Revisiting the Generation Gap: Exploring the Relationships of Parent/Adult-Child Dyads

Abstract

There is some evidence that older parents and their adult children may evaluate their relationships with each other in different ways. To date, we know little about what may account for these discrepancies. This investigation compares the perceptions of intergenerational solidarity among 2,590 adult-child/older-parent dyads from the National Survey of Families and Households. Further, this study examines a social structural model to test the relative contribution of individuals' sociodemographic and social structural positions to the correspondence between generational perceptions of solidarity. The findings indicate that there is a high degree of disagreement between how adult children and their parents view their relationship. Parents are more likely to report greater relationship quality, while children report greater contact and exchanges of assistance. While a number of variables influence the correspondence between generations, the strongest and most consistent predictors are sex, age, child's marital status, and residential proximity.