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This study explores how grandchild care in conjunction with grandparents' retirement affects depressive symptoms, using data from the Health and Retirement Survey. The findings demonstrate that retirement moderates the influence of grandchild care obligations on well-being, measured by depressive symptoms. For retired men, freedom from grandchild care obligations is associated with heightened well-being. Among women, continued employment seems to protect against potential negative effects of extensive grandchild care obligations on well-being. The results for men seem most in line with the argument that family care obligations spoil retirement, whereas the results for women suggest a scenario that is most compatible with the role enhancement thesis.

This study explores how partner's employment and pre-retirement decision-making structures affect retirement satisfaction, using pooled data from Waves 1 to 4 of the Health and Retirement Surveys. Based on resource theory, the analyses indicate that retired husbands are least satisfied if their wives remain employed and had more say in decisions prior to the husband's retirement. Retired wives are least satisfied if their husbands remain employed and had more say in decisions prior to the wife's retirement. These results suggest that retirement transitions undermine married retirees satisfaction if they enhance the other partner's influence in the relationship. More research should address linkages between work and family realms during transitions such as retirement and explore the negotiation processes surrounding such transitions.

Purpose: Retirement is often treated as a voluntary transition, yet selected circumstances can restrict choice in retirement decision processes. We investigated conditions under which retirees perceive their retirement as "forced" rather than "wanted." Methods: Analyses relied on Waves 1-4 of the Health and Retirement Survey (N = 1,160; 572 men and 588 women). Logistic regression models estimated the effects of background factors, choice and restricted choice conditions, and retirement contexts on perceptions of forced retirement. Results: Nearly one third of older workers perceived their retirement as forced. Such forced retirement reflects restricted choice through health limitations, job displacement, and care obligations. Other predictors include marital status, race, assets, benefits, job tenure, and off-time retirement. Implications: Future research should establish personal and policy implications of forced retirement. Programs are needed to help older workers forced into retirement find alternative employment opportunities and to reduce the conditions leading to forced retirement.

Effects of incomplete data on fit indexes remain relatively unexplored. We evaluate a wide set of fit indexes (?[squared], root mean squared error of appproximation, Normed Fit Index [NFI], Tucker-Lewis Index, comparative fit index, gamma-hat, and McDonald's Centrality Index) varying conditions of sample size (100-1,000 in increments of 50), factor loadings (.4 or .8), factor covariances (.4 or .8), type of missing data (missing completely at random or missing at random), and extent of missing data (0-95% on 3 of 9 indicators in increments of 5%) for correct and 2 misspecified (measurement or structural) models. Incremental and absolute fit indexes indicate better fit with higher proportions of missing data. Effects of missing data on the NFI were more varied, indicating poorer model fit as missing data increased for the correct model, and indicating better or poorer fit as an interaction of all the other factors for misspecified models. Recommendations are made for researchers and software developers.

This study examines whether the meaning of marital conflict and marital solidarity are affected by the transition to retirement, whether the retirement transition alters stability and variability of, and cross-spouse influences on, marital quality, and whether retirement influences latent means of marital quality. Data from both waves of the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH) addressed these questions (N = 407 couples for wives' retirement, and N = 550 couples for husbands' retirement). Results suggest that the structure of marital conflict is unaffected by husbands' and wives' transition to retirement, but that wives' continued employment may be associated with greater conflict longitudinally. Husbands' and wives' constructs of marital solidarity differ from one another; they were unaffected by wives' retirement but converged with husbands' retirement through changes for each partner in the importance of joint time together and potential for divorce. Effects of the retirement transition are far subtler than previously believed.

Purpose: Few international comparisons of health services are performed using microlevel data. Using such data, this paper compares the need for and receipt of assistance with activities of daily living (ADLs) in comparable samples in the United States and Sweden, a country with a universal system of community-based services. Design and Methods: Data from national surveys of community residents completed at approximately the same time in each nation are used to create comparable measures of need and assistance. Descriptive and logistic regression analyses compare need and assistance patterns across the nations and identify individual factors that explain receipt of assistance and unmet needs. Results: Our results indicate that a simple story of greater use of paid formal services in Sweden and more unpaid informal use in the United States masks a more complex relationship. Assistance with ADLs seems to be more targeted in Sweden; narrow differences in assistance widen considerably when the analysis is limited to those reporting need. Implications: Although these two different health systems result in similar levels of overall ADL assistance, a detailed microlevel comparison reveals key distinctions. Further microlevel comparisons of access, cost, and quality in cross-national data can further aid our understanding of the consequences of health policy.

