Sources of Intergenerational Conflict in Chinese Immigrant Families in the United States

Abstract

Studies of family relations have not kept pace with the acceleration of international migration. To address this gap, this study relied on a survey of 545 Chinese immigrants in Chicago who reported information of 869 older parents to examine the sources of intergenerational conflict in five domains: norms/values, relationship itself, money, health, and parenting. The results of logistic regression showed that maintaining one’s traditional culture, in the form of endorsing a sense of filial obligation, was a significant protective factor against all types of conflict. Immigrants with a higher level of acculturation were more likely to report conflict regarding norms/values and relationship itself, but not more so regarding practical issues such as health, money, and parenting. Helping parents with ADLs, not IADLs, was associated with more conflict regarding monetary and health issues. Immigrants’ greater sense of mastery was associated with a lower chance of reporting norm/value-related intergenerational conflict.

Introduction

Intergenerational relations—the relationships between adult children and their aging parents—are becoming increasingly important due to increased longevity and extended years of linked lives between the generations (Swartz, 2009). It may mean more years of company and support, but also means more years of potential conflict (Bengtson & Martin, 2001). Having a sore intergenerational relationship is a stressful experience that not only compromises each party’s health and well-being (Liu, Dong, Nguyen, & Lai, 2017; Suitor, Gilligan, Peng, Jung, & Pillemer, 2015), but also prevents support exchanges across generations, having significant implications for old age support in a rapidly aging society. A recent systematic review reports that having conflicted intergenerational relations could be more detrimental to individual well-being than the absence of positive relations (Guo & Stensland, 2018).

Studying intergenerational conflict is particularly meaningful for immigrant families. Variations in intergenerational relations are driven largely by social structures and positions (Swartz, 2009). Recent work has showed that intergenerational relations of socially disadvantaged individuals are more unstable and exhibit higher rates of turnover than individuals with more resources (Goldman & Cornwell, 2018). Understanding sources of intergenerational conflict in immigrant families will shed important light on how migrant families adapt to new economic and cultural conditions and how families as a context may contribute to the reproduction of social inequity (Swartz, 2009). As the US population becomes older and more diverse, such information is also crucial for policy makers to respond effectively and plan sufficient elder care services for immigrant populations.

To this end, this study used a sample of Chinese immigrants in the United States to examine sources of intergenerational conflict in immigrant families. Chinese Americans are the largest and fastest growing Asian American group, with 63% being foreign-born (Budiman, Cilluffo, & Ruiz, 2019). For Chinese immigrants, the social context of family life is radically different between the home and the host countries. Whereas the Chinese society emphasizes cultural norms of collectivism, interdependence of family members, and filial piety (i.e., children’s deference and caregiving obligation toward their parents) (Lum et al., 2015), the dominant cultural norms in the United States encourage individualisms such as self-reliance and autonomy (Bengtson & Martin, 2001). These different values and expectations of family relations are often intermixed, reshaping the family dynamics of immigrant families, providing an interesting setting to study intergenerational relations and conflict.

Literature Review

Sources of Intergenerational Conflict: Theoretical Explanations

Intergenerational solidarity theory posits that parent–adult child relations are multidimensional, with each dimension harboring potential conflict (Bengtson, Giarrusso, Mabry, & Silverstein, 2002). Thus intergenerational conflicts are also multidimensional, manifesting in different occasions and across different contexts, over issues such as caregiving (functional solidarity), financial contributions (functional solidarity), relationship itself (affectual solidarity), and values and norms (normative solidarity) (Szydlik, 2008).

Emphasizing equity and reciprocity in interpersonal relations, exchange theory and equity theory suggest that individuals attempt to minimize their cost and maximize their rewards in social interactions (Suitor & Pillemer, 1988). When people find themselves participating in unequal relationships or their provision of support to another person is not reciprocated, distress occurs; when such a relationship is difficult to terminate as family relations, conflict is expected (Mackinnon, Gien, & Durst, 1996). In aging families, it may mean the greater caregiving assistance to the parents, the more potential conflict. The chances of intergenerational conflict may be elevated in immigrant families as family members are connected in even closer fashions and older immigrants are greatly dependent on adult children for various support (Treas & Mazumdar, 2002). The theory of acculturative family distancing further attributes conflicts in immigrant families to acculturation gaps between the generations (Hwang, Myers, Abe-Kim, & Ting, 2008). Unless immigrant parents come from higher socioeconomic or educational backgrounds, they tend to acculturate at a slower rate than their children, not only in terms of English proficiency, but also more fundamentally in communication styles, sense of interpersonal space, and cultural values pertaining to domains such as work, romantic relations, family obligations, and parenting styles (Hwang et al., 2008). Accordingly, acculturative distancing and intergenerational conflict may be particularly salient among immigrant children who have higher levels of acculturation or who forfeit the traditional norms of the heritage culture.

