TANYA KOROPECKYJ-COX

University of Florida

Beyond Parental Status: Psychological Well-Being in Middle and Old Age

Surveys show little evidence of psychosocial disadvantage among childless middle-aged and older adults, but less is known about the diverse experiences that inuence subjective well-being among parents and childless adults. In this article, the author uses the National Survey of Families and Households to test a parental-status typology on the basis of attitudes among childless adults and parent-child relationship quality and the connection of these factors with loneliness and depression. Poorer parent-child relationships are linked to worse outcomes for both mothers and fathers, net of other factors. For childless adults, negative attitudes about childlessness are associated with greater distress for women than for men. Social research continues to afrm the value of parenthood as an important social investment and a potential source of instrumental and emotional support in old age (see Friedman, Hechter, & Kanazawa, 1994; Schoen, Nathanson, Fields, & Astone, 1997). Permanent childlessness, however, may not necessarily represent a social disadvantage. Although still nonnormative and sometimes stigmatized, childlessness has been increasingly accepted over the past 4 decades (Thornton, 1989; Thornton & DeMarco, 2001). The growth of voluntary childlessness has challenged conventional
Department of Sociology, University of Florida, P.O. Box 117330, 3219 Turlington Hall, Gainesville, FL 32611-7330 (tkcox@soc.u.edu). Key Words: childlessness, depression, loneliness, older adults, parenthood.

assumptions about the well-being and social resources of childless adults (Lang, 1991; Veevers, 1980). At the same time, changes in family ties, including increases in divorce, remarriage, and cohabitation, have redened relationships as contingent and negotiated rather than ascribed (for review, see Johnson, 2000). Blood ties may not necessarily signify emotionally close or dependable relationships, and needed support, afrmation, or care may be provided by other formal or informal social resources. Not surprisingly, research comparing childless adults with parents has found little consistent evidence of diminished subjective well-being (Koropeckyj-Cox, 1998; Zhang & Hayward, 2001). The emphasis on contrasting parental-status groups, however, has ignored the diversity within these groups and its relation to subjective wellbeing. Connidis and McMullin (1993) have suggested that qualitative differences among older childless adults and parents, including the perception of choice in childlessness and the quality of parent-child relationships, may be linked to psychosocial vulnerability. The present analyses build on prior research by expanding the conceptualization of parental status and its implications for psychosocial well-being in middle and old age. This article identies a typology of parental statuses based on variations in attitudes among childless adults and in parentchild relationship quality among parents. With nationally representative survey data for the United States, this typology is used to test whether psychosocial vulnerability, particularly loneliness and

Journal of Marriage and Family 64 (November 2002): 957971

957

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Journal of Marriage and Family

depression, is related to qualitative differences among older adults in these parental-status subgroups. LITERATURE REVIEW Diversity Among Childless Adults People who entered older age in the 1980s and 1990s are much more likely to have few or no children than are earlier cohorts (Bengtson, Rosenthal, & Burton, 1990), and about 21% of people aged 65 or older in 1990 were childless (Himes, 1992). The permanent childlessness of these people was most often unintended (a consequence of repeated fertility delays), but historical evidence has suggested that a nontrivial proportion of childless adults have used birth control to delay or avoid parenthood (Morgan, 1991). During the Great Depression, up to one third to one half of childless couples (or about 6%10% of all couples) were childless by choice (Grabill, Kiser, & Whelpton, 1958). Childless adults therefore represent a wide range of reasons and intentions, from those who are childless because of physiological infertility, to those for whom marital or fertility delays led to inadvertent childlessness, to a small minority who chose to remain childless. We might expect, then, that the implications of childlessness over the life course would reect these diverse experiences. Although historians have described the pathways to childlessness for young adults prior to the 1960s (see May, 1995), less is known of the wellbeing of these childless adults as they aged. Veeverss (1980) study of couples who were childless by choice included only 16 men and 20 women (out of 127 couples) who were over the age of 50. Veeverss ndings indicated that couples who chose their childlessness were generally satised and happy, although she did not specically explore questions regarding aging. Other studies of voluntary childlessness (Morell, 1994) and infertility (Greil, 1991; Miall, 1986, 1994) have been limited to more recent cohorts, younger ages, and mainly women; little is known about mens responses. Qualitative research involving younger cohorts of women has suggested that the meanings and consequences of childlessness are shaped by gendered societal expectations as well as by individual attitudes and intentionswhether childlessness was chosen or involuntary (Ireland, 1993). Unwanted infertility may provoke anguish and

grief (Greil, 1991; Miall, 1986), whereas voluntary childlessness is linked with overall satisfaction (see Veevers, 1980). Kikendall (1994) has noted, however, that womens reactions to diagnoses of infertility vary widelysome are not distressed at all, whereas others report serious difculties in coping with the diagnosis. Drawing on Higginss (1987) self-discrepancy theory, Kikendall proposed that these variations derived from different expectations and orientations with regard to motherhood. Women who saw biological motherhood as very important for self-identity and social status were more distressed by their infertility, whereas women with alternative expectations or ambivalent feelings about motherhood responded less negatively (or reported a sense of relief). Similarly, Connidis and McMullins (1993, 1996) research on older adults focused on current retrospective perceptions (choice or circumstance) rather than actual reasons in assessing links between childless status and well-being. These investigators found a complex relationship between reasons and perceptions, with gender and marital status playing a mediating role in dening the salience of childlessness. Perceptions of childlessness reected internalized societal beliefs that, in turn, inuenced subjective well-being (Connidis & McMullin, 1993, 1996, 1999). Regrets about childlessness may inuence subjective well-being in middle and old age for some, but not all, childless adults. Alexander, Rubinstein, Goodman, and Luborsky (1992) noted that older women reevaluate their childless status at various stages of their lives and that negative feelings about childlessness may surface or increase with old age. Social norms that have marginalized childless women in particular may trigger feelings of regret or diminished well-being (see also Connidis & McMullin, 1994, 1999). Some scholars have also suggested that the distress of coping with involuntary childlessness may persist (or reemerge) in later life (Beckman & Houser, 1982; Connidis & McMullin, 1993). On the other hand, many childless adults experience few regrets and report no psychosocial disadvantage in middle and old age. For example, those who have chosen to remain childless may regard their successful avoidance of parenthood as a positive mastery of their life path (Veevers, 1980). Those who faced involuntary childlessness may have found satisfying alternative roles and relationships, developing accepting and supportive attitudes congruent with their childless status over time (see Carter & Carter, 1989). The integration of this diversity

