Question:
Article website : http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2013/01/30/emotional-ties/
After reading this article please write a paper in which you:
1. Find points of connection between the article and ideas in chapter 9 (Family Communication) of the course textbook. Are there ideas in this textbook chapter that can be seen as providing a conceptual foundation for the issues and events described in the assigned article? If so, what are they? Please be sure to draw upon at least 2 concepts in the assigned chapter in performing your analysis.
2. Subject the content of the online article to critical evaluation. Which claims do you agree with, and why? Which claims do you disagree with, and why? How do the issues and events described in this article relate to your experience or observation of people's communication practices?
Answer:
In relation to the article titled “Emotional Ties” by Parker and Pattien (2013), the theories which apply to the concepts present in it are as follows: The families can be viewed as a system. Similar to a system, a family is built on some fundamental concepts of hierarchy, common fate, mutual independence and self-regulation. This fundamentals make the families emotionally and financially dependent on each other.
The families can also be viewed as transacted relationships which is developed through communications. In the context of transacted relationships, the families can be viewed as having authority and power. In this context it can be explained as to why the grown children are emotionally and financially dependent on their parents.
According to the article, it is reported that many of the middle aged adults who have aged parents and grown children, have been engaged in providing emotional support to both their grown children and their aged parents. According to my perception of communication in families, these statements are justified. There are families where there are ageing parents and also grown children in the age group of above 18 years, but both the groups receive decent amount of emotional support from their families which is high both in quality and quantity. The parents have been seen to be more emotionally dependent on their daughters compared to their sons. A study by Chen, Hicks and While (2014), reported that caregiving to aged parents continued to be majorly the role of daughters. Sons only do so in the absence of a female sibling. According to the article, families where the total income is below $75,000 are more likely to provide emotional support. This can also be justified by the fact that the families with more of total income lack involvement in the family. They tend to be more career oriented hence fail to spend quality time with their families. In the context of provision of emotional support to the grown children, in most cases the women tend to give more emotional support. According to Ruspini (2016), the young adults are more emotionally dependent on their mothers in comparison to their fathers. With the change of generations, the parent child relationship has also evolved. The relationship have become stronger in the present mostly due to the frankness that prevails between the generations (Institute for Family Studies 2018). The article states that in cases where the aged parents receive financial support needs more emotional support. It was reported that even if the parents fail to receive monetary support, there is always a need for emotional support from their children (Lifehacker.com 2018). Therefore the statement from the article cannot be justified.
In conclusion from the above discussion it can be seen that although monetary support is required, but emotional support is the prime need both for the aged parents and the grown children.
References
Chen, Y., Hicks, A. and While, A.E., 2014. Loneliness and social support of older people in China: a systematic literature review. Health & social care in the community, 22(2), pp.113-123.
Institute for Family Studies 2018. How Parents Support Their Adult Children. [online] Available at: https://ifstudies.org/blog/how-parents-support-their-adult-children [Accessed 8 Jun. 2018].
Lifehacker.com 2018. [online] Available at: https://lifehacker.com/how-to-care-for-your-aging-parents-1688333666 [Accessed 8 Jun. 2018].
Ruspini, E., 2016. A new youth?: Young people, generations and family life. Routledge.
