Filial Maturity and Caregiving to Aging Parents.

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Gerontology
• Sociology

Background:

• Parental aging necessitates shifts in parent-child dynamics, increasing adult children's caregiving roles.
• Adult children face challenges adapting to evolving filial relationships and parental needs.
• Filial maturity is crucial for navigating these transitions, involving acceptance of parental vulnerability and reciprocal support.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the influence of attachment styles and mental representations of caregiving on filial maturity.
• To understand how these factors contribute to adult children's adaptation to aging parents' needs.

Main Methods:

• Cross-sectional study with 304 adult children (35-64 years) of parents aged 65+.
• Utilized the Adult Attachment Scale, Mental Representations of Caregiving Scale, and Filial Maturity Measure.
• Statistical analysis examined the relationship between attachment, caregiving representations, and filial maturity dimensions.

Main Results:

• Attachment and mental representation of caregiving significantly predicted dimensions of filial maturity.
• These factors explained 24.5% of variability in 'Comprehending' and 11.1% in 'Distance' (p < 0.01 and p < 0.05, respectively).
• The interaction between attachment and caregiving representations was a key predictor.

Conclusions:

• Attachment and mental representation of caregiving are vital components of filial maturity.
• Interventions should consider these factors to support adult children in caregiving roles.
• Promoting secure attachment and positive caregiving representations can enhance adaptation to parental aging.