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Research paper | Open Access

Role conflict and ambivalence in the aged-parent-adult-child relationship

Xinjia Yu1( ), Chunyan Miao1, Cyril Leung2, Charles Thomas Salmon3
Joint NTU-UBC Research Centre of Excellence in Active Living for the Elderly LILY Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
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Abstract

Purpose

The parent-child relationship is important to the solidarity of families and the emotional well-being of family members. Since people are more dependent on their close social relationships as they age, understanding the quality of relationships between aged parents and their adult children is a critical topic. Previous research shows that this relationship is complicated with both kinship and ambivalence. However, there is little research on the causes of this complexity. This paper proposes a role model to explain this complexity by studying the leadership transition within a family as the child grows.

Design/methodology/approach

In this paper, we proposed a novel perception to understand this transition process and explain related problems based on the analysis of the leader-follower relationship between the parents and their children.

Findings

When a child is born, his/her parents become the leader of this family because of their abilities, responsibilities and the requirements of the infant. This leader-follower role structure will last a long time in this family. Decades later, when the parents become old and the child grows up, the inter-generational contracts within the family and the requirement of each members change. This transition weakens the foundation of the traditional leader-follower role structure within the family. If either the parent or the child does not want to accept their new roles, both of them will suffer and struggle in this relationship. This role conflict will cause ambivalence in the relationship between aged parents and their adult children.

Originality/value

Based on the quantitative study model provided in this paper, we can moderate the relationships between aged parents and their adult children. This effort is meaningful in enhancing the quality of life and emotional wellbeing for senior citizens.

Keywords

RoleAmbivalenceInter-generation relationshipParent-child

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International Journal of Crowd Science
Volume 1 Issue 2,
June 2017
Pages 161-170
DOI: 10.1108/IJCS-08-2017-0012
Cite this article:
Yu X, Miao C, Leung C, et al. Role conflict and ambivalence in the aged-parent-adult-child relationship. International Journal of Crowd Science, 2017, 1(2): 161-170. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCS-08-2017-0012

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Received: 11 August 2017
Revised: 04 September 2017
Accepted: 04 September 2017
Published: 12 June 2017
© The author(s)

Xinjia Yu, Chunyan Miao, Cyril Leung and Charles Thomas Salmon. Published in International Journal of Crowd Science. Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode
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