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of experiences and stances may provide an informative base from which to assess the relative psychosocial well-being of childless adults in middle and old age. Conditional Benets of Parenthood Among parents, macrolevel social and economic changes including social transfer programs and the emergence of the normative empty nest stage reduce the practical and symbolic importance of parenthood in middle and old age (see Duncan & Smith, 1989; Hareven, 1994). Family ties have become more exible and less predictable, redening the boundaries and obligations of kinship (Johnson, 2000). Although families have remained important resources for social and instrumental support (Litwak, 1985; Rossi & Rossi, 1990), friends and other nonkin may play a large role in shaping psychological and social well-being in middle and old age (Dykstra, 1990). Furthermore, both public discussion and social research on parenthood have increasingly acknowledged that children can be burdensome, expensive, disappointing, or emotionally draining. Although some parent-child relationships are prolonged into older age (Rossi & Rossi, 1990), these relationships are regarded as voluntary (Aldous, 1987); the obligation of adult children to provide care for aging parents is conditional on the quality of the affective relations between these adult children and their parents (see English, 1979; Riley & Riley, 1993). Even when physically available, adult children are not assumed to be able to provide instrumental or emotional support for their parents (Glenn & McLanahan, 1981). In this context, it is likely that the link between parenthood and psychosocial well-being in later life would be contingent on the nature of parent-child relationships. Diminished psychosocial well-being among parents has been linked to poorer quality relationships with adult children. For example, Pillemer and Suitor (1991) reported more extensive depression among parents whose adult children have mental or physical health problems, substance abuse problems, or stress-related problems. Furthermore, mental illness, abusive behaviors, and prolonged dependency on the part of adult children, as well as stressful or distant relations, can cause signicant distress for older parents (Suitor, Pillemer, Keeton, & Robison, 1995; Rook, 1984). Affectionate parent-child relationships, on the other hand, may help to buffer the effects of stressful

events in older adulthood (Silverstein & Bengtson, 1991). Comparing Parental-Status Groups Connidis and McMullin (1993) conducted a Canadian survey to explore the role of qualitative variations in parental statusspecically, perceptions of childlessness and the quality of parentchild relationshipsin conditioning the link with well-being. These investigators reported signicantly lower psychosocial well-being among older adults who described themselves as childless by circumstance (but not among those who were childless by choice) than among parents who were close to their children. Parents with distant relationships were also signicantly disadvantaged, leading Connidis and McMullin to suggest that whereas positive relationships may provide a source of satisfaction and esteem, distant or conicted parent-child relations may evoke a sense of failure or disappointment among older parents. These results have not been tested using nationally representative data for older adults in the United States. In this paper, I use U.S. data from the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH) to build on and test Connidis and McMullins (1993) parental-status typology. Because the salience of parental status has generally been described in terms of emotional and interpersonal benets, I focus on two psychosocial indicatorsloneliness and depressionthat are traditionally cited in normative admonitions against childlessness. Loneliness has been dened as an unpleasant feeling of dissatisfaction with either the number or the quality of existing social relationships (DeJong-Gierveld, 1987; Perlman & Peplau, 1982). Popular beliefs about the risk of loneliness for older childless persons are widespread and persistent (Blake, 1979; Harris & Associates, 1981; Houser, Berkman, & Beckman, 1984). Depressive symptoms represent a more serious form of psychological distress that may disrupt normal function. The testing of Connidis and McMullins (1993) typology with the NSFH data, however, required the construction of analogous (but not identical) categories of parental status. Connidis and McMullins survey differentiated among parents on the basis of an average of their parent-child relationship ratings and split childless adults on the basis of their perception of their childlessness as the result of choice or of circumstance. Because the NSFH does not include data on reasons for or

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Journal of Marriage and Family

perceptions of childless status, I used attitudinal responses to mirror Connidis and McMullins emphasis on perceptions, identifying childless adults whose attitudes about childlessness are incongruent with their actual childless status. The resulting typology of parental status differentiates among childless adults on the basis of supportive versus negative attitudes and among parents on the basis of good-quality versus poor-quality relationships to test for differences in psychosocial well-being. I argue that it is the mismatch between attitudes or expectations and actual circumstances, not parental status or its causes, that is related to diminished psychosocial well-being. Drawing on self-discrepancy theory, I expect that distress is more likely to arise when actual circumstances are discrepant with ones expectations, self-identity, and desires; specically, disappointments related to normative expectations would result in negative affective symptoms, including loneliness and depression (Higgins, 1987). Combining the self-discrepancy approach with a social constructionist framework, I argue that the meanings and implications of childlessness and parenthood are dened by the social and personal interpretations that they evoke, whether supportive and congruent or devaluing and incongruent (Connidis & McMullin, 1996, 1999; Miall, 1994). These cognitive processesinterpretation, expectation, and the perception of incongruencesplay a central role in dening both depression (for review, see Joiner, 2000) and loneliness (DeJong-Gierveld, 1987; Perlman & Peplau, 1982). RESEARCH QUESTIONS
AND

