Table 1.
Proportion of Aging Parents, Midlife Adults, and Grown Children Suffering Each Type of Problem
| Adult children (n = 1,785) | Midlife adults (N = 633) | Aging parents (n = 868) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Physical problems | .07 | .41 | .48 |
| Physical impairment | .03 | .09 | — |
| Serious health problem or injury | .05 | .38 | .50 |
| Poor physical healtha | .01 | .04 | .14 |
| Psychological problems | .10 | .14 | .17 |
| Emotional problem | .07 | — | .17 |
| Drinking or drug addiction | .04 | .02 | .03 |
| Depression problemb | — | .05 | — |
| Anxiety disorder | — | .11 | — |
| Lifestyle problems | .32 | .16 | .56 |
| Financial problem | .22 | .16 | .10 |
| Divorce or relationship problem | .09 | — | .07 |
| Trouble with law or police | .07 | — | — |
| Victim of a crime | .05 | — | .05 |
| Death of loved one | — | — | .49 |
| Functional disabilities | — | — | .32 |
Notes: All problems were coded as 1 = having this problem and 0 = not having this problem unless otherwise specified. Numbers in bold represent the category of problem entered in the latent profile analysis.
aPhysical health was rated from 1 = poor to 5 = excellent; we recoded as 1 = poor physical health and 0 = not in poor physical health for ratings > 1. bFive depressive symptoms from the Brief Symptom Inventory were rated from 1 = not at all, 2 = a little bit, 3 = moderately, 4 = quite a bit, and 5 = extremely; we recoded means across items > 3 as 1 = having a depression problem and 0 = no depression problem.