From the perspective of problem-solving in interpersonal conflict, Doherty (1981a, 1981b) explained that when individuals experience stressful conflict in close relationships, they ask two questions: (1) who or what is causing the problem? and (2) can we solve the problems? Whereas the theories described in the preceding sections shed light on the first question, Doherty’s cognitive model of family conflict posits that individuals with high efficacy, referred to as sense of mastery, have greater confidence in their ability to solve problems and consequently are more apt to initiate or cooperate with attempts to resolve a family conflict. Sense of mastery is a central determinant of coping behavior among immigrants, who tend to have lower sense of control over their lives than natives (Chaze & Robson, 2014). Doherty’s model implies that immigrants with higher sense of mastery have a better chance of resolving family conflict.

Empirical Findings on Intergenerational Conflict in Aging Families

Conflict between older adults and their adult children has been measured in a variety of ways in the literature, ranging from lack of solidarity or closeness (Ferring, Michels, Boll, & Filipp, 2009; Ip, Lui, & Chui, 2007), to observations of negative interactions such as tensions, criticism, argument, and demands (Guo, Dong, & Tiwari, 2017; Lin, Bryant, Boldero, & Dow, 2015, 2017; Lowenstein, 2007; Silverstein, Gans, Lowenstein, Giarrusso, & Bengtson, 2010), to disagreement between generations on topics such as children’s jobs, interpersonal relationships, substance use problems, and generational differences in viewpoints related to important issues (Suitor & Pillemer, 1988; Szydlik, 2008; Tsai & Lopez, 1998).

Partly due to such diverse and inconsistent measures of conflict, the reported prevalence rates of intergenerational conflict vary greatly across studies. In an American study, Suitor and Pillemer (1988) reported that 36% of the older adults had disagreements with their coresiding adult child in the past year. Ferring et al. (2009) categorized about 12% of the German adult children–parent relationships as disharmonious, whereas Silverstein et al. (2010) reported a great variation (3%–20%) of the prevalence of disharmonious relationship in a study of older adults in six countries.

Among studies on Chinese immigrant families, Tsai and Lopez (1998) reported that 17% of Californian older Chinese immigrants described family relationships as a daily life problem and 12% rated family support as inadequate or non-existent. In another study, 14% of older Chinese immigrants in Australia felt that family members imposed constraints upon their lives and 22% descried family relations as “not harmonious” (Ip et al., 2007). In a recent large-scale, population-based study of older Chinese immigrants in Chicago, 14% of the respondents reported having conflict with children who were described as critical or demanding (Guo et al., 2017).

Clarke, Preston, Raksin, and Bengtson. (1999) argued that when provided with the opportunity to voice concerns in an open-ended fashion, older parents and adult children will report considerable conflict. Analyzing written comments of a large mail-out survey (N = 1137), they found that 66% of older parents and their children reported disagreement and conflict in their relationships, suggesting that conflict may be more prevalent in later years than previously assumed in quantitative studies. Similarly, an Australian study using in-depth interviews reported that 72% of the informants had conflict or tension with children, and the vast majority also reported occurrence of criticism (80%) and argument (75%) in the relationships (Lin, Dow, Boldero, & Bryant, 2018).

Previous studies have also documented factors that potentially contribute to intergenerational conflict. On the part of aging parents, findings are mixed regarding whether being men (Silverstein et al., 2010) or women (Ip et al., 2007), or having higher (Guo et al., 2017) or lower socioeconomic status (Szydlik, 2008; van Gaalen & Dykstra, 2006) disposes an older adult to more intergenerational conflict. Although poorer physical health of older adults tends to be associated with more conflict, such association was not observed when the parents lived with children (Suitor & Pillemer, 1988). In addition, older adults who had lower sense of mastery (Guo et al., 2017) and who experienced depressive symptoms (Krause & Rook, 2003) were more likely to encounter negative interactions with their children.