HYPOTHESES

This paper addresses the following research questions: (a) Do childless persons whose attitudes are incongruent with their own childlessness express feelings of loneliness or depression that are signicantly more intense than those of childless adults with congruent attitudes? (b) How does the quality of parent-child relationships inuence the psychosocial well-being of parents? Finally, (c) are congruence for childless people and relationship quality for parents predictive of relative psychosocial well-being among middle-aged and older adults? I also explore some of the correlates for each parental-status subgroup. Drawing on self-discrepancy theory and social constructionist approaches, I expect that the psychosocial well-being of childless adults is tied to whether their childless status reects or contradicts their attitudes and preferences. Childlessness

that has been chosen or to which one has adjusted earlier in life is not expected to be disadvantageous in later life. However, diminished well-being is likely to be more prevalent among people who regard their childlessness as problematic. Among parents, the value of offspring as a resource in later life is conditional on the quality of parent-child relationships. Close relations may protect parents from distress and provide a source of positive feelings, whereas distant relations represent a source of stress and an unreliable resource in old age. I therefore expect that parents with close relationships will report less loneliness and depression than will distant parents. Finally, I do not expect any signicant differences in loneliness or depression levels between congruent childless people and parents with good relationships. For both of these groups, current satisfaction would reect parental-status congruence as well as positive, supportive social networks. Because of the normative emphasis on motherhood as central to womens identities and social expectations (see Fisher, 1991; May, 1995; Mueller & Yoder, 1997), I expect that attitudes about childlessness and parent-child relationships will be more inuential for womens well-being than for mens. Indeed, it is unclear to what extent parental status would be salient in shaping mens subjective well-being, especially with the greater emphasis on marital status and occupational achievement in evaluating mens lives (see Ray, 1998). Because of the emphasis in earlier research on the importance of marital status, particularly for mens well-being, marital status is included as an important control variable in these analyses. Other potential predictors of subjective well-being that also covary with parental status and are therefore included as controls include health, age, education level, and current work status. These variables reect historical patterns that have been connected with childless status and may be related to parent-child relationship quality. METHOD With its combination of detailed family information, basic mental health measures, and questions about beliefs and attitudes, the NSFH provides a uniquely rich data source for studying the significance and qualitative differences in parental status among older adults. Data were collected in 19871988 through face-to-face interviews and self-administered questionnaires completed by randomly chosen respondents from each house-

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961

hold surveyed (for more information, see Sweet, Bumpass, & Call, 1988). I restricted my sample to respondents aged 50 to 84 years and maintained separate analyses for men and women (although I used the entire sample to test interactions with gender; see Koropeckyj-Cox, 1998). To focus on the contrast between biological parenthood and childlessness, I excluded biologically childless respondents who had any adopted children and biological parents who had outlived all of their children; I also excluded the small number of never-married parents. In total, 150 cases were excluded. Finally, an additional 182 men and 298 women were excluded because of incomplete or missing data on the key variables of interest. The bivariate analyses and analyses of loneliness were therefore based on data for the remaining sample of 1,259 men (197 childless men and 1,062 fathers) and 2,073 women (291 childless women and 1,782 mothers). The analyses of depression were based on data for 1,196 men and 1,939 women. A modied version of the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression (CES-D) scale was used to measure depression. Respondents were asked in the self-administered questionnaire how often in the last week they had experienced each of 12 depressive symptoms on a scale from 0 (none) to 7. The total depression score represented the sum of the 12 items, and possible scores ranged from 0 to 84. Loneliness was measured in the NSFH on the basis of a single item: How many days in the last week did you feel lonely? Possible scores ranged from 0 to 7. This question appears as part of the 12-item CES-D depression scale. The loneliness score was strongly correlated with the total CES-D score (r .75) and with the CES-D score excluding the loneliness item (r .69), but loneliness and CES-D scores showed different patterns of covariation with the independent variables of interest. Therefore, loneliness and depression were analyzed and discussed separately (see Koropeckyj-Cox, 1998). The main independent variables were three indicators of parental-status group (parents with good quality parent-child relationships served as the reference): congruent childless, incongruent childless, and parents with poor parent-child relationships. The indicator of incongruence between attitudes and childless status was constructed on the basis of responses to the following statement: It is better to have a child than to remain childless. Those childless respondents reporting that they agreed or strongly agreed with

this statement were deemed to hold attitudes incongruent with their own childlessness, whereas a neutral response or disagreement was taken to indicate a congruent attitude. Although this question was phrased in general rather than personal terms, the variability in responses suggests that this question may reect actual perceptions of childlessness (58% of childless men and 67% of childless women reported congruent attitudes); an alternative question about the respondents desired number of children (zero or more) produced nearly uniform responses, with very few childless adults indicating zero. Parents were distinguished by their self-reported ratings of relationship quality with each of their children from the self-administered questionnaire. Although ratings were obtained for both biological children and stepchildren, these analyses focus only on relationships with biological children because of the greater complexity and diversity in the nature of stepchild relationships. Respondents were asked the following question: How would you describe your relationship with each of [your enumerated] children? Responses ranged from 1 (very poor) to 7 (excellent). Dichotomous variables were created to represent parents with at least one excellent parent-child relationship (with a score of 7) and parents with at least one parentchild relationship that they described as fair or poor (with a score of less than 5). This coding allowed for the possibility of concurrently good and bad relationships within the same family. Although more complex analyses were possible with these data, I focused here on these two summary measures of relationship quality to more closely replicate Connidis and McMullins (1993) work. Health, age, race (White vs. non-White), educational attainment, work status, and marital status were used as controls in the multivariate models. Health was measured on the basis of a single selfrated health question: Compared with other people your age, how would you describe your health? Health ratings ranged from 1 ( poor) to 5 (excellent). Age was used as a continuous variable. Educational attainment was coded as a series of indicator variables for less than high school, some college, and college degree or more, with high school completion as the reference category. Work status was a dichotomous indicator of whether a person worked for pay at the time of the survey. Marital status was controlled as a series of dummy variablesseparated or divorced, widowed, and never marriedwith married as the reference category. The sociodemo-

