Change in Social Support and Psychological Well-Being: A Longitudinal Study of Aging Mothers of Adults with Mental Retardation

Change in Social Support and Psychological Well-Being: A Longitudinal Study of Aging Mothers of Adults with Mental Retardation* We studied 251 older women who had an adult child with mental retardation to examine the psychological consequences of change in social support during the later years of the life course. We examined how maternal age and future orientation (legal guardianship) with respect to caregiving condition the effects of social support. For women over age 65, an increase in the amount of emotional support from network members was predictive of an increase in psychological well-being, but change in the number of network members was not related to change in well-being. For women age 65 or younger, an increase in both the size of their social support network and the amount of emotional support received predicted enhanced well-being only for those who were not legal guardians for their adult child. Key Words: family caregiving, older adults, psychological well-being, social support. We investigated change in social support during a 4.5-- year period and its effect on psychological well-being in 251 older women who had an adult child with mental retardation. Our purpose was to examine the dynamics of social support and the conditions under which this resource can enhance psychological well-being during the later stages of the life course and in the context of an atypical caregiving challenge. Family-based care for persons with mental retardation is the norm rather than the exception (Fujiura, 1998). Although some families arrange for their adult child with mental retardation to live elsewhere, the majority of parents continue to provide ongoing, in-home care to their adult children well into the parents' elder years. It is not uncommon for parents to obtain legal guardianship of their adult child with mental retardation, a court-based process that requires the adult child be declared incompetent to make personal, medical, or financial decisions and that legally sanctions and extends the parental responsibility for caregiving. Our research has examined the context and consequences of lifelong caregiving among older families of adults with mental retardation. Somewhat unexpectedly, we found that the aging mothers in our study are remarkably well functioning and compare favorably to others in their age group and to other women caregivers with respect to their physical health status and psychological well-being (Krauss & Seltzer, 1999). Among the reasons for this favorable profile may be the social support they receive. Because social support is known to be an important resource for maintaining the psychological well-being of caregivers for elderly persons (George & Gwyther, 1986; Li, Seltzer, & Greenberg, 1997) and of parents of young children with mental retardation (Beckman, 1991; Frey, Greenberg, & Fewell, 1989; Krauss, 1993), it follows that social support may be particularly critical for those who have continuing responsibility for a child with a disability while they themselves age. One purpose of the present analyses is to examine the dynamics of social support among a group of women who have had decades of atypical parenting experiences, including, for some, the legal role of guardian for their adult child with mental retardation. Stability and Change in Social Support Much attention has been given in past research to the examination of change and stability in social relationships and social support. For example, Antonucci and colleagues (Antonucci, 1985; Kahn & Antonucci, 1980) proposed the "convoy model of social networks," which describes how structural and functional aspects of social support change normatively over time. The word convoy implies that there is a core network of family members and friends who form the basis of an individual's social support over the life course. As an individual passes through successive life stages, some convoy members are dropped and others are added, but the social support that is provided maintains its functional significance. …