On the children’s part, the probability of intergenerational conflict is shown to increase when the adult child was younger (Suitor & Pillemer, 1988), better educated (Szydlik, 2008), had health problems (Szydlik, 2008), depended on parents for financial assistance (Szydlik, 2008), failed to meet parental expectations (Fingerman, 1996), or had lower levels of individuality (Buhl, 2008). The caregiving literature also provides ample evidence that increased caregiving to aging parents disrupts the previous established intergenerational relations, often resulting in sense of burden and conflict (Suitor, Sechrist, Gilligan, & Pillemer, 2011). Findings related to the adult child’s gender were mixed with higher conflict reported both among sons (Silverstein et al., 2010) and daughters (Szydlik, 2008).

Pertaining to dyadic interactions between older adults and their adult children, although coresidence has been found to be associated with decreased emotional cohesion (Guo, Xu, Liu, Mao, & Chi, 2016), increased geographic distance appears to reduce face-to-face contact and contributes to discord in intergenerational relations (van Gaalen & Dykstra, 2006). In addition, when there are greater differences between generations in marital status (Suitor & Pillemer, 1988) or lifestyle expectations (Lin et al., 2017), the relationships are more prone to disturbance.

In immigrant families, such intergenerational differences often result from different acculturation paces between the generations, accentuating the discrepancies between older immigrants’ “traditionalism” and their children’s “westernization” (Ip et al., 2007). The absence of children’s filial piety, the core family norm in the Chinese society, was perceived by older Chinese immigrants as a family failure, triggering potential conflict (Dong, Chang, Wong, & Simon, 2012). Changes in power dynamics in the family illustrate such challenges. Instead of holding the traditional role of “family head,” many older immigrants reported not having a meaningful role in the household and their opinions were often viewed as irrelevant (Mackinnon et al., 1996). Even if they would like to contribute or reciprocate, they have to observe certain familial norms of their adult children, otherwise their participations are viewed as transposing and would cause relationship tension (Chiu & Yu, 2001). From the children’s perspective, adult children in immigrant families described their parents as frequently nostalgic and had difficulties adapting to new situations and ideas. Some even thought that their parents depended too much on them and had become a “financial liability” (Ip et al., 2007).

The Present Study

Overall, findings on intergenerational conflict among immigrant families are still limited and equivocal, often plagued by small sample sizes, sole reliance on older adults’ account, or lack of comprehensive measures of multidimensional conflict. In this study, we used a relatively large sample of Chinese immigrants in Chicago to examine the sources of their conflicts with parents in five domains: norms/values, relationship itself, money, health, and parenting issues. Considered together, the preceding discussions indicate that the factors affecting intergenerational conflict in immigrant families can be framed within three theoretical perspectives: (a) dependency/caregiving, (b) acculturation level and traditional cultural retainment, and (c) sense of control over one’s life. On the basis of these findings, we developed four hypotheses:

• H₁: Chinese immigrants who provide instrumental support to parents are more likely to have intergenerational conflict.

• H₂: Chinese immigrants with higher levels of acculturation are more likely to report intergenerational conflict.

• H₃: Chinese immigrants who have higher sense of filial obligation are less likely to have intergenerational conflict.

• H₄: Chinese immigrants with greater sense of mastery are less likely to report intergenerational conflict.

Research Design

Sample

The data were derived from the PIETY study, which aims to understand the health, well-being, and normative behaviors of Chinese immigrants with aging parents in the United States. The inclusion criteria included (1) aged 21 years or older and (2) having a parent aged 60 or older. Relying heavily on referrals from its parent study of older Chinese immigrants in Chicago (i.e., PINE, Dong, Wong, & Simon, 2014), together with engagement from community agencies, 548 Chinese immigrants were recruited between 2012 and 2014 in the greater Chicago areas, who reported information of 869 parents. Face-to-face interviews were carried out in respondents’ homes in the language preferred by the respondents.

Measures

Dependent variable.