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Journal of Marriage and Family

graphic variableshealth, race, age, educational attainment, work status, and marital statuswere used as controls in ordinary least squares (OLS) regression models comparing the adjusted mean levels of the outcome measures among the parental-status groups. RESULTS Table 1 proles the sociodemographic characteristics of the four parental-status groupschildless adults (split by their report opinion of whether it is better to have a child than to remain childless) and parents (split by the quality of their parentchild relationships). Among women, these bivariate results show that the incongruent response among childless women is signicantly related to more intense loneliness and depression, a lower education level, and a marital status of separated, divorced, or widowed. Higher levels of loneliness and depression are also observed among mothers who lack excellent parent-child relationships (and those with at least one poor parent-child relationship; data not shown), but the levels for the congruent childless women are similar to those for the mothers with excellent parent-child relationships. A comparison of mothers shows that those with excellent parent-child relationships are somewhat older, in better health, and have less education. Among men, there are no signicant differences between the childless subgroups, but fathers with excellent parent-child relationships report signicantly lower levels of loneliness and depression than do the other three groups. The fathers with excellent parent-child relationships are in better health, less likely to be employed, more likely to be married, and less likely to have completed high school than are other fathers. When men and women are compared, fathers are less likely than mothers to have excellent parent-child relationships (68.4% vs. 77.2%). A large number of parents report having no fair or poor parentchild relationships, but fathers still show a small disadvantage relative to mothers (84.7% vs. 89.0%). Moreover, childless men are more likely to report incongruent attitudes than are childless women (41.6% vs. 32.6%). Table 2 presents the results of OLS regression analyses of loneliness and depression for childless respondents only. Among childless women, those who agree that it is better to have a child than to remain childless are signicantly more lonely and depressed than are those who disagree with this

statement, net of other factors. However, again, incongruent attitudes are not signicantly related to well-being for childless men. The results of similar OLS regressions for parents only are summarized in Table 3. In each model, the parents with poorer quality parent-child relationships report worse outcomes; this difference is statistically signicant for all models except Model 1 for womens loneliness, for which it is marginally signicant. Formerly married parents are signicantly more lonely than are married parents. When included as a control, the number of children is not related to well-being and does not change the coefcients for relationship quality (data not shown). In Table 4, all four parental-status groups are compared through OLS regressions. Poorer parent-child relationship quality is signicantly linked to higher levels of loneliness and depression for both men and women relative to the levels for parents with better parent-child relationships. These results hold for both denitions of parentchild relationships, although the absence of poor relationships confers the greater advantage. There are no statistically signicant differences among childless men with different attitudes. Childless women with incongruent attitudes are signicantly worse off than congruent childless women or than mothers with better parent-child relationships. Incongruent childless women are also worse off than all mothers, and childless women as a group are more depressed than are mothers with better parent-child relationships (data not shown). Controlling for the number of children does not affect the results. Logistic regression analyses of high levels of loneliness and depression conrm the strong detrimental effects on incongruent childless women: These women are 3.8 times as likely to be lonely and about 3 times as likely to be depressed as mothers with good parent-child relationships (data not shown). Finally, logistic regressions to predict a persons likelihood of being in each parental-status subgroup were used to compare characteristics and to assess possible selection factors into each subgroup (Table 5). Among childless women, education is a strong predictor of attitudes about childlessness: Incongruent attitudes are more than twice as likely for women who have not nished high school and for those who have attended some college as for high school graduates. Never-married women are much more likely to report congruent attitudes than are married women. None of the variables predict incongruent attitudes for

Beyond Parental Status

TABLE 1. SAMPLE CHARACTERISTICS
FOR

963
PERSONS AGED 50
TO

84 YEARS

BY

SEX

AND

PARENTAL-STATUS GROUP Parents1 or More Excellent Relationships 1,376 14.55 1.11 63.21 3.81 87.5 12.5 62.4 10.1 27.5 0 33.7 44.7 12.1 9.5 33.2 66.8 726 9.59 0.542 63.14 3.82 87.4 12.6 87.7 5.4 6.9 0 38.4 32.8 12.7 16.1 44.9 55.1

Variable Women (N 2,073) n Depression Loneliness Age (years) Physical health Race (%) White Non-White Marital status (%) Married Separated/divorced Widowed Never married Completed education (%) 11 years 12 years 1315 years 16 years Work status (%) Working for pay Not working Men (N 1,259) n Depression Loneliness Age (years) Physical health Race (%) White Non-White Marital status (%) Married Separated/divorced Widowed Never married Completed education (%) 11 years 12 years 1315 years 16 years Work status (%) Working for pay Not working

ChildlessOK to Be Childless 196 12.18 1.11 66.63d 3.89 88.0 12.0

d

ChildlessBetter to Have Child 95 19.55ab 1.95ab 68.45b 3.72 81.5 18.5

ab

ParentsNo Excellent Relationships 406 19.03c 1.72c 61.35c 3.60c

c

82.7 17.3 60.7 14.3 25.0 0

c

32.7 5.5 21.5 40.3

d

35.7 10.3 40.0 13.9

ab

28.5 42.5 10.9 18.1 27.4 72.6 115 13.95d 1.086d 63.90 3.75
d

46.0 25.1 14.7 14.2 22.4 77.6 82 12.95a 0.988ab 65.05 3.64
a

35.8 36.8 13.7 13.7 38.4 61.6 336 14.01c 1.074c 62.91 3.52c 84.4 15.6
c

77.7 22.3
d

81.7 18.3
ab

46.0 8.4 11.5 34.1 36.6 39.0 6.5 17.9 41.0 59.0

53.4 13.8 10.5 22.3 50.9 27.0 6.8 15.3

b

81.5 13.2 5.3 0

c

29.4 32.2 15.8 22.6

c

30.1 69.9

54.9 45.1

Note: Biologically childless adoptive parents, biological parents who had outlived all of their children, and never-married parents were excluded from the analysis. Source: National Survey of Families and Households (1988). a The difference between childless people who think it is OK to be childless and childless people who think it is better to have a child is signicant at p .01. bThe difference between childless people who think it is better to have a child and parents with excellent parent-child relationships is signicant at p .05. cThe difference between parents without excellent parent-child relationships and parents with excellent parent-child relationships is signicant at p .05. dThe difference between childless people who think it is OK to be childless and parents with excellent parent-child relationships is signicant at p .05.

