Caregiving decision making by older mothers and adult children: process and expected outcome.

Full Abstract

Dyadic caregiving decision making was studied in 30 mother-son and 29 mother-daughter pairs (mother's age=65-94 years) who responded to a vignette depicting a caregiving decision situation. The observed decision-making process of mother-child pairs was largely naturalistic, with few alternatives proposed and quick convergence to a decision followed by a postdecision justification; a degree of more rational decision making was seen in some pairs. Among significant findings, adult children, especially sons, dominated the decision process, doing more talking and introducing more alternatives than did their mothers, who played a more subordinate role. Mother-son pairs expected more negative outcomes and greater regrets regarding their decisions than mother-daughter pairs. Closeness of the parent-child relationship influenced the decision-making process, expected outcomes, and regrets.Copyright (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved.

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Author information

Author/s: Cicirelli, Victor G (VG);

Affiliation: Department of Psychological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907-2004, USA. victor(-atsign-)psych.purdue.edu

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: Psychology and aging (Psychol Aging), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2006-Jun; vol 21 (issue 2) : pp 209-21

Dates: Created 2006/06/13; Completed 2006/11/08;

PMID: 16768568, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

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