The Importance of Cultural Traits in Children’s Willingness to Provide Informal Care to a Parent

Abstract The likelihood that a child will provide informal care to a parent varies across countries and between social groups within countries. We highlight the importance of cultural traits in children’s value of informal care and their willingness to provide informal care to a parent. We initially construct a cultural measure of the strength of family ties at the country level using data from the World Values Survey. Then, we use a sample of second-generation immigrants from the German Family Panel (N=1,041) and regress their value of informal care on the strength of family ties that prevails in their parents’ country of origin. Immigrants who have origins in countries with strong family ties are significantly more likely to report a high value of informal care. Finally, we show that children who report a high value of informal care are significantly more likely to provide informal care to a parent in need. Part of a symposium sponsored by the International Aging and Migration Interest Group.

very different country contexts.Data on married couples come from the 2001 Mexican Health and Aging Study (MHAS) and the 2000 Health and Retirement Study (HRS), with follow-up cognition measured in 2012.Structural equation models (SEM) were used to test the actor-partner interdependence model on the association of social engagement with cognition.In Mexico wives' social engagement benefited their own cognition as well as their husbands', but husband's social engagement was unrelated to cognition.In the U.S. both wives' and husbands' social engagement benefited their own cognition, but not each other's.Results suggest asymmetric patterns of actor-partner interdependence in Mexico, possibly reflecting more traditional social roles of women and co-dependence within couples, but more independence within U.S. couples.

AGING IN CONTEXT: THE IMPORTANCE OF COMPARATIVE STUDIES FOR UNDERSTANDING THE LIVES OF OLDER ADULTS
Chair: Allen Glicksman Co-Chair: Lauren Ring Discussant: Norah Keating Access and use patterns of both formal and informal services for older migrants are often examined in a dyadic framework where one group of older persons (or their caregivers) is studied in relation to their use of a program or service.A comparative approach, that might also examine the reasons that some persons may (or may not) use a service, may yield important findings that place the dyadic studies within a larger social and policy context.By using a comparative approach, we can also consider influences of the culture of origin for older adults and their caregivers, as well as the policies and programs offered in the destination country.The four papers on this panel explore these issues.The first paper will frame the discussion, and the remaining three will focus on informal care, formal care, and the point of contact between aging services professionals and older immigrants.The first paper (Torres) takes a broad look at social exclusion mechanisms that bar access to services due to racism in the host societies.The second presentation (Diederich, et. al.) examines how place of origin can influence caregiving behavior.The third paper, (Thiamwong) examines a single program that is used to serve multiple ethnic minority/immigrant groups.Finally, (Ring et. al.,)  Research on older migrants often starts with a set of assumptions-including the importance of language as a barrier to care.A comparative approach allows us to examine these assumptions as they impact access to services for older migrants.Our study compared two groups of older migrants -Mandarin speaking Chinese and Spanish speakers from Puerto Rico.Through a series of focus groups we learned that although language can be a barrier to service access, the more important element in reducing disparities for older migrants is the level of trust between older adult and provider.For the older Chinese participants, the presence of a native speaker whom they trust is contrasted with a lack of trusted native Spanish speakers available to Puerto Rican elders, who must often rely on translators from various providers.We will use this example to help explain the differences in service use by these two communities.Part of a symposium sponsored by the International Aging and Migration Interest Group.

SOCIAL EXCLUSION IN HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES OFFERED TO MINORITY PATIENTS: DO RACIALIZATION AND RACISM PLAY ROLES?
Sandra Torres, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden Cultural and ethnic differences stemming from migration are a source of social exclusion in old age.This topic is of concern in part because an increased migration flow coupled with growing anti-immigrants sentiments in much of the Western world can ignite social exclusion mechanisms even when unintended.Given these trends, we ask whether racism figures in research on ethno-cultural and racial older minorities.Thus, based on a scoping review of peer-reviewed articles published between 1998-2017 (n=336), this presentation asks if, and how, racialization and racism inform this research.In answering these questions, this presentation will argue that the role that racism plays as a social exclusion mechanism that affects older ethnic and racial minorities needs to be studied in a systematic fashion.Part of a symposium sponsored by the International Aging and Migration Interest Group.The likelihood that a child will provide informal care to a parent varies across countries and between social groups within countries.We highlight the importance of cultural traits in children's value of informal care and their willingness to provide informal care to a parent.We initially construct a cultural measure of the strength of family ties at the country level using data from the World Values Survey.Then, we use a sample of second-generation immigrants from the German Family Panel (N=1,041) and regress their value of informal care on the strength of family ties that prevails in their parents' country of origin.Immigrants who have origins in countries with strong family ties are significantly more likely to report a high value of informal care.Finally, we show that children who report a high value of informal care are significantly more likely to provide informal care to a parent in need.Part of a symposium sponsored by the International Aging and Migration Interest Group.