childless men. Among both mothers and fathers, poorer quality parent-child relationships are more likely for younger parents and for parents who are separated or divorced than for currently married

parents. Parents in good health are generally less likely to report poorer parent-child relationships, and highly educated women are more likely to report no excellent parent-child relationships. Fi-

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Journal of Marriage and Family

TABLE 2. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INCONGRUENT ATTITUDES ABOUT CHILDLESSNESS AND REPORTED LONELINESS AND DEPRESSION: ORDINARY LEAST SQUARES REGRESSION RESULTS FOR CHILDLESS MEN AND WOMEN AGED 50 TO 84a Loneliness Model Independent variable OK to be childless (reference) Better to have a child Control variables Married (reference) Separated/divorced Widowed Never married White (vs. non-White) Health Age High school completion (reference) Less than high school Some college College degree or more Currently working Constant R2 F n Women Men Women Depression Men

0.699** (0.294) 0.647 (0.514) 0.672 (0.373) 0.108 (0.369) 0.432 (0.313) 0.330** (0.155) 0.014 (0.018) 0.142 (0.319) 0.157 (0.446) 0.233 (0.407) 0.465 (0.368) 2.902** .088 2.45*** 291

0.187 (0.311) 0.642 (0.505) 1.314*** (0.490) 0.343 (0.356) 0.099 (0.345) 0.455*** (0.158) 0.011 (0.021) 0.216 (0.364) 0.168 (0.645) 0.110 (0.496) 0.510 (0.400) 3.321** .116 2.21** 197

5.075** (2.282) 0.222 (4.128) 0.649 (2.947) 2.469 (2.910) 0.767 (2.477) 5.599**** (1.195) 0.190 (0.139) 0.286 (2.500) 0.914 (3.468) 2.897 (3.153) 1.487 (2.890) 24.04**** .156 4.40**** 274

0.222 (2.453) 3.613 (3.925) 3.253 (4.006) 0.024 (2.814) 6.032** (2.736) 6.021**** (1.025) 0.184 (0.169) 2.513 (2.880) 0.318 (5.124) 6.256 (3.912) 2.217 (3.142) 45.28**** .189 3.67**** 185

Note: Biologically childless adoptive parents were excluded from the analysis. Source: National Survey of Families and Households (1988). a Unstandardized coefcients (with standard errors in parentheses) are presented. p .10. **p .05. ***p .01. ****p .001.

nally, having more children raises the odds of a parents having at least one fair or poor parentchild relationship but reduces the odds of lacking an excellent one. Tests of gender interactions did not show signicance. DISCUSSION In this investigation, I developed and tested a parental-status typology analogous to one proposed by Connidis and McMullin (1993) on the basis of qualitative distinctions among childless adults and parents. Childless adults were identied as having attitudes that were either congruent or incongruent with their childless status. Parents were distinguished by the quality of their parent-child relationships. These parental-status groups were then

compared with regard to their relative levels of loneliness and depression, net of other factors. I nd that poorer parent-child relationship quality is linked with diminished well-being for both mothers and fathers. Childless men, regardless of their attitudes about childlessness, are not signicantly disadvantaged with regard to their well-being, but the results for women are more complex. Mothers with poor parent-child relationships and childless women with incongruent attitudes are more lonely and depressed than are mothers with good parent-child relationships or childless women with congruent attitudes. Thus, the quality of parent-child relationships is important for the psychosocial well-being of both mothers and fathers, but childlessness is signicantly linked with well-being for women only.

TABLE 3. LONELINESS
AND FOR AND

AND

DEPRESSION Loneliness Women Model 1 Model 2 Model 1 Model 2 Model 1 Model 2 Model 1 Men Women Men Model 2 Depression

OF

PARENTS

PARENT-CHILD RELATIONSHIP QUALITY: ORDINARY LEAST SQUARES REGRESSION RESULTS AGED 50 TO 84a

MEN

WOMEN

Beyond Parental Status

Variable

Independent variables 1 excellent relationship (reference) No excellent relationships 0.239** (0.110) 0.489**** (0.156) 0.358** (0.142) 3.842*** (1.337) 2.954*** (0.983) 2.684*** (1.017)

0.219 (0.116)

No poor relationships (reference) 1 poor relationship

2.793** (1.323)

Control variables Married (reference) Separated/divorced

Widowed

White (vs. non-White)

Health

Age

0.818**** (0.144) 1.045**** (0.118) 0.444**** (0.125) 0.433**** (0.055) 0.015** (0.007)

0.780**** (0.144) 1.039**** (0.118) 0.435**** (0.124) 0.423**** (0.055) 0.015** (0.007)

0.707**** (0.149) 1.579**** (0.166) 0.001 (0.130) 0.227**** (0.056) 0.008 (0.007)

0.689**** (0.149) 1.573**** (0.166) 0.003 (0.130) 0.217**** (0.056) 0.009 (0.007)

2.877** (1.206) 1.880 (0.998) 2.468** (1.047) 6.124**** (0.457) 0.102 (0.057)

2.641** (1.214) 1.872 (0.998) 2.351** (1.047) 6.085**** (0.458) 0.105 (0.057)

1.238 (1.376) 5.110**** (1.539) 1.403 (1.201) 4.085**** (0.513) 0.113 (0.068)

