Premium
Change in Social Support and Psychological Well‐Being: A Longitudinal Study of Aging Mothers of Adults with Mental Retardation *
Author(s) -
Hong Jinkuk,
Seltzer Marsha Mailick,
Krauss Marty Wyngaarden
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
family relations
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1741-3729
pISSN - 0197-6664
DOI - 10.1111/j.1741-3729.2001.00154.x
Subject(s) - legal guardian , psychology , social support , longitudinal study , developmental psychology , emotional support , well being , mental health , clinical psychology , psychiatry , social psychology , medicine , psychotherapist , pathology , political science , law
We studied 251 older women who had an adult child with mental retardation to examine the psychological consequences of change in social support during the later years of the life course. We examined how maternal age and future orientation (legal guardianship) with respect to caregiving condition the effects of social support. For women over age 65, an increase in the amount of emotional support from network members was predictive of an increase in psychological well‐being, but change in the number of network members was not related to change in well‐being. For women age 65 or younger, an increase in both the size of their social support network and the amount of emotional support received predicted enhanced well‐being only for those who were not legal guardians for their adult child.