The Effects of Early Family Relationships on Contemporary Relationships and Assistance Patterns Between Adult Children and Their Parents

We investigated the influence of early parent-child relationships on contemporary adult child-parent relationships and the effects of these relationships on the level of assistance between adult child and parent. A sample of 902 married men and women were questioned regarding their current relationships with their elderly parents, the level of assistance provided them, and the quality of their relationship with their parents when they were growing up. The findings indicated that early parent-child relationships and the characteristics of parents when adult children were growing up influenced contemporary adult child-parent relationships. In turn, the quality of the contemporary adult child-parent relationship was found to have a slight effect on assistance from adult children to their parents.