Jenjira Yahirun

Living near kin facilitates intergenerational support, which may be especially important for immigrant families. For 1.5‐ and second‐generation immigrants, this creates a tension between residential integration and family obligations. This tension can grow when forming a union, particularly with a nonimmigrant. Yet little is known about how residential moves for partnered immigrants shape and are shaped by proximity to parents. Using Swedish register data from 1990 to 2017, we examine the settlement patterns and residential choices of (1) endogamous immigrant couples where partners have the same national background, (2) exogamous couples featuring one immigrant and one nonimmigrant partner, and (3) endogamous unions with two nonimmigrant Swedish partners. Descriptive statistics show that endogamous immigrants are most likely to be living near their parents, followed by exogamous immigrants, and then endogamous and exogamous Swedes. However, discrete choice models of residential mobility behaviors , which account for the spatial distribution of housing, reveal that all groups are more likely to locate nearer to parents, with only modest differences between them. Across model specifications, the effect of distance to parents for immigrants in exogamous unions is slightly, but consistently, weaker than for their partners or counterparts in other kinds of unions. These findings suggest weaker attachments between exogamous immigrants and their parents, while also underscoring how group differences in proximity to family reflect the uneven geographic distributions of housing and immigrant families in Sweden.

Background and Objectives: Studies that examine the correlates of cognitive health among U.S. Hispanic older adults have not sufficiently explored the role of offspring resources. Given recent evidence of the importance of offspring education for older parents’ cognitive health, this study assesses whether the relationship between offspring education and Hispanic parents’ cognitive trajectories varies by nativity status. Research Design and Methods: Data come from the U.S. Health and Retirement Study (2000–2018). Multilevel models are used to evaluate the relationship between adult children’s college education and parents’ cognitive trajectories for Hispanic parents over age 50. We also determine whether the link between offspring schooling and parents’ cognitive trajectories differs in magnitude for foreign- versus native-born parents. Results: The results show that offspring college completion is associated with Hispanic parents’ initial cognitive scores, but not parents’ cognitive score trajectories. Moreover, the cognitive health of native-born parents is more sensitive to children’s college completion than that of foreign-born parents. These results are robust to controls for certain explanatory pathways, including offspring social support to parents, parents’ depressive symptoms, and parents’ health behaviors. Discussion and Implications: Children’s educational resources remain a hidden source of health disparities among older parents. Although our findings confirm this general relationship for older Hispanic adults’ cognitive health, significant diversity within the Hispanic community also suggests that children’s resources may play different roles for native- versus foreign-born parents. Future research is needed to clarify how nativity status and ethnicity jointly shape the relationship between family members’ resources and older adult cognitive health.

Objectives: A growing body of research examines how adult children’s education influences older parents’ cognitive health. Whereas prior studies tend to focus on educational advantage, this study seeks to understand how various measures of educational disadvantage are associated with parents’ dementia likelihood. In addition, we ask how the risks associated with one child’s educational disadvantage are shaped by a sibling’s educational success. Methods: Using data from the U.S. Health and Retirement Study (2000–2018) and event history analyses, comparisons are made between measures of offspring educational disadvantage and their relationships with parents’ risk of dementia onset. In addition, analyses are conducted to understand whether the link between one child’s educational disadvantage and parental dementia onset is influenced by a sibling’s educational advantage. Results: Educational disadvantage is associated with an increased risk of parental dementia onset, with a threshold measure for whether a parent had at least one child without a high school education providing the best model fit for the data. Moreover, the heightened risks associated with one child’s educational disadvantage are not offset by another sibling’s educational success. Discussion: Children’s educational deficits are a hidden source of health disparities among older parents. Although scholars in recent years have rightly focused on the importance of offspring education, more attention should be paid to conceptualizing how educational disadvantage matters for parents and how the educational attainment of each child shapes parents’ cognitive health.

Studies on COVID-19 vaccine uptake often focus on individual characteristics; however, fewer studies have assessed how the characteristics of family members might matter for vaccine decisions. This study employs a “social foreground” perspective to ask how the resources of adult children are associated with COVID-19 vaccine uptake among older adult parents. Using data from the U.S. Health and Retirement Study ( N = 8086), we find that having a most-educated child who completes college is positively associated with parents’ vaccine uptake when compared to having a most-educated child who did not complete college. This association is driven by respondents who themselves have a high school education or less, supporting resource substitution theory. Findings from this study extend the social foreground perspective to offer new insight into the health behaviors of older adults during pandemics.

Objective: This brief report examines differences in step‐ versus biological family support between White, Black, and Hispanic families in the United States.Background: The increasing share of stepfamilies reflects a potential shift in family relationships. Although research finds that stepfamilies are generally less likely to engage in instrumental support than biological families, recent work suggests that the relationship between family structure and family behaviors may vary across racial/ethnic groups.Method: Using data from the 2015 to 2017 Add Health Parent Study, this report examines racial/ethnic differences in step‐ versus biological family support between parents and adult children. Specifically, parents' likelihood of and hours of providing instrumental support to adult children are assessed.Results: Findings from this report indicate that for Black and White families, stepfamilies are less likely to provide instrumental support to their adult children than biological families. Among Hispanic families, however, stepfamilies are not more or less likely to provide support than biological families. When hours of instrumental support are examined, White stepfamilies provide fewer hours of support than biological families, whereas no difference is found for Black or Hispanic families.Conclusion: Findings from this study contribute to broader work that calls for a more nuanced understanding of the differential effects of family structure across social groups. Future research should consider applying within‐race/ethnicity analyses when examining the association between family structure and intergenerational support.

Objective: This study applies a social foreground perspective to assess whether the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program impacted the self‐rated health of coresident parents of DACA‐eligible individuals.Background: DACA status grants a temporary work permit and allows for a stay of deportation for undocumented persons who entered the United States as children. Although research points to the positive health benefits of DACA for its recipients, less is known about whether the program affects the health of family members, including parents.Method: This study uses data from the National Health Interview Study (2008–2015) on foreign‐born adults and their coresident parents. We applied a difference‐in‐differences design to examine whether the self‐rated health of coresident mothers and fathers changed following the passage of DACA for DACA‐eligible individuals.Results: In contrast to expectations, DACA was associated with worse self‐rated health among coresident, partnered parents. These results may be because DACA also decreased the likelihood of coresiding with parents and changed the composition of coresident parents themselves. Following DACA, fewer eligible offspring lived with parents overall, but among those that did, parents tended to be older and less healthy.Conclusion: Findings underscore how DACA may be used as a resource to support older parents experiencing health challenges, in particular among older undocumented immigrants, who make up a growing share of the undocumented population in the United States.

Emerging research documents the health benefits of having highly educated adult offspring. Yet less is known about whether those advantages vary across racial groups. This study examines how offspring education is tied to parents’ dementia risk for Black and White parents in the United States. Using data from the Health and Retirement Study, findings suggest that children’s education does not account for the Black–White gap in dementia risk. However, results confirm that parental race moderates the relationship between children’s education and dementia risk and that the association between children’s education and parents’ dementia risk is strongest among less-educated parents. Among less-educated parents, higher levels of children’s attainment prevent the risk of dementia onset for Black parents, but low levels of offspring schooling increase dementia risk among White parents. The study highlights how offspring education shapes the cognitive health of social groups differently and points to new avenues for future research.

Jenjira Yahirun, PhD; Mothers and their “difficult” children: How offspring problems shape maternal well-being, The Gerontologist, , gnac103, https://doi.org/10