The article focuses on findings that were replicated across several countries and considers their relevance for future older adults. Key findings are that (a) childlessness makes more of a difference in men's than in women's lives, (b) never-married women are a childless category with particularly favorable characteristics, and (c) childless…

The concept of ambivalence represents an interactional process in which individuals evaluate social relations as simultaneously positive and negative. This study investigates ambivalence in interpersonal relations through an empirical analysis of relationships between aging mothers and their adult children from their joint perspectives. Multilevel…

Results indicated widowed childless older women had lower psychological well-being than widowed mothers. However, among married women childlessness had no significant effects on well-being. Results also show that physical capacity, religiosity, quality of social interaction, and strength of social support are all positively associated with…

Examined relationships between characteristics of middle-aged daughters (N=161) and the nature and amount of help that they provide to their elderly mothers. Data analyses indicated that the daughters' characteristics--their age, marital status, work/nonwork status, and living arrangements--were related significantly to the amount of help they…

A study was conducted in Kentucky to increase the database available to the state's decision makers concerning women in relation to family status, occupational participation, income and earnings, and issues and concerns that may need greater emphases. Data were gathered through Kentucky government agencies and the U.S. Bureau of the Census as well…