1.234 (1.384) 5.064*** (1.542) 1.414 (1.203) 4.031**** (0.515) 0.129 (0.067)

High school completion (reference) Less than high school

Some college

College degree or more

Currently working

Constant R2 F n

0.056 (0.117) 0.027 (0.159) 0.333 (0.186) 0.036 (0.121) 3.06**** .095 18.50*** 1,782 0.081 (0.125) 0.120 (0.169) 0.035 (0.159) 0.311** (0.127) 1.90**** .134 16.22**** 1,062 0.081 (0.125) 0.105 (0.169) 0.058 (0.158) 0.300** (0.127) 1.93**** .135 16.42**** 1,062

0.059 (0.117) 0.025 (0.159) 0.299 (0.185) 0.037 (0.121) 3.01**** .098 19.19**** 1,782

1.394 (0.990) 0.911 (1.333) 2.101 (1.557) 0.928 (1.021) 41.03**** .133 25.38**** 1,665

1.411 (0.990) 0.926 (1.333) 1.678 (1.552) 0.930 (1.022) 41.42**** .133 25.29**** 1,665

0.800 (1.154) 2.126 (1.554) 0.563 (1.448) 3.141*** (1.175) 34.84**** .122 13.92**** 1,011

0.804 (1.156) 1.994 (1.556) 0.314 (1.447) 3.095*** (1.178) 36.02**** .120 13.64**** 1,011

965

Note: Biological parents who had outlived all of their children and never-married parents were excluded from the analysis. Source: National Survey of Families and Households (1988). a Unstandardized coefcients (with standard errors in parentheses) are presented. p .10. **p .05. ***p .01. ****p .001.

966

TABLE 4. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INCONGRUENT ATTITUDES ABOUT CHILDLESSNESS, PARENT-CHILD RELATIONSHIP QUALITY, AND REPORTED LONELINESS ORDINARY LEAST SQUARES REGRESSION RESULTS FOR MEN AND WOMEN AGED 50 TO 84a
AND

DEPRESSION:

Loneliness Women Model 1 Model 2 Model 1 Model 2 Model 1 Model 2 Model 1 Men Women Men

Depression

Variable

Model 2

Independent variables ChildlessOK to be childless 0.099b (0.189) 0.802**** (0.224) 0.223c (0.117) 0.494*** (0.158) 0.343** (0.148) 0.233** (0.115) 3.057** (0.982) 3.979*** (1.337) 0.099b (0.187) 0.802**** (0.223) 0.159 (0.200) 0.350 (0.213) 0.143 (0.198) 0.336 (0.211) 0.076b (1.572) 5.263*** (1.857) 0.199b (1.563) 4.982*** (1.850)

Childlessbetter to have a child

Parents1 excellent relationship (reference) Parentsno excellent relationships

2.347 (1.819) 2.178 (1.919) 2.535** (1.031)

1.972 (1.804) 1.820 (1.907)

Parentsno poor relationships (reference) Parents1 poor relationship

2.607 (1.342)

Control variables Married (reference) Separated/divorced

Widowed

Never married

White (vs. non-White)

Health

Age

0.809**** (0.139) 1.022**** (0.112) 0.255 (0.279) 0.457**** (0.115) 0.419**** (0.052) 0.015** (0.006)

0.775**** (0.140) 0.997**** (0.112) 0.245 (0.278) 0.448**** (0.115) 0.411**** (0.052) 0.014** (0.006)

0.700**** (0.145) 1.545**** (0.159) 0.387 (0.261) 0.024 (0.122) 0.270**** (0.053) 0.009 (0.007)

0.685**** (0.145) 1.541**** (0.159) 0.380 (0.261) 0.021 (0.122) 0.262**** (0.053) 0.010 (0.007)

2.640** (1.157) 1.594 (0.941) 1.896 (2.318) 1.964** (0.959) 6.060**** (0.426) 0.056 (0.052)

2.413** (1.164) 1.578 (0.941) 1.987 (2.319) 1.856 (0.959) 6.025**** (0.427) 0.059 (0.052)

1.669 (1.299) 4.748*** (1.438) 0.088 (2.340) 0.075 (1.097) 4.478**** (0.474) 0.144** (0.063)

1.664 (1.306) 4.716*** (1.440) 0.047 (2.343) 0.059 (1.098) 4.433**** (0.476) 0.156** (0.062)

High school completion (reference) Less than high school

Some college

College degree or more

Journal of Marriage and Family

Currently working

0.027 (0.109) 0.008 (0.150) 0.316* (0.168) 0.081 (0.115)

0.029 (0.109) 0.006 (0.150) 0.289 (0.167) 0.081 (0.115)

0.025 (0.119) 0.142 (0.167) 0.023 (0.153) 0.341*** (0.123)

0.025 (0.119) 0.129 (0.167) 0.043 (0.153) 0.332*** (0.123)

1.112 (0.914) 0.861 (1.242) 2.322 (1.387) 0.945 (0.961)

1.130 (0.914) 0.878 (1.242) 1.977 (1.383) 0.945 (0.961)

0.316 (1.071) 2.257 (1.496) 1.302 (1.361) 3.021*** (1.100)

0.322 (1.072) 2.139 (1.497) 1.090 (1.360) 2.982*** (1.102)

Beyond Parental Status

Note: Biologically childless adoptive parents, biological parents who had outlived all of their children, and never-married parents were excluded from the analysis. Source: National Survey of Families and Households (1988). a Unstandardized coefcients (with standard errors in parentheses) are presented. bF test comparing the coefcients for the childless groups is statistically signicant at p .02. cF test comparing the coefcients for mothers with no excellent relationships and childless women who think it is better to have a child is statistically signicant, F(1, 2,059) 5.77, p .016. p .10. **p .05. ***p .01. ****p .001. 38.40**** .124 38.40**** 1,196

