Affection, Social Contact, and Geographic Distance between Adult Children and Their Parents

This study investigates the following questions: whether greater affection between adult children and their parents leads to more social contact, whether frequent social contact leads to greater affection, or whether each of these mutually influences the other. Using nationally representative data collected in 1990 by the American Association of Retired Persons, we examine predictors of each dimension of solidarity and then estimate a causal model that tests the indirect and reciprocal influence among these dimensions. After finding a reciprocal influence between contact and affection in the mother-child relationship, but not in the father-child relationship, we conclude that the motivations for contact are different in adult-child relations with mothers compared to those with fathers. These differences are important for understanding the consequences of family disruption for intergenerational solidarity in adulthood. Also, parallels are drawn between parent-child relationships and voluntary friendships. Over the last decade, research on family relations has increasingly taken a multidimensional approach to studying adult intergenerational relationships, focusing on frequency of visits and phone calls, helping behavior, geographic distance between generations, and, more recently, the affection that one generation has for another. Each dimension of family relations is further interconnected with the others in ways that affect the well-being of both generations. For example, geographic mobility increases physical distance between generations, impeding the exchange of social and instrumental support (Dewit, Wister, Litwak Lawton, 1990). …