Principal components analysis revealed four patterns of nonresponse on children's psychosocial adjustment, lifetime poverty experiences, and family history. Results from examining latent growth curve models using listwise deletion and multiple imputation indicated that multiple imputation corrected for selective nonresponse, providing less-biased estimates and standard errors. (Contains 18 references.) (SK)

Discusses the applicability of three theoretical perspectives to specific relationships differing in self-perceived closeness in three groups of adults: first-year (n=37) and fourth-year (n=42) undergraduates and 42 retired teachers. Older adults had more expectations for long-term reciprocity. In most relationships, exchange was based on need rather than equity or social exchange perspectives. (JOW)

Relationships between grandparents and grandchildren provide an excellent framework for integrating family theory and family methodology. Systematic differences as a function of age, gender, life expectancy, and health as played out through generations suggest some topics are best studied by disentangling variability between and within families. Using data from 1,345 grandchildren (52% girls, mean age 13.69 years, range 9 to 20) reporting on 3,664 grandparents, we compare results obtained from studying grandparent-grandchild relationships individually and at the family level. Results suggest important predictors of relationship quality at the within-subject and between-subject levels. Future research should more carefully integrate each level into theory and design. doi: 10.2190/AG.69.4.d

Background. We examined within-family variation in siblings' memories of experiences with parents and their associations with current positive and negative affect. Methods. Participants were 1,369 adults with at least 1 sibling, aged 26-74 years from 498 families in the MacArthur Study of Midlife in the United States ([M.sub.age] = 47 years, 59% women, 94% White). Results. There was considerable variability in recalled maternal and paternal treatment across the dimensions of affection (intraclass correlation coefficients [ICCs] 0.33 and 0.41, respectively), discipline (ICCs 0.39 and 0.43), and conflict (ICCs 0.24 and 0.26). In turn, recalled parental treatment, particularly affection, made unique contributions to current positive (ICC 0.12) and negative affect (ICC 0.08) over and above individual and familial level characteristics such as offspring demographic characteristics, extraversion and neuroticism, family structure, recalled early family environment, and parents' current status. Conclusions. Results link adults' memories of experiences with their parents in childhood to their current well-being and highlight the importance of considering within-family models for family theory. Key Words: MIDUS--Negative affect--Positive affect--Recalled parental treatment--Siblings--Within-family.

Objectives. The present study examined the association of providing assistance to older parents amid everyday circumstances and short-term psychological consequences for adult children providing assistance. Methods. We explored this association using 824 daily diary interviews of 119 adult children providing assistance in the National Study of Daily Experiences by using a left-censored random effects tobit regression model that accounted for the clustered data and floor effects in reported psychological distress. Results. Psychological distress was higher on days adult children provided assistance to their parent (b =0.88, p < .05) even after we controlled for situational variables such as time spent on daily paid work, time spent on leisure activities, and assistance provided to individuals other than parents. Demographic and psychosocial variables such as having resident children (b = 2.14, p < .01), less education (b = -0.54, p < .05), and neuroticism (b = 2.08, p < .05), also predicted daily psychological distress. Discussion. Even after we controlled for within-person (daily situational variables) and between-person factors (background characteristics), the act of providing assistance itself had immediate associations with daily mood for helpers, particularly for those with fewer resources and greater demands on time. Feasibility and success of programs that provide respite and relief services to older adults and their children should be assessed in light of daily living. Key Words: Routine assistance Daily diary--Stress proliferation--Caregiving.

Research on the division of family work has focused on household work and child-care to the exclusion of other domains, whereas studies on care-giving for older people typically ignore spouses' support to care-givers. In this paper we apply an approach that is typical of research on spouses' division of family work in caring for parents, in that the theoretical model focuses on the 'cultural mandates' that guide spouses' division of care, namely gender ideologies about appropriate roles, kinship obligations, and taboos against cross-gender personal care. Other predictors of the spousal division of care drawn from economic and health-care utilisation models are also examined. The analyses use pooled data on 1,449 care occasions from the first five waves of the US Health and Retirement Study. It was found that most couples to some extent share parent care, and that the involvement of husbands depended on a complex interplay of cultural mandates and contexts. Husbands participated most in personal care for parents if the care was mandated by kinship obligations (they cared more for their own than their wife's parents), and by cross-gender care taboos (they cared more for fathers than mothers). Other cultural contexts (such as race), a spouse's other commitments, health-related ability, resources (including support from the parents' other children), and care-burden also played a role. The findings demonstrate that decisions to care for parents emerge from complex negotiations among spouses and their children and siblings or, in other words, that parental care is a family endeavour. KEY WORDS--care-giving, division of labour, gender ideology, filial obligation.