967

These results go beyond the question of whether parental status predicts psychosocial well-being by identifying the conditioning factors that inuence the implications of parenthood and childlessness. Parenthood does not guarantee less loneliness or depression in middle and old age. Instead, the benets for psychosocial well-being are conditional on good-quality relationships with ones children. More extensive loneliness and depression are found among parents who lack any excellent parent-child relationships or who report at least one fair or poor parent-child relationship. Childless men do not report diminished wellbeing, but childless women as a group and incongruent childless people in particular are worse off than mothers with close parent-child relationships. Tests of gender interactions showed this gender difference for the childless groups to be marginally signicant. The greater salience of childlessness for womens well-being may reect normative gender attitudes about the importance of motherhood for womens identities (see Fisher, 1991). Eggebeen and Knoester (2001) have found similarly small differences with regard to mens subjective well-being, but they note that the inuence of fatherhood in other areas of mens lives should not be underestimated. It is interesting that the negative effects of poor parent-child relationship quality on well-being do not vary signicantly between men and women when gender interactions are tested on the entire sample; bad parent-child relationships appear to be detrimental for parents regardless of gender. The results for my test of the parental-status typology generally agree with Connidis and McMullins (1993) ndings, but there are a few important differences. First, in Connidis and McMullins models to predict depression, they found a signicant effect among women who are childless by circumstance (compared with close mothers) but no other statistically signicant coefcients among the parental-status groups. Notably, Connidis and McMullin did not report signicant effects among distant parents (men or women), whereas I nd a signicant disadvantage for both mothers and fathers with poorer quality parent-child relationships. This difference may be because of Connidis and McMullins smaller sample sizes (347 women and 331 men), which make it harder to detect signicant effects. It should be emphasized, however, that although my approach was analogous with that of Connidis and McMullin, the parental-status groups have been measured differently here, which may also explain our

Men

Model 2 Depression Model 1 Women Men Women Model 1 Variable Model 2 Model 1 Model 2 TABLE 4. CONTINUED Loneliness Model 1 Model 2

Constant R2 F n

2.983**** 2.938**** 2.175**** 2.212**** 38.49**** 38.88**** .093 .096 .132 .133 .133 .133 16.26**** 16.78**** 14.59**** 14.70**** 22.78 22.71**** 2,073 2,073 1,259 1,259 1,939 1,939

37.40**** .126 13.10**** 1,196

968

TABLE 5. FACTORS PREDICTING INCONGRUENT ATTITUDES AMONG CHILDLESS ADULTS AND POORER QUALITY PARENT-CHILD RELATIONSHIPS AMONG PARENTS: ODDS RATIOS FROM LOGISTIC REGRESSIONS FOR CHILDLESS ADULTS AND PARENTS AGED 50 TO 84 Childless People with Incongruent Attitudes Women 0.812 1.657 0.366** 0.742 0.963 0.999 2.421*** 2.491** 1.707 0.922 335.57 291 2.020 1.242 1.225 1.016 258.35 197 1.258 1.257 1.684** 1.024 0.891**** 1,853.83 1,782 1.022 1.115 0.822 1.112 1.171**** 1,154.76 1,782 1.267 0.852 0.617 1.358 0.875 1.002 1.456** 1.098 0.805 0.858** 0.973**** 2.488**** 1.331 1.234 0.752**** 0.975*** Men Women with No Excellent Relationship Women with 1 Fair or Poor Relationship Parents with Poorer Quality Parent-Child Relationships Men with No Excellent Relationship 2.032**** 1.192 0.873 0.920 0.952**** 0.994 1.236 1.368 0.844 0.887*** 1,259.24 1,062 Men with 1 Fair or Poor Relationship 3.008**** 1.290 1.297 0.768*** 0.973** 0.873 0.905 0.821 0.678 1.134*** 854.37 1,062

Model

Married (reference) Separated/divorced Widowed Never married White (vs. non-White) Health Age High school completion (reference) Less than high school Some college College degree or more Currently working Number of children 2 log likelihood n

Journal of Marriage and Family

Note: Biological parents who had outlived all of their children and never-married parents were excluded from the analysis. Source: National Survey of Families and Households (1988). Condence intervals available on request. p .1. **p .05. ***p .01. ****p .001.

Beyond Parental Status

969

different results. Second, Connidis and McMullins research included two measures of positive well-being. Although they reported no differences in fathers depression based on relationship quality, they did nd that distant fathers were less happy and less satised than were fathers with better parent-child relationships. Connidis and McMullin also reported lower levels of happiness and satisfaction among men who were childless by circumstance. They suggested that positive measures may be more sensitive to variations in mens psychosocial well-being than negative measures. The evidence presented here conrms the hypothesis that the salience of parental status and its link to psychosocial well-being depends on qualitative differences in the experience of parenthood or childlessness. For parents, good-quality parentchild relationships may represent an important source of social and emotional support, pride in an adult childs accomplishments, and pleasure in the roles of parent and (possibly) grandparent. Emotionally close parent-child relationships may help to protect parents from loneliness and depression (Silverstein & Bengtson, 1991) and may provide a sense of security for an aging parent. Problematic relationships, on the other hand, may cause signicant distress for parents (Pillemer & Suitor, 1991) and may evoke a sense of personal failure or disappointment (Connidis & McMullin, 1993). It is important to note that although fathers are somewhat more likely than mothers to have poor-quality parent-child relationships, the implications for psychosocial well-being appear to be similar for both mothers and fathers. Regardless of marital status and gender, the quality of parentchild relationships is an important aspect of psychosocial well-being for older parents. My ndings for childless women also support the hypothesis that perceptions may mediate between structural circumstances and psychosocial well-being. Specically, qualitative distinctions among childless people (and arguably among parents to some extent as well) are based on disjunctures between normative beliefs and reality. These norms, along with the meanings and implications of parenthood and childlessness, are continually dened through social interactions, perceptions, and interpretations. Furthermore, attitudes may be linked with the extent to which older childless people are embedded in alternative social resource networks. For example, never-married women may establish key relationships over their lifetimes that serve as sources of help and compan-

