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Background and Objectives Midlife adults are a "pivot" generation, responding to parents' and grown children's problems. Yet, some midlife adults may have families where multiple members suffer sorrows, whereas other midlife adults may have families with few problems. This study examined: (a) typologies of problems across generations and (b) associations between profiles of problems and midlife adults' well-being. Research Design and Methods Midlife adults (N = 633) reported their own, each parent's (n = 868), and grown child's (n = 1,785) physical (e.g. injury, cancer), psychological (e.g. anxiety, addiction), and lifestyle problems (e.g. divorce, job loss), and parents' functional disabilities. Midlife adults reported their own depressive symptoms. Results Latent profile analysis revealed four family typologies: (a) lowest problems across generations (n = 364), (b) offspring and midlife adult moderate problems, parent high physical problems and disability (n = 165), (c) offspring and parent moderate problems (n = 90), and (d) offspring highest problems (n = 14). Midlife adults in the lowest problems group (Profile a) reported higher income and fewer depressive symptoms than midlife adults in the other groups. Discussion and Implications Midlife adults cope with challenges when grown children or parents suffer problems, and their well-being may suffer as a result. In this study, regardless of the profile, higher problems in either generation were associated with more depressive symptoms for midlife adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objectives Aging parents often incur disabilities in activities of daily living, which may limit their ability to give support and necessitate increased support from middle-aged children. Research has predominantly assessed disabled parents’ retrospective reports of receiving support, but we know little about their daily support exchanges with middle-aged children. This study examined practical support, emotional support, and advice that aging parents with and without disabilities provided and received from middle-aged children, and links between these support exchanges and parents’ daily mood. Research Design and Methods Aging parents (N = 202, M age = 79.86) from the Family Exchanges Study II indicated their disabilities and background characteristics. They also reported daily exchanges of practical, emotional support, and advice with each middle-aged child and their daily mood for 7 days. Results Multilevel models revealed that aging parents suffering disabilities were equally likely to provide each type of support but more likely to receive practical support. Aging parents’ disabilities seemed to buffer the effects of these support exchanges, such that parents with disabilities versus parents without disabilities reported less negative mood when providing practical support or emotional support, and more positive mood when receiving practical support. Discussion and Implications Exploring the role of aging parents’ disabilities in their daily support exchanges with middle-aged children expands on the literature of late-life disabilities and parent-child ties. Despite increasing disabilities, aging parents continue to engage in support exchanges with middle-aged children in daily life and these parents appear to benefit from such involvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]