The respondents reported how frequently they had strains or disagreement with the father and the mother, separately, in the past 3 months in five domains: (1) norms and values, (2) relationships itself (e.g., contact frequency, personality differences, and unsolicited advice), (3) monetary issues, (4) health related issues (e.g., seeing a doctor, taking medication, going to hospital, and deciding on treatment), and (5) issues relating to parenting, on a scale ranging from 0 = not at all to 11 = more than ten times. Given the relative infrequent occurrences of reported conflict (see Table 1) and to be consistent with prior studies which commonly used dichotomous measures of conflict, these variables were recoded into dummy variables, with 1 = any conflict and 0 = no conflict. A summative dummy variable was further created if the respondent reported any conflict in any domains (1 = yes and 0 = no).

Table 1.

Sample Characteristics of the PIETY (N = 548).

	Range	Mean	SD
Individual attributes (N= 545)
Age	22–76	47.53	10.33
Women		64.40%
Married		81.47%
Education	0–26	12.05	3.83
Income	1–10	4.35	2.64
Level of acculturation	12–53	21.00	8.98
Sense of mastery	8–49	37.61	6.26
Filial obligation	14–30	26.13	3.59
Dyadic relationships (N = 869)
Coresidence		33.73%
Frequency of contact	0–9	7.90	1.56
Care for ADLs		11.52%
Care for IADLs		58.57%
Conflict
Norms/values		15.46%
Relationship itself		16.82%
Money		11.88%
Health		9.22%
Parenting		12.92%
Any conflict		31.10%

Notes. ADLs: activities of daily living; IADLs: instrumental activities of daily living.

Independent variables.

Instrumental support to parents was asked on reported father and/or mother separately. The respondents first reported hours a week they spent on helping the father with activities of daily living (ADLs; i.e., eating, dressing, bathing, walking, transferring, grooming, incontinence, and toileting) and then instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs; i.e., managing money, preparing meals, telephone, laundry, medication, housework, shopping, and housekeeping), on a scale ranging from 0 = 0 hours to 9 = 40 hours or more (increased by 5 hours per category up to 8 = 40 hours). The respondents repeated the two questions regarding the mother, if reported. Given that the two variables were highly skewed (about 94% and 92% of the respondents provided less than 20 hours/week support to either parent on the two domains), the variables were recoded into dichotomous variables indicating whether the respondents had provided any help with ADLs or IADLs to the father and the mother, separately (1 = yes and 0 = no).

Level of acculturation was measured by 12 questions on respondents’ preference for speaking Chinese versus English in different settings, in media use, and preferred ethnicity (Chinese vs. Americans) of those they interact with (1 = All Chinese, 2 = More Chinese than Americans/English, 3 = About half and half, 4 = More Americans/English than Chinese, 5 = All Americans) (Marin, Sabogal, Marin, Otero-Sabogal, & Perez-Stable, 1987). The sum scores ranged from 12 to 60, with a higher score indicating a higher level of acculturation (α = .93).

Sense of filial obligation was assessed by the question how much do you think children should fulfill filial obligations in six domains: (1) care for parents, (2) respect them, (3) greet them, (4) bring happiness, (5) obey them, and (6) provide financial support (1 = very little, 2 = rather little, 3 = average, 4 = rather a lot, and 5 = very much). Sum scores were calculated, ranging from 6 to 30, with a higher score indicating a greater sense of filial obligation (α = .69).

To assess sense of mastery, the respondents were asked to rate their levels of agreement on seven statements: (1) I have little control over the things that happen to me, (2) There is really no way I can solve some of the problems I have, (3) There is little I can do to change many of the important things in my life, (4) I often feel helpless in dealing with the problems of life, (5) Sometimes I feel that I’m being pushed around in life, (6) What happens to me in the future mostly depends on me, and (7) I can do about anything I really set my mind to do on a Likert scale ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree (Pearlin & Schooler, 1978). Sum scores were calculated, ranging from 7 to 49, with a higher score indicating a greater sense of mastery (α = .72).

Control variables included basic socio-demographic variables including age (in years), gender (1 = women), marital status (1 = married), level of education (in years), and annual household income (ranging from 1 = 0–4999 to 10 = 75,000 or above). They study also controlled for living arrangement (1 = living with the reported parent and 0 = otherwise) and frequency of face-to-face contact with the reported parent (ranging from 0 = none to 9 = daily), which may both affect intergenerational conflict.

Data Analysis

Characteristics of the respondents (N = 545) and reported parent–child dyads (N = 869) were described. Correlations among the key study variables were also provided. To test the four hypotheses, a series of logistic regressions were carried out to predict each domain of the conflict as well as the overall conflict using the independent and the control variables. Because the measures of reported dyadic relationships (i.e., conflict, living arrangement, frequency of contact, and help with ADLs and IADLs) were nested within the respondents, we used PROC SURVEYLOGISTIC and CLUSTER (i.e., respondents’ ID) command to adjust for the non-independence issue in SAS.

