6. INTERGENERATIONAL AMBIVALENCE IN THE CONTEXT OF THE LARGER SOCIAL NETWORK

Abstract

Parents and offspring experience strong feelings for one another throughout the life span. Indeed, as other chapters in this volume suggest, this relationship is fraught with complexity. Yet, it is not clear whether ambivalence is specific to the parent-child relationship or whether it is characteristic of close relationships in general. Further, we do not know whether parents and children experience ambivalence in their tie throughout life or only at specific periods of life. In this chapter, we address two questions about ambivalence in the parent-child relationship: (1) Do individuals experience more ambivalence in their relationships with parents and offspring than they do in other social relationships? (2) Do individuals experience varying degrees of ambivalence in this relationship at different points in the life span?

Citation

Fingerman, K.L. and Hay, E. (2003), "6. INTERGENERATIONAL AMBIVALENCE IN THE CONTEXT OF THE LARGER SOCIAL NETWORK", Pillemer, K. and Luscher, K. (Ed.) Intergenerational Ambivalences: New Perspectives on Parent-Child Relations in Later Life (Contemporary Perspectives in Family Research, Vol. 4), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 133-151. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1530-3535(03)04006-8