ionship in later life (Rubinstein, Alexander, Goodman, & Luborsky, 1991). Other childless adults develop ties with relatives and nonkin that may substitute for the resources often provided by adult children (Dykstra, 1990), a process that Johnson and Catalano (1981) describe as anticipatory socialization. Whereas ones parental status is largely static in older adulthood, social meanings and attitudes may be continually reassessed and adjusted over time, in turn providing a better predictor of psychosocial well-being. Some interesting differences can be observed in the characteristics of the four parental-status groups. The strong connection among childless women between being never married and having congruent attitudes about childlessness suggests that these women are a select group that have either chosen to avoid marriage and motherhood or have accommodated to being permanently single and childless. Education may also reect selectivity patterns among childless women. The greater likelihood of poorer quality parent-child relationships among younger parents may be related to greater difculty with adolescent or younger adult children, or it may reect different standards for evaluating parent-child relationships relative to those of older parents. It is no surprise that poorer quality parent-child relationships are more prevalent among separated and divorced fathers (see, e.g., Cooney & Uhlenberg, 1990), but an equivalent nding among divorced mothers suggests a vulnerability that merits further investigation. The link between poor health status, diminished psychosocial well-being, and poorer parent-child relationships is also troubling. It is unclear whether the greater likelihood of the lack of excellent parent-child relationships for highly educated mothers reects either a true difference in parent-child relationship quality or a difference in the perceptions and evaluations of these mothers. Finally, the link between larger family size and relationship quality may reect a safety in numbers effect; that is, having more children ensures at least one excellent relationship even as it raises the odds of also having a problematic one. These ndings highlight the need to explore the potentially complex effects of simultaneously positive and negative parent-child relationships. These ndings are based on analyses of crosssectional data and should be interpreted with caution. Although the results presented here provide evidence of an association between parental-status group and psychosocial well-being, no causal relationship can be inferred. The attitudes of the

970

Journal of Marriage and Family

toward childlessness in the 1970s. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 41, 245257. Carter, J. W., & Carter, M. (1989). Sweet grapes. Indianapolis, IN: Perspectives Press. Connidis, I. A., & McMullin, J. A. (1993). To have or have not: Parent status and the subjective well-being of older men and women. The Gerontologist, 33, 630636. Connidis, I. A., & McMullin, J. A. (1994). Social support in older age: Assessing the impact of marital and parental status. Canadian Journal on Aging, 13, 510 527. Connidis, I. A., & McMullin, J. A. (1996). Reasons for and perceptions of childlessness among older persons: Exploring the impact of marital status and gender. Journal of Aging Studies, 10, 205222. Connidis, I. A., & McMullin, J. A. (1999). Permanent childlessness: Perceived advantages and disadvantages among older persons. Canadian Journal of Aging, 18, 447465. Cooney, T. D., & Uhlenberg, P. (1990). The role of divorce in mens relations with their adult children after mid-life. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 52, 677688. Davey, A., & Eggebeen, D. J. (1998). Patterns of intergenerational exchange and mental health. Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 53B, P86P95. DeJong-Gierveld, J. (1987). Developing and testing a model of loneliness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53, 119128. Duncan, G. J., & Smith, K. R. (1989). The rising afuence of the elderly: How far, how fair, and how frail? Annual Review of Sociology, 15, 261289. Dykstra, P. A. (1990). Next of (non)kin: The importance of primary relationships for older adults well-being. Amsterdam: Swets & Zeitlinger. Eggebeen, D. J., & Knoester, C. (2001). Does fatherhood matter for men? Journal of Marriage and Family, 63, 381393. English, J. (1979). What do grown children owe their parents? In O. ONeill & W. Ruddick (Eds.), Having children: Philosophical and legal reections on parenthood (pp. 351356). New York: Oxford University Press. Fisher, B. (1991). Afrming social value: Women without children. In D. R. Maines (Ed.), Social organization and social process (pp. 87104). New York: Aldine de Gruyter. Friedman, D., Hechter, M., & Kanazawa, S. (1994). A theory of the value of children. Demography, 31, 375401. Glenn, N. D., & McLanahan, S. (1981). The effects of offspring on the psychological well-being of older adults. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 42, 409 421. Grabill, W. H., Kiser, C. V., & Whelpton, P. K. (1958). The fertility of American women. New York: Wiley & Sons. Greil, A. L. (1991). Not yet pregnant: Infertile couples in contemporary America. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. Hareven, T. K. (1994). Aging and generational relations: A historical and life course perspective. Annual Review of Sociology, 20, 437461. Harris, L., & Associates. (1981). Aging in the eighties:

childless respondents, the ratings of parent-child relationships, and the reports of loneliness and depression all represent concurrent social psychological assessments that are fundamentally intertwined. Thus, the causal direction and the possibility of other underlying explanations cannot be disentangled with the available data. The ndings reported here underscore the importance of identifying other variations in the experiences of parenthood and childlessness that may inuence psychosocial well-being in older adulthood. For example, Davey and Eggebeen (1998) have suggested that instead of a sense of positive well-being from their parent status, older parents who receive more help from adult children than they give to these adult children experience their dependence as a signicant source of distress (see also Allen, Blieszner, & Roberto, 2000). The present analyses, focusing on parent-child relationship quality and attitudes about childlessness, contribute one component to a needed critical reexamination of the meanings and implications of parental status in middle and old age. NOTE
Work on this paper was supported by a National Institute on Aging (NIA) postdoctoral fellowship in the demography of aging at the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health. This research was supported by an NIA predoctoral training fellowship and dissertation fellowships from the Boettner Institute for Financial Gerontology and from the School of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Annual Meetings of the American Sociological Association in Chicago, August 1999.

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