Purpose: Caregiving research has typically relied on cross-sectional data that focus on the primary caregiver. This approach neglects the dynamic and systemic character of caregiver networks. Our analyses addressed changes in adult child care networks over a 2-year period. Design and Methods: The study relied on pooled data from Waves 1 through 5 of the Health and Retirement Study. Based on a matrix of specific adult child caregivers across two consecutive time points, we assessed changes in any adult child caregiver as well as in the primary adult child caregiver. Results: More than half of all adult-child care networks, including more than one fourth of primary adult child caregivers, changed between waves. Gender composition of the caregiver network and availability of other adult child caregivers were particularly important for network change, but socioeconomic context, caregiver abilities and resources, and caregiver burden played a role as well. Implications: The results underline the need to shift caregiving research toward a dynamic life course and family systems perspective. They also raise concerns about the viability of informal care networks for future smaller birth cohorts and suggest that health care providers need to recognize and address coordination and potential conflicts among care network members. Key Words: Family caregiving, Care networks, Care transitions, Intergenerational transfers, Intergenerational supports

This study explores how grandchild care in conjunction with grandparents' retirement affects depressive symptoms, using data from the Health and Retirement Survey. The findings demonstrate that retirement moderates the influence of grandchild care obligations on well-being, measured by depressive symptoms. For retired men, freedom from grandchild care obligations is associated with heightened well-being. Among women, continued employment seems to protect against potential negative effects of extensive grandchild care obligations on well-being. The results for men seem most in line with the argument that family care obligations spoil retirement, whereas the results for women suggest a scenario that is most compatible with the role enhancement thesis.

Objectives. Our objective in this study was to compare assistance received by individuals in the United States and Sweden with characteristics associated with low, moderate, or high l-year placement risk in the United States. Methods. We used longitudinal nationally representative data from 4,579 participants aged 75 years and older in the 1992 and 1993 waves of the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS) and cross-sectional data from 1,379 individuals aged 75 years and older in the Swedish Aging at Home (AH) national survey for comparative purposes. We developed a logistic regression equation using U.S. data to identify individuals with 3 levels (low, moderate, or high) of predicted 1-year institutional placement risk. Groups with the same characteristics were identified in the Swedish sample and compared on formal and informal assistance received. Results. Formal service utilization was higher in Swedish sample, whereas informal service use is lower overall. Individuals with characteristics associated with high placement risk received more formal and less informal assistance in Sweden relative to the United States. Discussion. Differences suggest formal services supplement informal support in the United States and that formal and informal services are complementary in Sweden.

Purpose: Retirement is often treated as a voluntary transition, yet selected circumstances can restrict choice in retirement decision processes. We investigated conditions under which retirees perceive their retirement as 'forced' rather than 'wanted.' Methods: Analyses relied on Waves 1-4 of the Health and Retirement Survey (N = 1,160; 572 men and 588 women). Logistic regression models estimated the effects of background factors, choice and restricted choice conditions, and retirement contexts on perceptions of forced retirement. Results: Nearly one third of older workers perceived their retirement as forced. Such forced retirement reflects restricted choice through health limitations, job displacement, and care obligations. Other predictors include marital status, race, assets, benefits, job tenure, and off-time retirement. Implications: Future research should establish personal and policy implications of forced retirement. Programs are needed to help older workers forced into retirement find alternative employment opportunities and to reduce the conditions leading to forced retirement. Key Words: Retirement, Choice, Context, Health, Work, Caregiving

Longitudinal secondary dyadic data from first time marriages were analyzed from the National Survey oat Families and Households (Sweet, Bumpass, & Call, 1988), for the purpose of examining gender-related predictors of husbands' and wives' marital satisfaction and marital conflict over time. This study extended the line of thinking of previous research by taking a longitudinal look at predictors of marital satisfaction and marital conflict in stable marriages. Results indicate that there is some support for gender-based influences on husbands' and wives' marital satisfaction and conflict over time. Additionally, the findings from this study suggest that wives' marital and interpersonal functioning may be a greater predictor for husbands' marital satisfaction and marital conflict. Recommendations for clinicians working with couples are also presented.