Are the Parents All Right? Parental Stress, Ethnic Culture and Intergenerational Relations in Aging Families

Rapid population aging and high rates of immigration from non-Western countries are contributing to an increasingly diverse ethnic mosaic of North American family life. Drawing upon a life course theoretical perspective synthesized with a sociocultural stress and coping model, this study examines stress among parents aged 50+ with at least one adult child aged 19–35. Data are drawn from a mixed-methods study conducted in Metro Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Interviews were conducted with 588 parents in 2015/16, and a smaller sub-set of face-to-face in-depth follow-up interviews (n = 32). Respondents self-identified with one of four ethnocultural groups: British-, Chinese-, Persian/Iranian- or South Asian-Canadian. Hierarchical OLS regression, in addition to qualitative thematic analysis was used to analyze the data set. Higher parental stress was found among: Persians/Iranians, and Chinese parents (compared to British); those with greater intergenerational conflict; those with unemployed children; lower education of parents; fewer years lived in Canada; and those with lower income satisfaction. An interaction effect for Persian men compared to British females was also revealed. Overall, the findings demonstrate the salience of cultural dimensions, intergenerational relationship dynamics, and economic factors in furthering our understanding of parental stress in ethnically diverse aging families.