INTERGENERATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS - A SOCIAL-EXCHANGE PERSPECTIVE ON JOINT LIVING ARRANGEMENTS AMONG THE ELDERLY AND THEIR RELATIVES

Elderly parents and their younger relatives acting as caregivers and ex-caregivers were interviewed to ascertain the correlates and consequences of their satisfaction with intergenerational, joint living arrangements. Data included circumstances surrounding the change in living arrangement, changes in life satisfaction, attitudes regarding intergenerational obligations, and, most importantly, variables reflecting dependence as an indication of power disparity in the dyad. Results showed, as predicted by social exchange theory, that satisfaction is directly related to balance in the power structure, i.e., both parties are happier when the elderly person is less dependent and able to give something of value to the caregiver in return for the cost involved in caregiving. Conversely, the greater the caregiver's power advantage, the less the satisfaction experienced by both caregiver and care receiver and the greater the likelihood that the joint living arrangement will end in dissolution. © 1991.