Results

Table 1 summarizes sample characteristics. The mean age of respondents was 47 years (SD = 10.33). The majority were women (64%) and married (81%). The respondents had an average of 12 years of education (SD = 3.83), and their average annual income fell between the category of US$15,000 and US$19,999. The respondents had relatively low levels of acculturation (Mean = 21 on a scale ranging from 12 to 53) and relatively high levels of filial obligation (mean = 26 on a scale ranging from 14 to 30). The average score of self-mastery was 37 (SD = 6.26), on a scale from 8 to 49.

Table 1 also summarized characteristics of dyadic relationships between the respondents and their reported parents. Frequency of intergenerational contact averaged several times per week with nearly one-third of the respondents reporting sharing a residence with an aging parent(s). ADL assistance was provided by approximately 12% of respondents, whereas nearly 59% of respondents reported assisting an aging parent with IADLs. Among the five domains of intergenerational conflict measured in the study, the two most prevalent were strains within the relationship itself (~17%) followed by conflicts related to norms and values (~15%). Conflicts regarding parenting and money issues were reported at nearly identical frequencies (~13% and ~12%, respectively). Conflicts regarding health management were least often reported by the respondents (~9%).

Table 2 presents correlation coefficients between the key study variables. The correlations among the independent variables ranged between .02 to .29, indicating overall weak associations among the predictors. In the bivariate analyses, the level of acculturation and filial obligation were associated with each of the five conflict domains, in the direction consistent with our hypotheses. A higher sense of mastery was associated with a lower chance of reporting conflict over norms/values, health, and parenting issues. Helping with ADLs was only associated with greater conflict over health-related issues. The associations among the five conflict domains ranged from .26 to .57.

Table 2.

Correlations among Key Study Variables.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
1. Helping with ADLs	1.00	.29***	−.02	.11*	−.03	.00	−.04	.04	.08*	−.03
2. Helping with IADLs		1.00	.02	.16***	−.08*	.03	−.04	.00	.06	.05
3. Level of acculturation			1.00	−.02***	.06	.26***	.26***	.19***	.17***	.32***
4. Filial obligation				1.00	.09**	−.11**	−.17***	−.17***	−.16***	−.12***
5. Sense of mastery					1.00	−.11***	−.05	−.05	−.08*	−.08*
6. Conflict—norms/values						1.00	.57***	.46***	.31***	.32***
7. Conflict—relationship							1.00	.43***	.33***	.41***
8. Conflict—money								1.00	.36***	.38***
9. Conflict—health									1.00	.26***
10. Conflict—parenting										1.00

Notes. ADLs: activities of daily living; IADLs: instrumental activities of daily living.

^*p < .05,

^**p < .01,

^***p < .001.

Table 3 reports the results of logistic regressions predicting each domain of intergenerational conflict. In all the regression analyses, the values of the variance inflation factor (VIF) ranged from 1.06 to 2.10 among all the predictors, indicating that collinearity was not a concern of this study. The findings show that the provision of assistance with ADLs was associated with a higher chance of reporting conflicts regarding monetary issues (OR = 2.99, CI: 1.42–6.29, p < 0.01) and health management (OR = 2.99, CI: 1.37–6.55, p < 0.01). With higher levels of acculturation, the chances of reporting conflicts regarding values and norms (OR = 1.04, CI: 1.01–1.08, p<0.05) or relationship itself (OR = 1.05, CI: 1.01–1.08, p < 0.01) were increased. An elevated sense of filial obligation was associated with lower likelihoods of having conflict in all the domains: norms/values (OR = 0.93, CI: 0.86–0.99, p < 0.05), relationship itself (OR = 0.90, CI: 0.85–0.96, p < 0.01), money matters (OR = 0.86, CI: 0.79–0.92, p < 0.001), issues associated with health management (OR = 0.86, CI: 0.79–0.93, p < 0.001), parenting (OR = 0.91, CI: 0.85–0.98, p < 0.01), as well as overall conflict (OR = 0.88, CI: 0.84–0.93, p < 0.001). Respondents who indicated a higher sense of self-mastery were less likely to report conflict in norms and values (OR = 0.95, CI: 0.91–0.98, p < 0.01).

