ArticleThe journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences2023
Adult Children's Education and Mothers' Psychological Well-Being: Do Adult Children's Problems Mediate This Relationship?
Article in The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Offspring Educational Disadvantage and Parents' Dementia Onset: Does the Educational Success of One Child Moderate the Educational Disadvantage of Another?The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2025Article
- Adult Childrens' College Completion Timing and Their Aging Mothers' Self-Rated Health: The Role of Mothers' Educational Attainment.Journal of adult development · 2025Article
- Worrying Across the Generations: The Impact of Adult Grandchildren's Problems on Grandparents' Well-Being.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesA growing body of literature documents a positive association between adult children's education and older parents' health, and existing studies have identified social support, social influence, and material transfers as factors linking adult children's education and various dimensions of older parents' health. The present study joins this literature by assessing adult children's problems as mechanisms that may underlie disparities in psychological well-being between mothers whose adult children have completed higher and lower levels of education.
methodsUsing 2 waves of longitudinal data collected in 2001-2003 and 2008-2011 from 400 mothers aged 73-85 years at the second wave as part of the Within-Family Differences Study, we examine the role of adult children's problems in mediating the association between adult children's education and mothers' depressive symptoms.
resultsMothers with children who completed post-high school education reported fewer depressive symptoms than mothers whose children all completed high school or less. We found evidence that this relationship was mediated by the proportion of adult children who have experienced physical and emotional problems in the last 5 years. DISCUSSION: This study underscores the importance of considering how resources and risks that affect well-being accumulate both across the life course and across generations. Providing education opportunities to younger generations and enhancing programs that address challenges that low-attaining children may face have the potential to help minimize socioeconomic disparities in psychological well-being among older adults.
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