) To track life-course trajectories of family intergenerational solidarity and conflict over three decades of adulthood, and across successive generations of family members; (3) To identify how intergenerational solidarity and conflict influence the well- being of family members throughout the adult life-course and across successive generations; (4) o examine women's roles and relationships in multi-generational families across 32 years of rapid change in the social trajectories of women's lives. This study will extend our understanding of the relationship between social change, family functioning, and individual well-being over the adult life.