Table 3.

Logistic Regressions on Intergenerational Conflict among Chinese Immigrants (N = 869).

	Norms/Values		Relationship Itself		Money		Health		Parenting		Any Conflict
	OR	CI	OR	CI	OR	CI	OR	CI	OR	CI	OR	CI
Age	0.96**	0.94–0.99	0.96**	0.94–0.99	0.96**	0.94–0.99	0.95**	0.92–0.99	0.96**	0.93–0.98	0.96***	0.94–0.98
Women	1.25	0.73–2.15	1.29	0.78–2.14	1.43	0.78–2.63	1.00	0.55–1.82	1.54	0.87–2.72	1.21	0.82–1.81
Married	1.27	0.60–2.70	1.02	0.51–2.07	0.41**	0.21–0.80	0.58	0.30–1.15	2.09	0.87–5.05	0.93	0.55–1.56
Education	1.23***	1.12–1.36	1.13**	1.04–1.23	1.17**	1.06–1.30	1.07	0.96–1.18	1.19***	1.09–1.30	1.20***	1.11–1.28
Income	0.88*	0.78–0.99	0.94	0.84–1.05	1.03	0.90–1.17	1.09	0.95–1.25	1.01	0.90–1.12	0.97	0.89–1.06
Coresidence	1.47	0.84–2.60	1.57	0.87–2.82	1.21	0.59–2.51	1.26	0.67–2.38	1.90	1.00–3.61	1.54*	1.00–2.36
Frequency of contact	1.08	0.95–1.23	1.12	0.94–1.34	1.04	0.88–1.22	1.03	0.87–1.22	1.03	0.87–1.21	1.08	0.97–1.21
Help with ADLs	1.10	0.52–2.30	0.93	0.40–2.16	2.99**	1.42–6.29	2.99**	1.37–6.55	1.10	0.51–2.38	1.67	0.90–3.10
Help with IADLs	1.32	0.79–2.20	0.85	0.52–1.39	0.92	0.49–1.71	1.80	0.91–3.56	1.43	0.83–2.48	1.13	0.74–1.71
Acculturation	1.04*	1.01–1.08	1.05**	1.01–1.08	0.99	0.96–1.03	1.03	1.00–1.07	0.99	0.96–1.03	1.03	1.00–1.05
Filial obligation	0.93*	0.86–0.99	0.90**	0.85–0.96	0.86***	0.79–0.92	0.86***	0.79–0.93	0.91**	0.85–0.98	0.88***	0.84–0.93
Sense of mastery	0.95**	0.91–0.98	0.98	0.95–1.02	0.98	0.94–1.01	0.96	0.92–1.01	0.97	0.93–1.01	0.97	0.95–1.00

Notes. OR: odds ratio; CI: confidence interval; ADLs: activities of daily living; IADLs: instrumental activities of daily living.

^*p < .05;

^**p < .01;

^***p < .001.

Besides the key study variables, overall, older age was a consistent predictor of a smaller chance of reporting conflict in each of the domains. In addition, respondents with higher levels of education were significantly more likely to report conflict over norms/values, money, health, parenting, as well as overall conflict. Respondents who were married were less likely to report conflict regarding monetary issues, and those who were in lower income brackets indicated a smaller likelihood of reporting conflict related to norms/ values. Sharing a residence was associated with higher chance of reporting any kind of conflict.

Discussion

Studies of family relations have not kept pace with the acceleration of international migration. Compared to studies on immigrant families with children and adolescents, there is a dearth of research on intergenerational conflict in aging immigrants families. To address this gap, this study relied on a survey of 545 Chinese immigrants in Chicago to examine whether and how adult immigrants’ caregiving, acculturation level, heritage culture retainment, and sense of mastery are associated with both everyday conflict (e.g., disagreement over money, health, and parenting) and acculturation-based conflict with their parents (e.g., conflict over norms and values). Overall, our findings revealed both shared and unique predictors of different domains of conflict, revealing the complex nature of intergenerational interactions in immigrant families across different contexts.

