Applying the Theory of Motivated Information Management to adult children’s discussions of caregiving with aging parents

Adult children are perhaps the most important source of eldercare for aging parents. Unfortunately, they rarely discuss potential eldercare arrangements with their parents prior to adopting a caregiving role, which may make adapting to the parent’s transition to dependency all the more challenging....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of social and personal relationships 2011-06, Vol.28 (4), p.507-535
Main Authors: Fowler, Craig, Afifi, Walid A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Access to information
Adult Children
Ageing
Aging
Care of the aged
Caregivers
Caregiving
Caring
Children & youth
Decisions
Dependency
Elderly
Elderly parents
Family relations
Health
Information management
Information seeking behavior
Information Sources
Management
Motivation
Older people
Parent-child relations
Parents
Parents & parenting
Psychological theories
Time study
Uncertainty
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Summary:Adult children are perhaps the most important source of eldercare for aging parents. Unfortunately, they rarely discuss potential eldercare arrangements with their parents prior to adopting a caregiving role, which may make adapting to the parent’s transition to dependency all the more challenging. The Theory of Motivated Information Management (TMIM) is a social-psychological framework that has had success predicting information-seeking decisions about health issues. As such, it served as the theoretical basis for examining adult children’s pursuit of information from their elderly parents about caregiving preferences. In addition, this study serves as the first empirical test of a revised version of the TMIM, with an expanded treatment of the role played by emotion. The results of an over-time study attest to the utility of the revised TMIM predictions in this context, and offer insight into the factors that predict adult children’s decision to discuss caregiving with their parents.
ISSN:0265-4075
1460-3608
DOI:10.1177/0265407510384896