CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 172Intergenerational Family Dynamics and CaregivingFamily Dynamics and RelationshipsAging and Gerontology Research

The baby boomers’ intergenerational relationships

Open access
Fingerman, K. L., Pillemer, K. A., Silverstein, M., Suitor, J. J.·2012·The Gerontologist
DOI 10.1093/geront/gnr139PMC PMC3304890
Open this paper in CoChat — free accountOpen PDF

Abstract

PURPOSE: As Baby Boomers enter late life, relationships with family members gain importance. This review article highlights two aspects of their intergenerational relationships: (a) caregiving for aging parents and (b) interactions with adult children in the context of changing marital dynamics. DESIGN AND METHODS: The researchers describe three studies: (a) the Within Family Differences Study (WFDS) of mothers aged 65-75 and their multiple grown children (primarily Baby Boomers) ongoing since 2001; (b) the Family Exchanges Study (FES) of Baby Boomers aged 42-60, their spouses, parents, and multiple grown children ongoing since 2008; and (c) the Longitudinal Study of Generations (LSoG) of 351 three-generation families started when the Baby Boomers were teenagers in 1971, with interviews every 3-5 years from 1985 to 2005. RESULTS: These studies show that the Baby Boomers in midlife navigate complex intergenerational patterns. The WFDS finds aging parents differentiate among Baby Boomer children in midlife, favoring some more than others. The FES shows that the Baby Boomers are typically more involved with their children than with their aging parents; Boomers' personal values, family members' needs, and personal rewards shape decisions about support. The LSoG documents how divorce and remarriage dampen intergenerational obligations in some families. Moreover, loosening cultural norms have weakened family bonds in general. IMPLICATIONS: Reviews of these studies provide insights into how the Baby Boomers may negotiate caregiving for aging parents as well as the likelihood of family care they will receive when their own health declines in the future.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1093/geront/gnr139

Cites

61 of 61 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Compared with the previous generation born before 1946, baby boomers are more likely to have lower rates of marriage, higher rates of separation and divorce, higher levels of education, fewer children, delayed childbearing, and a larger number of siblings.

    “compared with the previous generation born before 1946, boomers are more likely to have lower rates of marriage, higher rates of separation and divorce, higher levels of education [6], fewer children [7], delayed childbearing [4] and larger number of siblings [8].”

    From Baby boomer caregiver and dementia caregiving: findings from the National Study of Caregiving (2015) · cites this paper as [8]

  • Baby boomers can expect to provide personal care and financial assistance for their families for about 40 years, first to children, then simultaneously to young adult children and ageing parents for about 5 years on average, with remaining caregiving time spent supporting parents, siblings, spouses or spouses' children, and themselves.

    “boomers can expect to provide personal care and financial assistance for their families for ∼40 years, first to their children, then simultaneously to young adult children and ageing parents for about 5 years on average; the remaining caregiving time is spent providing support to their parents [4], as well as to older siblings, spouses or their spouses' children, and themselves [8].”

    From Baby boomer caregiver and dementia caregiving: findings from the National Study of Caregiving (2015) · cites this paper as [8]

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

1 of the 62 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 5

  1. In K. L. Fingerman, C. Berg, J. Smith, & T. C. Antonucci (Eds.), Hand- book of lifespan development (pp. 673-699). New York: Springer Publishers.
  2. Birditt, K. S., & Fingerman, K. L. (in press). Parent/child and intergenera- tional relationships across adulthood. In M. A. Fine & F. D. Fincham (Eds.), Family theories: A content-based approach.
  3. Fingerman, K. L., Cheng, Y. P., Wesselman, E. D., Zarit, S., Furstenberg, F. F., & Birditt, K. S. (2011). Helicopter parents and landing pad kids: Intense parental support in adulthood. Manuscript under review.
  4. Haines, M. (2008). Fertility and mortality in the United States. In R. Whaples (Ed.), EH Net Encyclopedia. Retrieved from http: eh.net/encyclopedia/ article/haines.demography
  5. Roberts, R. E. L., & Bengtson, V. L. (1999). The social psychology of values: Effects of individual development, social change, and family transmission over the life span. In C. Ryff & V. W. Marshall (Eds.), The self and social processes in aging (pp. 453-482). New York: Springer.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Fingerman, K. L., Pillemer, K. A., Silverstein, M., & Suitor, J. J.
Affiliations
  • The University of Texas at Austin (US)
  • Cornell University (US)
  • University of Southern California (US)
  • Purdue University West Lafayette (US)
ORCID
Venue
The Gerontologist
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Published
2012-01-16
Volume
52
Issue
2
Pages
199-209
ISSN
  • 0016-9013 (ISSN-L)
  • 1758-5341
DOI
10.1093/geront/gnr139
PMC
PMC3304890
OpenAlex
W2096743868
Cited by
172
References
62
Citations by year
2026: 6 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 16 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 22 · 2015: 16 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 12 · 2012: 4
FWCI
7.20
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • The Gerontologist (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • National Institute on Aging (RO1 AG18869-01, 2RO1 AG18869, 2RO1 AG18869-04, R01AG0797, 2R01 AG18869-004, AG18869-04, AG18869-01, R01AG027769, R01 AG18869-01, R01AG018869)
  • Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R24HD042849)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Intergenerational Family Dynamics and Caregiving
  • Social Sciences › Demography › Family Dynamics and Relationships
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology › Aging and Gerontology Research
Keywords
baby boomers, intergenerational relations, adult children, marital dynamics, family support, intergenerational responsibility, divorce and remarriage, cultural norms, family ties, midlife, three-generation family
MeSH terms
Aging, Female, Humans, Male, Parent-Child Relations, Parents, Population Growth, Social Support, Parenting, Intergenerational Relations, Caregivers, Adult Children

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review