Partly consistent with our first hypothesis, when immigrant children provided support to their parents with activities of daily living (ADLs), but not instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs), conflict between generations was more likely to be reported. The findings point to the importance of distinguishing ADLs and IADLs in understanding the implications of caregiving for immigrant family interactions. Help with IADLs involves tasks such as managing money, shopping, and phone-calling. It’s likely that, due to older immigrants’ language difficulties, immigrant adult children are often the major sources of such IADL assistances to their parents. Thus, providing such care may be normalized in immigrant families, not necessarily leading to more stress or conflict in the family. In contrast, help with ADLs includes potentially more time-intensive and physically demanding tasks such as bathing, dressing, and toileting. As adult children’s perceptions of their aging parents’ health statuses change, caretaking behaviors change and family relations intensify (Cicirelli, 2000). The higher probability of conflict with the provision of ADL help is in accordance with other studies (Ip et al., 2007; Mackinnon et al., 1996). It’s also worth noting that help with ADLs was associated with more conflict in health- and money-related domains, but not norms/values or relationship itself. The findings suggest that pressures associated with ADL support can be particularly magnified for immigrant families who may be disadvantaged in terms of socioeconomic resources, linguistic challenges, as well as unfamiliarity with American healthcare system (Guo et al., 2017). Therefore, ADL task completion infers exposure to potentially stressful health service encounters as well as elevated financial risks in the family, both likely increasing intergenerational conflict.

Our findings partly supported the second hypothesis, showing that Chinese immigrants with higher levels of acculturation were more likely to report conflicts with parents on norms/values and relationship itself. These findings correspond with studies that reported the problematic intergenerational discrepancies in immigrant families (Rooyackers, de Valk, & Merz, 2016). A higher level of acculturation attained in a host society may translate into more Western-oriented, individualist values and attitudes that often contradict the traditional collectivist cultural expectations in China (Lee & Liu, 2001). Since older Chinese immigrants in the Chicago area have overall low levels of acculturation (Simon, Chang, Rajan, Welch, & Dong, 2014), adult children’s higher level of acculturation may mean greater acculturative differences across the generations on cultural orientation, traditions, and lifestyles, which all likely contribute to greater conflict on norms/values and relationship itself. By contrast, a lower level of acculturation among adult children may mean similar levels of acculturation and more shared experience between the generations, protecting the relationships from enduring conflicts. Also shown in this study, the adult children’s acculturation level was not associated with conflict over more practical issues such as money, health, and parenting, suggesting that these domains of intergenerational interactions are less affected by acculturative differences across the generations than the domains related to norms and values.

In our study, the most consistent predictor of conflict was sense of filial obligation, which was predictive of lower chances of reporting all the five domains of conflict. The findings reveal the paramount role of this traditional family norm in shaping the experience of intergenerational interactions among Chinese immigrants. According to intergenerational solidarity model, normative aspects of family relations often affect or regulate other parent–child relation domains such as desired geographic distance between generations, frequency of visits and phone calls, helping behavior, financial exchanges, and affection (Bengtson & Roberts, 1991). Immigrant children who greatly endorse this traditional norm may engage with aging parents in various domains in a fashion that is more congruent with parental expectations, reducing the likelihood of experiencing potential conflict. Such congruence with parental expectation may be particular important when power dynamics tend to favor the younger rather than older generation in immigrant families (Dong et al., 2012). From the reciprocity perspective, adult children’s sense of obligation toward their parents is also shaped by family interactions in early life (Silverstein, Conroy, Wang, Giarrusso, & Bengtson, 2002). A strong sense of filial obligation thus likely indicates the nature of cohesive and affectionate relationships between parents and children, which also helps to buffer potential conflict. It’s worth mentioning that the findings may be also attributed to self-report biases, as adult children with higher levels of filial obligation may be more sensitive or reluctant to report negative family interactions out of respect and deference to their aging parents.

Regarding the last hypothesis, we found that adult immigrants with a stronger sense of mastery were less likely to report conflict regarding norms/ values, but not regarding other aspects of conflict. We speculate that apart from having high levels of acculturation, which may mean little maintenance of the heritage culture or struggles caught between the two cultures, immigrants with a greater sense of mastery may have a better stand negotiating cultural mandates from both the heritage and receiving cultures, which helps remove feelings of incompetency and instills a sense of competency and affirmation. In the family context, this may translate into clearer normative boundaries with their parents and less stress or ambiguity in interactions with them regarding norms and values, consequently reducing relevant conflicts. In addition, East Asian families generally instill values of achievement and self-discipline in their children (Kiefer et al., 1985). Children’s perception of sense of mastery in the new society may also indicate their successful achievement of such normative expectations of their parents, likely reducing potential conflict. In this study, the protective effect of sense of mastery did not extend to other conflict domains, suggesting that adult immigrants’ greater sense of control over their lives did not help them better negotiate or resolve problems in everyday conflict with parents related to practical issues of money, health, or parenting.

The above findings need to be interpreted with caution due to several limitations in sampling and research designs. First, despite the relatively large sample size, the sample is not representative of Chinese immigrants in Chicago or in the United States. More studies need to be carried out in different areas/locations and among other racial/ethnic minority groups to further validate the findings. Second, due to the nature of secondary analyses, we did not include other domains of conflict (e.g., dating, career, and communication styles), which may be also relevant to this population and warrant future studies. Some important explanatory variables such as earlier family interactions or family dynamics among multiple children in the families were not included either in the analysis and should also be examined in future studies. In addition, due to the cross-sectional design, causal inferences cannot be achieved. For instance, instead of concluding that sense of mastery predicts less conflict, it’s likely that interpersonal relationships such as family conflict influences one’s sense of control in their lives (Jang, Chiriboga, Kim, & Rhew, 2010). Last but not least, this study tested some hypotheses by using a quantitative approach. Qualitative individual accounts will better shed light on the process through which these individual characteristics and family interactions potentially induce conflict in immigrant families.

Conclusion

Our study of 545 Chinese immigrants in Chicago revealed that maintaining one’s traditional culture (i.e., endorsing sense of filial obligation in the Chinese context) seems to be a significant protective factor against intergenerational conflict in various domains. Also, as expected, immigrant children with a higher level of acculturation were more likely to report conflict regarding norms/values and relationship itself, but not more so on conflict in practical domains (e.g., health, monetary issue, and parenting). Only help with ADLs, not IADLs, was related to more conflict with parents regarding monetary and health issues, and immigrants’ greater sense of mastery was associated with a lower chance of reporting norm/value related conflict.

Our findings have a number of implications for policy and practice serving this growing minority group and their families. The study’s results indicate that the provision of ADL assistance is associated with increased reports of conflict. It is important to recognize the stress associated with completing these time-intensive tasks particularly in light of the challenges experienced by intergenerational immigrant families, such as financial burden, and unfamiliarity with the healthcare system, and available support in the community. Culturally sensitive community-based services providing training and support to elders and their families in matters such as transportation options, financial affairs, and navigating the healthcare system could serve to mitigate some of the confusion and strain experienced.

Our study’s findings regarding the relationship between acculturation and conflict within intergenerational relationships—particularly in relation to norms/values—is well-established in the literature. Accordingly, perhaps practitioners should focus less on reducing the occurrence of acculturative conflict and instead emphasize the development of communication skills essential for mitigating the impact of conflict upon relationship quality among both generations. This form of psycho-educational programming could be provided as a curriculum at social centers specifically serving older Chinese immigrants and their families. The purpose of such programs could be multi-faceted, addressing not only educational and skill-development needs but also fulfilling immigrants’ need for social connection as well.

The most consistent predictor of conflict within our study was the influence of filial obligation. Given its enduring influence, programming designed to help younger immigrants learn to balance their traditional cultural values with the new environment’s pressures could be beneficial. A curriculum with this focus could also serve to augment one’s sense of self-mastery. As speculated, a sense of self-mastery may help adult children maintain healthy boundaries with their parents, thereby reducing stress and ultimately conflict. Such training could also be provided within culturally sensitive, intergenerational centers.

Regarding future research, more studies are needed to better understand family dynamics and intergenerational conflict in aging immigrant families. Such knowledge is crucial to the question of who will support and care for this rapidly growing population with great healthcare needs. The concept of intergenerational conflict needs to be clearly defined and carefully measured in a culturally sensitive way. Without clear specification of the construct in the immigration context, investigations into conflict in family relationships may obscure rather than illuminate relational issues. There is also a need for more longitudinal studies, ideally capturing the transition and adaptations that occurred to the entire family along their acculturation process. Existing studies on intergenerational conflict in immigrant families have been exclusively on one party—predominantly on older adults with a few studies on adult children. Dyadic information obtained from both parties will best capture family dynamics and provide a more comprehensive pictures of the related experience of both generations.