BUILDING TRUST IN ETHNICALLY DIVERSE OLDER ADULTS USING TECHNOLOGY-BASED PHYSIO-FEEDBACK Ladda Thiamwong, College of Nursing, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida, United States
There is no research exploring how to build trust in the context of falls risk assessment and prevention.This study describes strategies to build trust in ethnically diverse older adults using technology-based physio-feedback from two studies.The technology includes a portable BTrackS balance plate and BTrackS Balance Software running on a computer device.Participants were provided instant playback showing their static balance performance with a scale from 0 to 100.Sixty-seven community-dwelling older adults participated in the first study, and 41 of them (61.2%)participated again in the second study using the same procedures.70% were women, 43% were immigrants, 34% Hispanics, 15% African Americans, and 9% Asians.Three reasons for participation were reported: 1) specific objective feedback on the test results that supported by technology, 2) ability to record changes over time; and 3) ability to access the fall risk technology-based test at a place of their convenience.Part of a symposium sponsored by the International Aging and Migration Interest Group.

AGING IN CONTEXT: THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE OF RESEARCH ON OLDER ADULTS' SOCIAL TIES
Chair: Christina Marini Co-Chair: Stephanie Wilson Discussant: Katherine Fiori This symposium will examine positive and negative aspects of older adults' relationships and their impacts on health and well-being.We will begin by reviewing the past decade of research on family gerontology.Seidel's metaanalysis of 995 articles will identify prominent theories and methods, as well as remaining research gaps.The subsequent presentations provide current, cutting-edge research.Marini examines how associations between rumination and sleep unfold within a social context.The findings highlight how spousal support protects older adults' sleep quality from rumination, whereas support from family and friends is vulnerable to rumination.Using an actor-partner approach, Novak investigates the dynamics of support and control on health among older gay couples.Results reveal the benefits of support and risks of control for partners' diet quality and depression.Ermer adopts a dyadic perspective to examine links between self-perceptions of aging and inflammation.Results highlight how wives' inflammation is sensitive to husbands' aging perceptions, particularly if marital strain is low.Finally, Wilson characterizes age-graded patterns of relationship narratives and their protective effects on emotional well-being.The findings demonstrate how older-adult couples' narratives are less self-and present-focused, which helps explain protective linkages between age and negative mood.The symposium will conclude with remarks from discussant Katherine Fiori, a GSA Fellow and internationally recognized scholar on older adults' social networks.She will synthesize the research and put forth her new theory about the importance of peripheral ties in later life to help direct the future of research on older adults within a social context.Rumination is a maladaptive coping strategy that gives rise to and sustains stress.Individuals who ruminate more, therefore, tend to sleep more poorly.Studies of rumination and sleep often neglect the role of social context.Social support may buffer the degree to which rumination predicts poorer sleep quality.Further, individuals with more support may ruminate less, resulting in better sleep quality.Finally, rumination may also erode social support, resulting in poorer sleep quality.The current study tested these three hypotheses within a sample of 131 partnered older adults.We examined support from spouses and friends/family separately.Findings indicated that spousal (not family/friend) support buffered the negative association between rumination and sleep quality.Neither type of support predicted rumination; however, rumination predicted lower levels of family/friend (not spousal) support.Thus, spousal support protects older adults' sleep quality from rumination, and support from their peripheral ties may be more vulnerable to rumination.

THE STORY OF US: OLDER AND YOUNGER COUPLES' LANGUAGE AND EMOTIONAL RESPONSES TO JOINTLY TOLD RELATIONSHIP NARRATIVES
Stephanie Wilson, 1 William Malarkey, 2 and Janice Kiecolt-Glaser, 2 1.Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas, United States, 2. The Ohio State University College Of Medicine, columbus, Ohio, United States Social-emotional well-being is said to improve with age, but evidence for age differences in couples' behavior and emotions-studied primarily during marital conflicthas been mixed.Characteristics of jointly told relationship stories predict marital quality among newlyweds and long-married couples alike, yet younger and older couples' accounts have never been compared.To examine age differences in couples' emotional responses and in their I/we-talk, emotion word use, and immediacy (i.e., self-focused, presenttense style), 42 married couples ages 22-77 recounted their relationship's history then rated the discussion and their moods.Compared to younger couples, older couples used