The role of attachment in current and future parent caregiving

Abstract

Few studies have investigated how attachment bonds between older parents and their adult children influence adult children's provision of care and older parents' seeking of support from kin. The aim of this study was to investigate how the attachment orientations of adult children (N = 119) and older parents (N = 148) predict family caregiving and perceptions of carer burden. Across both samples (that were unrelated), attachment dimensions were associated with current and future caregiving and care receiving and perceptions of carer burden, even when accounting for demographic variables, parental dependence and filial obligation. Specifically, attachment avoidance was associated negatively with adult children's future care of parents and positively with burden. In contrast, attachment anxiety was positively associated with older parents' seeking current support, perceptions of carer burden, and intentions to seek future support. © The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved.