Positivity in the aged’s perceptions of intergenerational relationships: A “stake” or “leniency” effect?
Identifieur interne : 001815 ( Istex/Corpus ); précédent : 001814; suivant : 001816Positivity in the aged’s perceptions of intergenerational relationships: A “stake” or “leniency” effect?
Auteurs : Markus Winkeler ; Sigrun-Heide Filipp ; Thomas BollSource :
- International Journal of Behavioral Development [ 0165-0254 ] ; 2000-06.
Abstract
The “developmental stake hypothesis” has been proposed for the frequent finding that aged parents consistently report higher levels of closeness to and consensus with their (adult) children than these children do themselves. This study investigated an alternative hypothesis: Drawing on research on prosocial behaviour in old age, it proposes that the aged tend to construe all social relationships in a positively biased manner (“leniency hypothesis”). Using a quasi-experimental (vignette) approach, scenarios describing two family members discussing a controversial issue were presented to 809 middle-aged (aged 40 to 50 years) and aged subjects (over-65s). The lineage composition of the dyads of family members in the scenarios (i.e. aged parent and adult child vs. two adult siblings) was varied systematically as a between-subjects factor, and the controversial issue was varied as a within-subjects factor. Dependent variables were the participants’ evaluative and prescriptive judgements on the protagonists’ behaviour and the quality of their relationship. Overall, results showed that the aged perceived all scenarios in a significantly more positive light than middle-aged participants, regardless of their lineage composition. Thus, a “positivity bias” was observed in judgements of both intergenerational as well as intragenerational dyads, and it is concluded that the leniency hypothesis provides a better account of these findings than the stake hypothesis.
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DOI: 10.1080/016502500383296
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<record><TEI wicri:istexFullTextTei="biblStruct"><teiHeader><fileDesc><titleStmt><title xml:lang="en">Positivity in the aged’s perceptions of intergenerational relationships: A “stake” or “leniency” effect?</title><author wicri:is="90%"><name sortKey="Winkeler, Markus" sort="Winkeler, Markus" uniqKey="Winkeler M" first="Markus" last="Winkeler">Markus Winkeler</name></author><author wicri:is="90%"><name sortKey="Filipp, Sigrun Heide" sort="Filipp, Sigrun Heide" uniqKey="Filipp S" first="Sigrun-Heide" last="Filipp">Sigrun-Heide Filipp</name></author><author wicri:is="90%"><name sortKey="Boll, Thomas" sort="Boll, Thomas" uniqKey="Boll T" first="Thomas" last="Boll">Thomas Boll</name><affiliation><mods:affiliation>University of Trier, Germany</mods:affiliation></affiliation></author></titleStmt><publicationStmt><idno type="wicri:source">ISTEX</idno><idno type="RBID">ISTEX:13CE173286511D6ECAD400B384323526853B9933</idno><date when="2000" year="2000">2000</date><idno type="doi">10.1080/016502500383296</idno><idno type="url">https://api.istex.fr/document/13CE173286511D6ECAD400B384323526853B9933/fulltext/pdf</idno><idno type="wicri:Area/Istex/Corpus">001815</idno><idno type="wicri:explorRef" wicri:stream="Istex" wicri:step="Corpus" wicri:corpus="ISTEX">001815</idno></publicationStmt><sourceDesc><biblStruct><analytic><title level="a" type="main" xml:lang="en">Positivity in the aged’s perceptions of intergenerational relationships: A “stake” or “leniency” effect?</title><author wicri:is="90%"><name sortKey="Winkeler, Markus" sort="Winkeler, Markus" uniqKey="Winkeler M" first="Markus" last="Winkeler">Markus Winkeler</name></author><author wicri:is="90%"><name sortKey="Filipp, Sigrun Heide" sort="Filipp, Sigrun Heide" uniqKey="Filipp S" first="Sigrun-Heide" last="Filipp">Sigrun-Heide Filipp</name></author><author wicri:is="90%"><name sortKey="Boll, Thomas" sort="Boll, Thomas" uniqKey="Boll T" first="Thomas" last="Boll">Thomas Boll</name><affiliation><mods:affiliation>University of Trier, Germany</mods:affiliation></affiliation></author></analytic><monogr></monogr><series><title level="j">International Journal of Behavioral Development</title><idno type="ISSN">0165-0254</idno><idno type="eISSN">1464-0651</idno><imprint><publisher>Sage Publications</publisher><pubPlace>Sage CA: Thousand Oaks, CA</pubPlace><date type="published" when="2000-06">2000-06</date><biblScope unit="volume">24</biblScope><biblScope unit="issue">2</biblScope><biblScope unit="page" from="173">173</biblScope><biblScope unit="page" to="182">182</biblScope></imprint><idno type="ISSN">0165-0254</idno></series><idno type="istex">13CE173286511D6ECAD400B384323526853B9933</idno><idno type="DOI">10.1080/016502500383296</idno><idno type="ArticleID">10.1080_016502500383296</idno></biblStruct></sourceDesc><seriesStmt><idno type="ISSN">0165-0254</idno></seriesStmt></fileDesc><profileDesc><textClass></textClass><langUsage><language ident="en">en</language></langUsage></profileDesc></teiHeader><front><div type="abstract" xml:lang="en">The “developmental stake hypothesis” has been proposed for the frequent finding that aged parents consistently report higher levels of closeness to and consensus with their (adult) children than these children do themselves. This study investigated an alternative hypothesis: Drawing on research on prosocial behaviour in old age, it proposes that the aged tend to construe all social relationships in a positively biased manner (“leniency hypothesis”). Using a quasi-experimental (vignette) approach, scenarios describing two family members discussing a controversial issue were presented to 809 middle-aged (aged 40 to 50 years) and aged subjects (over-65s). The lineage composition of the dyads of family members in the scenarios (i.e. aged parent and adult child vs. two adult siblings) was varied systematically as a between-subjects factor, and the controversial issue was varied as a within-subjects factor. Dependent variables were the participants’ evaluative and prescriptive judgements on the protagonists’ behaviour and the quality of their relationship. Overall, results showed that the aged perceived all scenarios in a significantly more positive light than middle-aged participants, regardless of their lineage composition. Thus, a “positivity bias” was observed in judgements of both intergenerational as well as intragenerational dyads, and it is concluded that the leniency hypothesis provides a better account of these findings than the stake hypothesis.</div></front></TEI><istex><corpusName>sage</corpusName><author><json:item><name>Markus Winkeler</name></json:item><json:item><name>Sigrun-Heide Filipp</name></json:item><json:item><name>Thomas Boll</name><affiliations><json:string>University of Trier, Germany</json:string></affiliations></json:item></author><articleId><json:string>10.1080_016502500383296</json:string></articleId><language><json:string>eng</json:string></language><originalGenre><json:string>research-article</json:string></originalGenre><abstract>The “developmental stake hypothesis” has been proposed for the frequent finding that aged parents consistently report higher levels of closeness to and consensus with their (adult) children than these children do themselves. This study investigated an alternative hypothesis: Drawing on research on prosocial behaviour in old age, it proposes that the aged tend to construe all social relationships in a positively biased manner (“leniency hypothesis”). Using a quasi-experimental (vignette) approach, scenarios describing two family members discussing a controversial issue were presented to 809 middle-aged (aged 40 to 50 years) and aged subjects (over-65s). The lineage composition of the dyads of family members in the scenarios (i.e. aged parent and adult child vs. two adult siblings) was varied systematically as a between-subjects factor, and the controversial issue was varied as a within-subjects factor. Dependent variables were the participants’ evaluative and prescriptive judgements on the protagonists’ behaviour and the quality of their relationship. Overall, results showed that the aged perceived all scenarios in a significantly more positive light than middle-aged participants, regardless of their lineage composition. Thus, a “positivity bias” was observed in judgements of both intergenerational as well as intragenerational dyads, and it is concluded that the leniency hypothesis provides a better account of these findings than the stake hypothesis.</abstract><qualityIndicators><score>7.508</score><pdfVersion>1.2</pdfVersion><pdfPageSize>564.094 x 743.528 pts</pdfPageSize><refBibsNative>true</refBibsNative><abstractCharCount>1474</abstractCharCount><pdfWordCount>8347</pdfWordCount><pdfCharCount>52574</pdfCharCount><pdfPageCount>10</pdfPageCount><abstractWordCount>209</abstractWordCount></qualityIndicators><title>Positivity in the aged’s perceptions of intergenerational relationships: A “stake” or “leniency” effect?</title><refBibs><json:item><author><json:item><name>M.M. Baltes</name></json:item><json:item><name>S.B. 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Troll</name></json:item><json:item><name> </name></json:item></author><host><pages><last>83</last><first>75</first></pages><author></author><title>Family issues in current gerontology</title></host><title>Parent-adult child relations</title></json:item></refBibs><genre><json:string>research-article</json:string></genre><host><volume>24</volume><publisherId><json:string>JBD</json:string></publisherId><pages><last>182</last><first>173</first></pages><issn><json:string>0165-0254</json:string></issn><issue>2</issue><genre><json:string>journal</json:string></genre><language><json:string>unknown</json:string></language><eissn><json:string>1464-0651</json:string></eissn><title>International Journal of Behavioral Development</title></host><categories><wos><json:string>social science</json:string><json:string>psychology, developmental</json:string></wos><scienceMetrix><json:string>health sciences</json:string><json:string>psychology & cognitive sciences</json:string><json:string>developmental & child psychology</json:string></scienceMetrix></categories><publicationDate>2000</publicationDate><copyrightDate>2000</copyrightDate><doi><json:string>10.1080/016502500383296</json:string></doi><id>13CE173286511D6ECAD400B384323526853B9933</id><score>2.1350682</score><fulltext><json:item><extension>pdf</extension><original>true</original><mimetype>application/pdf</mimetype><uri>https://api.istex.fr/document/13CE173286511D6ECAD400B384323526853B9933/fulltext/pdf</uri></json:item><json:item><extension>zip</extension><original>false</original><mimetype>application/zip</mimetype><uri>https://api.istex.fr/document/13CE173286511D6ECAD400B384323526853B9933/fulltext/zip</uri></json:item><istex:fulltextTEI uri="https://api.istex.fr/document/13CE173286511D6ECAD400B384323526853B9933/fulltext/tei"><teiHeader><fileDesc><titleStmt><title level="a" type="main" xml:lang="en">Positivity in the aged’s perceptions of intergenerational relationships: A “stake” or “leniency” effect?</title></titleStmt><publicationStmt><authority>ISTEX</authority><publisher>Sage Publications</publisher><pubPlace>Sage CA: Thousand Oaks, CA</pubPlace><availability><p>SAGE</p></availability><date>2000</date></publicationStmt><sourceDesc><biblStruct type="inbook"><analytic><title level="a" type="main" xml:lang="en">Positivity in the aged’s perceptions of intergenerational relationships: A “stake” or “leniency” effect?</title><author xml:id="author-1"><persName><forename type="first">Markus</forename><surname>Winkeler</surname></persName></author><author xml:id="author-2"><persName><forename type="first">Sigrun-Heide</forename><surname>Filipp</surname></persName></author><author xml:id="author-3"><persName><forename type="first">Thomas</forename><surname>Boll</surname></persName><affiliation>University of Trier, Germany</affiliation></author></analytic><monogr><title level="j">International Journal of Behavioral Development</title><idno type="pISSN">0165-0254</idno><idno type="eISSN">1464-0651</idno><imprint><publisher>Sage Publications</publisher><pubPlace>Sage CA: Thousand Oaks, CA</pubPlace><date type="published" when="2000-06"></date><biblScope unit="volume">24</biblScope><biblScope unit="issue">2</biblScope><biblScope unit="page" from="173">173</biblScope><biblScope unit="page" to="182">182</biblScope></imprint></monogr><idno type="istex">13CE173286511D6ECAD400B384323526853B9933</idno><idno type="DOI">10.1080/016502500383296</idno><idno type="ArticleID">10.1080_016502500383296</idno></biblStruct></sourceDesc></fileDesc><profileDesc><creation><date>2000</date></creation><langUsage><language ident="en">en</language></langUsage><abstract xml:lang="en"><p>The “developmental stake hypothesis” has been proposed for the frequent finding that aged parents consistently report higher levels of closeness to and consensus with their (adult) children than these children do themselves. This study investigated an alternative hypothesis: Drawing on research on prosocial behaviour in old age, it proposes that the aged tend to construe all social relationships in a positively biased manner (“leniency hypothesis”). Using a quasi-experimental (vignette) approach, scenarios describing two family members discussing a controversial issue were presented to 809 middle-aged (aged 40 to 50 years) and aged subjects (over-65s). The lineage composition of the dyads of family members in the scenarios (i.e. aged parent and adult child vs. two adult siblings) was varied systematically as a between-subjects factor, and the controversial issue was varied as a within-subjects factor. Dependent variables were the participants’ evaluative and prescriptive judgements on the protagonists’ behaviour and the quality of their relationship. Overall, results showed that the aged perceived all scenarios in a significantly more positive light than middle-aged participants, regardless of their lineage composition. Thus, a “positivity bias” was observed in judgements of both intergenerational as well as intragenerational dyads, and it is concluded that the leniency hypothesis provides a better account of these findings than the stake hypothesis.</p></abstract></profileDesc><revisionDesc><change when="2000-06">Published</change></revisionDesc></teiHeader></istex:fulltextTEI><json:item><extension>txt</extension><original>false</original><mimetype>text/plain</mimetype><uri>https://api.istex.fr/document/13CE173286511D6ECAD400B384323526853B9933/fulltext/txt</uri></json:item></fulltext><metadata><istex:metadataXml wicri:clean="corpus sage not found" wicri:toSee="no header"><istex:xmlDeclaration>version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"</istex:xmlDeclaration><istex:docType PUBLIC="-//NLM//DTD Journal Publishing DTD v2.3 20070202//EN" URI="journalpublishing.dtd" name="istex:docType"></istex:docType><istex:document><article article-type="research-article" dtd-version="2.3" xml:lang="EN"><front><journal-meta><journal-id journal-id-type="hwp">spjbd</journal-id><journal-id journal-id-type="publisher-id">JBD</journal-id><journal-title>International Journal of Behavioral Development</journal-title><issn pub-type="ppub">0165-0254</issn><publisher><publisher-name>Sage Publications</publisher-name><publisher-loc>Sage CA: Thousand Oaks, CA</publisher-loc></publisher></journal-meta><article-meta><article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.1080/016502500383296</article-id><article-id pub-id-type="publisher-id">10.1080_016502500383296</article-id><article-categories><subj-group subj-group-type="heading"><subject>Articles</subject></subj-group></article-categories><title-group><article-title>Positivity in the aged’s perceptions of intergenerational relationships: A “stake” or “leniency” effect?</article-title></title-group><contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Winkeler</surname><given-names>Markus</given-names></name></contrib></contrib-group><contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Filipp</surname><given-names>Sigrun-Heide</given-names></name></contrib></contrib-group><contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Boll</surname><given-names>Thomas</given-names></name><aff>University of Trier, Germany</aff></contrib></contrib-group><pub-date pub-type="ppub"><month>06</month><year>2000</year></pub-date><volume>24</volume><issue>2</issue><fpage>173</fpage><lpage>182</lpage><abstract><p>The “developmental stake hypothesis” has been proposed for the frequent finding that aged parents consistently report higher levels of closeness to and consensus with their (adult) children than these children do themselves. This study investigated an alternative hypothesis: Drawing on research on prosocial behaviour in old age, it proposes that the aged tend to construe all social relationships in a positively biased manner (“leniency hypothesis”). Using a quasi-experimental (vignette) approach, scenarios describing two family members discussing a controversial issue were presented to 809 middle-aged (aged 40 to 50 years) and aged subjects (over-65s). The lineage composition of the dyads of family members in the scenarios (i.e. aged parent and adult child vs. two adult siblings) was varied systematically as a between-subjects factor, and the controversial issue was varied as a within-subjects factor. Dependent variables were the participants’ evaluative and prescriptive judgements on the protagonists’ behaviour and the quality of their relationship. Overall, results showed that the aged perceived all scenarios in a significantly more positive light than middle-aged participants, regardless of their lineage composition. Thus, a “positivity bias” was observed in judgements of both <italic>inter</italic>generational as well as <italic>intra</italic>generational dyads, and it is concluded that the leniency hypothesis provides a better account of these findings than the stake hypothesis.</p></abstract><custom-meta-wrap><custom-meta xlink:type="simple"><meta-name>sagemeta-type</meta-name><meta-value>Journal Article</meta-value></custom-meta><custom-meta xlink:type="simple"><meta-name>search-text</meta-name><meta-value> http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/pp/01650254.html Positivity in the aged's perceptions of intergenerational relationships: A ''stake'' or ''leniency'' effect? Markus Winkeler, Sigrun-Heide Filipp, and Thomas Boll University of Trier, Germany The ''developmental stake hypothesis'' has been proposed for the frequent nding that aged parents consistently report higher levels of closeness to and consensus with their (adult) children than these children do themselves. This study investigated an alternative hypothesis: Drawing on research on prosocial behaviour in old age, it proposes that the aged tend to construe all social relationships in a positively biased manner (''leniency hypothesis''). Using a quasi-experimental (vignette) approach, scenarios describing two family members discussing a controversial issue were presented to 809 middle-aged (aged 40 to 50 years) and aged subjects (over-65s). The lineage composition of the dyads of family members in the scenarios (i.e. aged parent and adult child vs. two adult siblings) was varied systematically as a between-subjects factor, and the controversial issue was varied as a within- subjects factor. Dependent variables were the participants' evaluative and prescriptive judgements on the protagonists' behaviour and the quality of their relationship. Overall, results showed that the aged perceived all scenarios in a signi cantly more positive light than middle-aged participants, regardless of their lineage composition. Thus, a ''positivity bias'' was observed in judgements of both intergenerational as well as intragenerational dyads, and it is concluded that the leniency hypothesis provides a better account of these ndings than the stake hypothesis. Three decades ago, Bengtson and Kuypers (1971) proposed the ''developmental stake hypothesis'', which--in short-- proposes that (aged) parents report consistently higher levels of closeness and consensus in the relationship with their children than their (adult) children do. They reasoned that these differences emerge because each generation has different developmental concerns and, thus, has a different ''stake'' in the relationship with other generations: Parents, on the one hand, are considered to be more concerned with the continuity of the values they have considered important in their lives and with the preservation of close relationships in the family they have founded--quite similar to the notion of generativity, originally introduced by Erikson (1963, p.267) as ''the concern in establishing and guiding the next genera- tion''. Accordingly, parents should tend to overstate solidarity and to underestimate con ict or differences in values between their children and themselves (Troll, 1986). On the other hand, adult children are seen to emphasise their uniqueness more than their communality with those who precede them. Asserting autonomy from one's parents remains a dominant concern even far beyond adolescence. As a result, adult children will be less committed to the parent-child relation- ship and understate intergenerational closeness, but overstate dissent with their parents (for overviews, see Hagestad, 1987; Kreppner & Lerner, 1989; Pillemer & McCartney, 1991). Although this approach looks at differences in develop- mental needs and tasks to explain why each generation has a divergent view of their relationship, Giarrusso, Stallings, and Bengtson (1995) have proposed that the ''developmental stake hypothesis'' should be replaced by an ''intergenerational stakehypothesis''. This latter perspective re ects a more socio- structural rather than an individual developmental explanation and is based on generational location itself as the crucial variable; in other words, these perceptual differences between aged parents and adult children are due to the higher social investment of parents in the relationship. Evidence has been presented for both notions: Fischer (1981) found that differences in the mutual perceptions of mothers and daughters became smaller, but did not disappear, as daughters moved toward own motherhood (i.e.rst changing status from single to married without children and then to married with children). This nding suggests that the perceived quality of parent-child relationships improves with the growing maturity of the child and increasing similarity between the two in life status and developmental concerns. This may have made it easier for these daughters to adopt their mother's perspective, thus enhancing the perceived quality of their relationship. On the other hand, results from a longi- tudinal study reported by Giarrusso et al. (1995) seem to favour the intergenerational stake hypothesis. These authors examined affectual solidarity in 198 parent-child dyads at four times of measurement over a 20-year time-span (themean ages of parents and children at t4 were 64 and 39 years, respectively). At each time of measurement, parents scored signi cantly higher on affectual solidarity than their children; the magnitude of these perceptual differences, however, did not change considerably over time. Perceptual differences in the quality of intrafamilial relationships were found to be consistent along generational lines across the whole family life cycle rather than varying with certain developmental stages of International Journal of Behavioral Development© 2000 The International Society for the 2000, 24 (2), 173182Study of Behavioural Development Correspondence should be addressed to Dr Sigrun-Heide Filipp, University of Trier, Department of Psychology, D-54286 Trier, Germany. This study is part of a research project, Intergenerational Relationships in OldAge, which was funded by the German Federal Ministry for Women, Seniors, Family, and Youth (No. 303-1720-31 5/5). We thank J.E. Harrow for extremely helpful support in the stylistic improvement of this manuscript. 174WINKELER ET AL. / POSITIVITY IN THE AGED'S PERCEPTIONS the family members, suggesting that the bias in cross- generational perceptions seems to be related to lineage position per se rather than to developmental status. Most studies, however, do not allow us to differentiate these two theoretical accounts. Instead, they have tried to further illustrate the ''stake'' phenomenon, in general. For example, Bond and Harvey (1991) asked middle-aged subjects (35 to 65 years of age) and their parents to rate the amount of solidarity in their relationship. Solidarity was differentiated into affec- tional, consensual, associational, normative, and functional solidarity in line with Mangen, Bengtson, and Landry (1988). On four of these dimensions, particularly affectional solidarity, parents reported the expected higher levels of solidarity than their children. It was only for functional solidarity that results pointed in the opposite direction: Adult children reported giving more care to their parents than their parents said they received. An almost identical pattern of results (i.e. parents scoring higher in affectual, consensual, and associational solidarity with children scoring higher in functional solidarity) has been reported by Gesser, Marshall, and Rosenthal (as cited in Giarrusso et al., 1995) as well as by Spitze and Logan (1991). These latter authors found that adult children (aged 40 years and over) reported giving double the amount of help to their parents than an independent sample of parents (mean age: 72 years) reported receiving from their children; in contrast, reports on other variables (number of visits or phone calls) were almost perfectly congruent. Obviously, as these various authors conclude, aged parents' overestimations of emotional closeness, paired with under- estimations of the amount of support they receive from their children, may be viewed as two sides of the same coin; namely, a re ection of their attempts to defuse the fear of dependency in old age (for a discussion of this issue, see Baltes & Silverberg, 1994). In addition, perceptual differences between generations have been observed not only when parents' and children's self- reports of their relationship were compared statistically, but also when perceived differences within a given dyad were examined more directly. Knipscheer and Bevers (1985) investigated a sample of 74 older parents and their middle- aged children in the Netherlands by presenting several items related to the quality of their relationship (e.g. mutual openness, dependency). Both parents and children were asked to give their own estimates as well as the presumed estimates of the respective other. On most items, comparisons of self- reports made by parents and by children once more yielded large differences; however, perceived differences were even higher, especially in the sample of children. This implies that a considerable percentage of these children, but only relatively few parents, were aware of, or perceptually constructed these differences. De nitelyrareintheliteratureareattempts toapplythestake hypothesis to perceptions of con ict between parents and their (adult) children and how it should be managed. In a study by Fingerman (1995), 96 elderlymothers and their daughters were asked toreport acon ictual incident that had occurred between them recently, and to individually ratethe degreeto which both of them had shown either ''destructive'', ''constructive'', or ''avoidant'' behaviours in dealingwithit. Oneimportant nding was that mothers perceived their daughters' behaviours much more positively (i.e. as being more constructive, less destruc- tive) than the daughters had rated their own behaviours themselves. Daughters, in turn, found their mothers' beha-viours to be signi cantly more negative than mothers' self- reports of their behaviours proved to be. It is obvious from this study, again, that mothers are inclined to put a good face on their daughters' actions or have a perceptual bias in more generally ''overlooking'' negative aspects of their children. In their longitudinal study of a large sample of 770 parents (aged 45 to 71 years) and their adult children, Schneewind and Ruppert (1998) included not only measures of perceived closeness, quality of communication, and mutual control, but also perceived amount of con ict. These authors were able to demonstrate the ''stake effect'' for each of these variables, in other words, mean values observed in the sample of parents were--compared to the sample of their children--higher for ''closeness'' and ''communication'', but lower for ''control'' and ''con ict''. Interestingly, the highest perceptual differences between parents and children emerged for ''con ict''. In sum, the various ndings reported in the literature seem to provide clear support for predictions derived from the stake hypothesis that parents overestimate solidarity and under- estimate con ict with their offspring. Alongside this general nding, it has been proposed that the stake phenomenon also varies with gender. Giarrusso et al. (1995) hypothesised that it should particularly characterise the mother-child relationship, that is, perceptual differences should be more pronounced here than within father-child dyads. This is based on the assump- tion that mothers' roles seem to be pivotal to the structure of kindred and to theties that hold families together. Women may be called ''the unsung heroines of social integration: as childbearers, caregivers, and kinkeepers. And women provide the glue that holds families and lineages together'' (for that issue, see Rossi, 1993). A greater investment in intergenera- tional relationships among women compared with men has been proposed for several reasons, for example, their biological role in childbearing and nursing, the fact that motherhood is still more central in the lives of women than fatherhood in the lives of men, that women's socialisation still is more expressive and to serve as kinkeepers in the family, and, nally, their greater economic need for interdependence with other family members, mostly due to lower wages (cf. Rossi, 1993). However, many studies related to this issue have failed to reveal the proposed moderating effect of gender. For example, Thompson, Clark, and Gunn (1985) examined attitudes toward several issues (e.g. drugs, foreign affairs, religiosity) in a sample of students and their parents (aged 40 to 80 years) and were unable to nd any differences in attitudinal similarity when comparing mother-child and father-child dyads (for similar ndings, see Giarrusso et al., 1995; Rossi & Rossi, 1990). On the other hand, it is not improbable--as one could conclude from the ndings reported by Fischer (1981, see earlier)--that mothers' and daughters' perceptions may be- come increasingly similar, the more, later in life, they share major life experiences and transitions, and that this should nally result in much smaller perceptual differences between mothers and daughters compared with any other con gura- tion. In fact, Szydlik (1995) has reported survey data obtained from a German representative sample indicating that differ- ences in perceived closeness between parents and children are much smaller in mother-daughter dyads than in all other dyadic constellations, although these differences were not subjected to statistical tests. Thisnding is supported by results from Schneewind and Ruppert's (1998) longitudinal study in which differences in perceptions of closeness, quality of communication, frequency of con ict, and so forth were signi cantly lower between mothers and their children-- especially daughters--compared with fathers and their chil- dren. Interestingly, this effect appeared to be mainly a product of the children's reports: Whereas fathers and mothers gave almost equally positive reports of their relationship to their children, children, in turn, perceived the relationship to their fathers signi cantly more negatively than the relationship to their mothers. Despite these ndings, evidence on this issue is nonetheless scarce and further research is clearly needed. Finally, most of the--about a dozen--studies addressing the stake hypothesis so far have gathered evidence exclusively from subjects' reports on the quality of intergenerational relation- ships within their own families. Thus, all studies have one limitation in common, namely, none of them have consid- ered--simply for purposes of comparison--any other dyads than intergenerational and intrafamilial ones. Accordingly, perceptual differences between aged and middle-aged subjects have never been investigated systematically for other types of relationships (e.g. between siblings). Yet, adequate investiga- tion of the stake hypothesis and tests against competing hypotheses are possible only if other types of relationship, in particular, intragenerational relationships, are included in studies as well. We propose an alternative hypothesis derived from research on altruism in the aged (see Midlarsky & Kahana, 1994). Various studies have revealed that aged subjects (as opposed to middle-aged or younger people) are more ''prosocial'', in other words, more concerned with the fate of an (experimentally introduced) person in need and more generous in donating money to this person, even after controlling for economic resources. Suchndings could lead to the--cautious-- assumption that aged (as opposed to younger) people are more inclined to perceive their social world in a positively biased manner. Such a ''leniency'' or ''positivity'' effect may not just operate in helping or other kinds of altruistic behaviour; it may also determine the aged's perceptions of thequality of interpersonal relationships in a moregeneral way, in other words, it is not restricted to perceptions of their relationships with their offspring. However, no study so far has permitted any assessment of this alternative theoretical account. The present study was designed to investigate whether the ''leniency hypothesis'' actually provides a better explanation than the ''stake hypothesis'' for the often reported perceptional differences between older and younger subjects. In particular, it compares perceptions of intergenerational relationships with intragenerational relationships. Only if intergenerational rela- tionships prove to be perceived morepositively by aged than by middle-aged subjects, and if, at the same time, this difference does not emerge in perceptions of intragenerational relation- ships, can we reliably accept the intergenerational stake hypothesis as a working hypothesis. If, however, aged subjects consistently perceive both inter- andintragenerational relation- ships in a more positively biased way, then the leniency hypothesis clearly provides a better account of these differ- ences. In addition, by applying a new approach rather than relying on self-reports, the study can also examine whether the differences reported in the literature up to now are restricted to perceptions of one's own intrafamilial relationships. Finally, the gender issue, as outlined earlier, was included by comparing male and female subjects' perceptions of inter- generational relationships.Method Subjects Drawing on administrative data from two major German cities, we recruited a sample of 992 male and female community- dwelling participants (with complete data sets available for 809 participants). Recruitment was restricted to two age groups: 65 to 75 years [''Generation 1'' (G1), n = 342] and 40 to 50 years [''Generation 2'' (G2), n = 467]. There was an equal distribution of gender across both generation subsamples [x2(1) = 1.68; P = .20]. In addition, subsamples were comparable in terms of family and educational status. Only the mean number of children was higher in Generation 1 (M = 2.1 vs. 1.6), which can be interpreted as a cohort effect to be found in all Western societies. Material and design A quasi-experimental design was applied by using a vignette approach withctitious scenarios (e.g. Neff, 1979), each describing a particular, possibly con ictual episode between two family members that had to be evaluated along various dimensions (see later). The complete design was comprised of four between-subject factors and one within-subject factor. The between-subject factors were the composition of the dyad in terms of generation membership and gender. The former was varied by the two protagonists either forming an intergenerational dyad (parent with adult child; G1/G2) or an intragenerational dyad (adult siblings; G2/G2).1 Regarding the gender of protagonists, all possible combinations were con- sidered as factorial levels, that is, dyads consisted of mother/ daughter, mother/son, father/daughter, father/son in the intergenerational versions; and sister/sister, sister/brother, brother/sister, brother/brother in the intragenerational ver- sions. These two variations in the vignette material were combined with participants' age (or generation membership, respectively) and gender, resulting in a 2422 factorial design (see Table 1). Alongside these between-subjects factors, the topic of the con ictual episode was used as a within-subjects factor. This meant that each participant worked on three scenarios differing in topic, although identical in dyadic composition. These three topics can be sketched as follows (for the example of intergenerational dyads): Scenario 1 described an interaction related to ''Closeness vs. distance'': The aged protagonist (mother vs. father) expresses desire for more contact and reproaches the daughter (vs. son) for not caring enough. The second scenario described ''Lack of appreciation'': The aged protagonist refuses to recognise and appreciate the son's (vs. daughter's) professional success. The third scenario described an episode that might be seen to re ect some sort of ''Dissent in values'': The aged protagonist criticises the son's (vs. daugh- ter's) intention to get divorced by referring to his/her own long- term marriage.INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BEHAVIORAL DEVELOPMENT, 2000, 24 (2), 173182175 1With reference to one reviewer's comment on the concept of ''generation'', we agree on ''generation'' being a multifaceted term, which is used to describe birth cohorts, age groups, and/or lineage structures within families. To take dyads of siblings as representing intragenerational relationships is based on the assumption that, within the family context, the boundaries between generations are de ned by ''lineage'' rather than by age per se. Accordingly, siblings are considered as members of the same generation, regardless of their actual age difference. 176WINKELER ET AL. / POSITIVITY IN THE AGED'S PERCEPTIONS Apart from the variations in content and dyadic composi- tion, all scenarios had an identical formal structure. They started with a brief description of both protagonists and their relationship. Then an ongoing episode was presented in which one of the two protagonists made a statement (related to oneof the three topics) that could be perceived by the other (who was either son or daughter or brother or sister, respectively) as an attackand thestarting point of a con ict between the two (for a full text of the scenarios in the mother/daughter and the sister/ sister version, see the Appendix). Each scenario was followed by two sets of items that were used as thedependent measures. Thesewere: ''Construalsof the situation'', that is, participants' appraisals of what is happening in and resulting from the particular situation assessed with 11 ratings (on 4-point Likert-type scales with the poles disagree, 0, and agree, 3); and ''Recommendationsforappropriateaction'', that is, ratings of prescriptive statements on how the ''accused'' protagonist should handle the situation (6-point scales with the poles on noaccount, 0, and most certainly, 5). Item sampling with a nal list of k = 20 items was based here on studies of con ict management and the differentiation of various strategies (e.g. ''nonconfrontation'',''solution-oriented'',''control'';cf. Hocker & Wilmot, 1995; Putnam &Wilson, 1982). Factor structure of dependent variables. Later, the underlying factor structure of both sets of dependent variables was examined with separate principal component analyses (with VARIMAX rotation) for each of the three topics. For ''Construals of the situation'', a three-factor solution, explaining up to 63%of variance, proved to be acceptable across all three topics and permitted us to construct the following subscales with satisfactory internal consistencies: (a) ''Healthy relation- ship'' (HEALTHY; 4 items; mean Cronbach's alpha across the three topics = .82), for example, ''In my opinion, what happens . . . is a sign that they both have an open and honest relationship''; (b) ''Con ictual relationship'' (CONFLIC T UAL; 4 items; mean a = .75), for example, ''. . . an expression of a struggle for power or rivalry''; (c) ''Both living in different worlds'' (DIFFERENT; 2 items; mean a = .60), for example, ''. . . a sign that they both view the situation differently''. With regard to their intercorrelations,DIFFERENTrelated moder- ately positively toCON FLIC T UAL(mean r across the threetopics = .35; all reported intercorrelations P < .01) and negatively toHEALT HY(mean r = ± .30), whereasHEALT HY andCON FLIC T UALhad substantial negative correlations (mean r = ±.56). For ''Recommendations for appropriate action'', a four-factor solution yielded comparable factor loadings across all three topics and accounted for 50% of explained variance. Thirteen items had substantial factor loadings and were used to construct the following subscales: (a) ''Avoid this issue!'' (AVOID; 4 items; mean aacross the three topics = .74) describing attempts to avoid actively the particular topic (e.g. ''In my opinion, he/she . . . should just let the comment pass''); (b) ''Communicate constructively!'' (COMM UN IC AT E; 4 items; mean a = .71), representing solution-oriented communica- tions (e.g. ''. . . should try to sort out the difference of opinion with her mother'') as well as disclosing one's own feelings; (c) ''Think it over!'' (THIN K; 2 items; mean a = .68), describing intrapsychological strategies like re ecting on the event or taking the other's perspective (e.g. ''. . . should think about her mother's remarks''); (d) ''Be confrontative!'' (CON FRON T; 3 items; mean a = .63), comprised of reactions like countering the statement with own reproaches (e.g. ''. . . should retaliate by criticising her mother's behaviour''). All in all, scale intercorrelations were moderate across all topics, with consistently negative interrelations forCOM M U- N IC AT EandAVOID(mean r across the three topics = ±.37) as well as forT HIN KandCON FRON T(mean r = ± .33), whereas C OM M UN IC AT EandT HIN Kinterrelated positively (mean r = .29). Intercorrelations between both sets of dependent measures were also analysed: Not surprisingly,CON FRON T related positively to construals, such asC ON FLIC T UAL(mean r = .42) and DIFFERENT (mean r = .19), and negatively to HEALT HY(mean r= ± .29) (across all three topics).T HIN K, on the other hand, emerged as a strategy relating positively to HEALT HY(mean r = .26) and negatively toC ON FLIC T UAL (mean r = ±.15),AVOIDwas not (or just marginally) related to HEALT HYandCON FLIC T UAL, except for when the topic was ''Lack of appreciation''. OnlyC OM M UN IC AT Eproved to be fairly independent from all ''Construals of the situation'' subscales, indicating that this strategy was recommended by subjects, irrespective of how they had construed the episode presented in the scenario. Table 1 Study design and number of subjects in each cell Subject's Age and Gender Generation 1Generation 2 (6575 yrs)(4050 yrs) Generational (and Gender) Composition of DyadMFMFTotal Intergenerational relationship (mother/daughter; mother/son; father/daughter; father/son)7889103121391 Intragenerational relationship (sister/sister; sister/brother; brother/sister; brother/brother)9382109134418 Total171171212255809 Note: Gender composition of dyad is not indicated separately because this factor was used exclusively as a covariate for all of the analyses described later. Furthermore, two additional between-subject factors were examined as covariates: (1) sequential ordering in presenting the scenarios (based on the Latin quarter method); and (2) area of residence of participants as a proxy for religious af liation (Roman Catholic vs. Protestant). Results Ourrst step was to investigate the stake hypothesis by comparing how aged versus middle-aged subjects responded to those scenarios in which the two protagonists formed an intergenerational dyad, and then analyse moderating effects of gender. Our second step was to examine the leniency hypothesis. Based on the total of all (inter- and intragenera- tional) scenarios, we analysed whether aged participants perceived all scenarios, irrespective of their generational composition, in a signi cantly more positive way than middle-aged ones. The stake hypothesis The stake hypothesis predicts that the aged will construe all episodes in which a parent and an adult child are interacting and discussing a controversial issue as being much less dramatic and less important than middle-aged participants will. Therefore, for the subsample who received the inter- generational scenarios (n = 391), we computed MANOVAs for each dependent measure with participants' age (G1 vs. G2) as between-subjects factor and topic of con ict as within-subjects factor; gender composition of dyad was included as covariate (as well as the sequential ordering of scenarios and partici- pant's area of residence, the latter used as a proxy for religious af liation). Participant's age revealed highly signi cant main effects for two of thethree ''Construalsof thesituation'', namely,HEALT HY [F(1,386) = 50.34, P < .001, Z2= .11], and CONFLICTUAL [F(1,386) = 23.30, P < .001, Z2= .06]. In addition, C ON FLIC T UALexhibited an interaction effect with the topic of the scenario that superimposed on the main effect[F(2,778) = 15.98, P < .001, Z 2 = .03], (see Table 2).2 A comparison of means showed that the aged perceived all intergenerational scenarios as indicating a warm, open, and mutually affectionate relationship between the two protago- nists; in other words, they scored signi cantly higher on HEALT HYthan middle-aged participants. In addition, they scored lower onCON FLIC T UALin their construals of two episodes (''Closeness vs. distance'' and ''Lack of apprecia- tion''), perceiving less smouldering con ict and evaluating the situation as a whole as being less important. Only ratings on ''Both living in different worlds'' (DIFFERENT), a scale that is obviously rather neutral with regard to the (emotional) quality of the relationship, revealed no signi cant effects of partici- pant's age. With regard to ''Recommendations for appropriate action'' as the second set of dependent measures, signi cant main effects of participant's age were found for three (out of four) scales, namely, forAVOID[F(1,386) = 42.63, P < .001, Z2= .10], CON FRON T[F(1,386) = 13.70, P < .001, Z2= .04], and COM M UN IC AT E[F(1,386) = 6.39, P < .05, Z 2 = .02] (see Table 2). In particular, aged--as opposed to middle-aged participants--were more frequently in favour of avoiding the INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BEHAVIORAL DEVELOPMENT, 2000, 24 (2), 173182177 2Table 2 also shows main effects of topic, which were similar in all MANOVAs and turned out to be the strongest source of variation in the data. All in all, ''Lack of appreciation'' was perceived to be the most serious topic (after controlling for its position in the research instrument), indicated by lower values inHEALT HYand higher values inC ON F LIC T UALandDIF FEREN T, and underlined by recommendations of more avoidance, less constructive commu- nication, less re ection, but more confrontation. Perceptions of the other two topics were more counterbalanced:HEALT HYandDIF FEREN Twere viewed to be higher for ''Dissent in values'' opposed to ''Closeness vs. distance'', whereas C ON F LIC T UALwas lower. Differences in recommendations of appropriate action occurred for only two scales (i.e.C OM M UN IC AT EandT HIN K), in which the topic ''Closeness vs. distance'' scored higher than ''Dissent in values''. Table 2 Results of the 2 (participant's age)3 (topic) MANOVAsa for the dependent measures based on the subsample of participants rating intergenerational scenarios (n = 391) Construals of the Situation HealthyCon ictualBoth living in Source of VariationbRelationshipRelationshipDifferent Worlds (df)Fh2Fh2Fh2 Regression(3;386)2.32.021.75.01.49.00 Age(1;386)50.34***.1123.30***.06.43.00 Topic(2;778)205.16***.34153.38***.2774.76***.16 AgeTopic(2;778)3.01.0115.98***.03.16.00 Recommendations of Appropriate Action Avoid thisCommunicateThink it over!Be Source of Variationissue!constructively!confrontative! Fh2Fh2Fh2Fh2 Regression2.28.02.51.002.57.024.46**.03 Age42.63***.106.39*.022.72.0113.70***.03 Topic90.46***.1952.90***.12254.93***.39143.28***.27 AgeTopic3.27*.012.14.0011.37***.021.79.00 aRepeated measures on the second factor. bThe regression term consisted of the variables ''Sequential ordering of scenarios'', ''Participant's area of residence'', and ''Gender composition of dyad''. The coef cient Z 2, representing the amount of variance explained by the particular factor, was calculated separately for between-subjects effects (regression; age) and within- subjects effects (topic; agetopic). ***P < .001; **P < .01; *P < .05. 178WINKELER ET AL. / POSITIVITY IN THE AGED'S PERCEPTIONS topic, but less frequently in favour of communicating constructively or turning to confrontation.T HIN Krevealed only one interaction effect with topic [F(2,778) = 11.37, P < .001, Z2= .02], indicating that age differences were signi cant only when the topic was ''Dissent in values''. Here, the aged more often recommended thinking it over and trying to take the perspective of the other person than middle-aged partici- pants did (see Table 4). Gender as a moderator variable. As outlined earlier, there is little empirical evidence for a gender effect, indicating that the stake phenomenon is less pronounced in women than in men. This issue was addressed in an additional set of MANOVAs with participant's gender as a third independent variable. Gender yielded signi cant main effects for only two out of all seven independent measures, namely, forC OM M UN IC AT E [F(1,384) = 9.74, P < .01], andT HIN K[F(1,384) = 6.67, P < .01], each explaining just 1.7% of variance. Female participants more often recommended communicating con- structively and thinking it over, regardless of their age or the topic of the scenario, whereas no gender differences could be found for their various construals of the episode. In summary, the aged actually proved to be more positive in their construals of what is going on in the various intergenera- tional episodes than middle-aged subjects did. In line with these construals, their recommendations for managing the controversial issue also varied with age: The aged were more frequently in favour of refraining from any kind of argument or constructive communication; in other words, they preferred to avoid confrontation over the particular issue. In addition, the differences between both age groups were unrelated to gender. These results seem to be a clear con rmation of the ''stake hypothesis'', and also to be equally applicable to men and women. The leniency hypothesis As outlined earlier, our study was also designed to relate perceptual differences between aged and middle-aged partici- pants to an alternative hypothesis: The ''leniency effect'' hypothesis. This required an examination of both inter- and intragenerational relationships. In a rst step, we examined each subsample (i.e. aged and middle-aged participants) separately for divergent evaluations of the scenarios as a function of an inter- versus intragenerational dyad. The second step investigated how far each subsample differentiated intergenerational from intragenerational relationships. In other words, we examined whether positively biased perceptions by aged participants (as opposed to middle-aged participants) were restricted to intergenerational scenarios alone, or whether these perceptual differences between theaged and middle-aged would also appear when both protagonists formed an intragenerational dyad (e.g. brother-sister relationship). The ''leniency hypothesis'' would have to be favoured if aged participants perceived all scenarios--irrespective of composi- tion of dyad--in a more positive way than middle-aged participants. Accordingly, we performed another series of 2 32 MANOVAs (inter- vs. intragenerational dyadtopic participant's age, controlling for both participant's and protagonist's gender) on data from the whole sample (N = 809). First, both sets of dependent measures (''Construals of the situation'' and ''Recommendations for appropriate action'')revealed highly signi cant main effects of participant's age, namely, forHEALT HY[F(1,801) = 80.59, Z2= .10], CON- FLIC T UAL[F(1,801) = 47.70, Z2= .06], as well as for AVOID [F(1,801) = 65.77, Z2= .08], COMM UNICATE [F(1,801) = 22.44, Z2= .03], and CONFRON T [F(1,801) = 13.18, Z2= .02], (all Ps < .001), which were partially accompanied by an interaction with topic, for example, forC ON FLIC T UAL [F(2,1610) = 22.72, P < .001, Z2= .03] (see Table 3). In contrast, there were no signi cant interactions between participant's age and the generational composition of the dyad. These results rst indicated that the aged--compared with middle-aged participants--perceived both inter- and intra- generational scenarios in an equally positive way. In other words, irrespective of the dyad's generational composition, the aged were signi cantly more inclined to perceive the protago- nists' relationship as being ''healthy'' (across all topics) and less ''con ictual'' (with one exception for ''Dissent in values'' as topic; see Table 4). Correspondingly, they were also more inclined than middle-aged participants to suggest avoiding the controversial issue and less inclined to recommend commu- nicating constructively or turning to confrontation as appro- priate strategies to handle the situation. Again, this was irrespective of whether these recommendations were addressed to an adult child interacting with his/her father (or mother, respectively, as in the case of intergenerational scenarios), or whether they were addressed to an adult person who was interacting with his/her brother (or sister, respectively, as in the case of intragenerational scenarios).3 In sum, these results clearly supported the ''leniency hypothesis'' that proposes a general ''positivity bias'' in the aged's perceptions and construals of social relationships. However, it has to be remembered that only members of one family wereinteracting in all thescenarios, so thepositivity bias might be restricted to the aged's perceptions of intrafamilial (yet de nitely not restricted to intergenerational) relationships. Discussion The intergenerational stake (or developmental stake) hypoth- esis is a long-standing and widely accepted explanation for the nding that aged parents consistently report a higher amount of closeness and consensus as well as less con ict when describing their relationship with their offspring than their children do. We have argued that the stake hypothesis has not been tested properly in research so far, because the various studies have never controlled for other types of relationship (besides intergenerational ones). In contrast, we have pointed out that a (more or less) generalised ''positivity bias'' may be operating in the aged's perceptions of interpersonal relation- 3In addition, signi cant main effects of dyad's generational composition were found for two dependent variables, namely, for DIF FERENT [F(1,804) = 9.18, P < .01, Z 2 = .01], superimposed by an interaction with topic [F(2,1610) = 16.11, P < .001, Z2= .02], as well as for CON FRON T [F(1,804) = 11.15, P = .001, Z2= .01]. These effects indicated, rst, that participants (regardless of their age group) were more likely to interpret parent-child interactions in terms of ''living in different worlds'' than interactions between siblings, particularly when the episode dealt with a matter of values; second, participants recommended confrontational strategies more frequently when they had to rate sibling relations compared with parent-child relations. As generational composi- tion of dyads proved to be a completely independent source of variance in the obtained data, these effects were not relevant for the present study. ships, and this is introduced as an alternative hypothesis to account for these perceptual differences between aged and younger participants. The quasi-experimental research design in this study permits a systematic investigation of both hypotheses. Middle-aged and aged participants have to evaluate ctitious scenarios describing a possibly con ictual interaction between two family members whose generational membership has been varied systematically; that is, both protagonists form either an intergenerational (parent and adult child) or an intragenerational (two adult siblings) relationship. In addition, participant's gender and the topic of the episode are evaluated as independent variables. The dependent variables are the participants' construals of what is going on between both protagonists and their recommendations on how to handle the situation appropriately. The results reported here provide strong evidence that the aged perceive intergenerational relationships in a signi cantly morepositivewaythan the middle-aged: They construe what is going on between both protagonists more frequently as a sign of an open and affectionate relationship and, correspondingly, deny the episode's potentially negative impact on the quality of the relationship--almost irrespective of the particular topic addressed by the protagonists. It is only when some sort of a dissent in values becomes obvious that the aged and middle- aged participants are equally inclined to interpret the episode as a ''con ict'' between both protagonists. Perhaps the aged are particularly sensitive to this kind of controversy because itthreatens their presumed desire to transmit value orientations to the next generation, and this may have outweighed their tendency to perceive closeness and consensus. The various strategies that participants propose to handle the situation t this picture nicely: The aged suggest more often that the controversial issue should be excluded from communication, regardless of whether the recommendation was to communicate in a ''constructive'' or a ''confrontative'' way. Instead, they clearly seem to favour a strategy of reducing any (potential) threat to the relationship by, for example, avoiding a controversial topic altogether. Quite in contrast, middle-aged participants construe the episodes more in terms of ''con ict'' and arefar moreinclined to handle the con ictual episodes in the sense of ''struggling for one's rights''. These ndings might relate to the notion of a perceived ''power imbalance'' (Talbott, 1990) between parents and their adult children in which the latter are considered to be more ''powerful'', because aged parents may be emotionally more dependent on the relationship to their children than adult children on the relationship to their parents. Accordingly, aged parents may feel the need to avoid any threat to therelationship and behave more carefully and prudently than their children do. Thus, at rst glance, the pattern of ndings reported here seems to be clearly in support of the stake hypothesis as repeatedly outlined earlier. Whereas all studies in this eld so far have stopped at this point, our study is designed to go one step further: We INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BEHAVIORAL DEVELOPMENT, 2000, 24 (2), 173182179 Table 3 Resultsof the2 (participant'sage)2 (generational composition of dyad)3 (topic) MANOVAsa forthedependent measures(full sample, N = 809) Construals of the Situation HealthyCon ictualBoth Living in Source of VariationbRelationshipRelationshipDifferent Worlds (df)Fh2Fh2Fh2 Regression(4;801)4.32**.025.14***.034.23**.02 Age (A)(1;801)80.59***.1047.40***.06.55.00 Composition (C)(1;801).09.001.96.009.18**.01 Topic (T)(2;1610)425.50***.53346.22***.43137.49***.17 (AC)(1;801)1.48.00.03.002.76.00 (AT)(2;1610)7.05**.0122.72***.031.28.00 (CT)(2;1610)2.13.001.10.0016.11***.02 (ACT)(2;1610).63.00.95.00.71.00 Recommendations of Appropriate Action Avoid thisCommunicateThink it over!Be Source of Variationissue!constructively!confrontative! Fh2Fh2Fh2Fh2 Regression1.41.014.78**.024.31**.023.49**.02 Age65.77***.0822.44***.032.09.0013.18***.02 Composition.01.00.16.002.98.0011.15**.01 Topic221.09***.2793.08***.12485.17***.60300.37***.37 (AC)2.12.00.79.001.60.002.39.00 (AT)5.89**.012.64.0018.90***.025.02**.01 (CT)3.45*.00.36.002.59.003.34*.00 (ACT).09.00.18.00.30.00.24.00 aRepeated measures on the third factor. bThe regression term consisted of the control variables ''Sequential ordering of scenarios'', ''Participant's area of residence'', ''Gender of participants'', and ''Gender composition of dyad''. The coef cient Z2(see Table 2) was calculated separately for between-subjects effects (regression; age; generational composition) and within- subjects effects (terms including topic). ***P < .001; **P < .01; *P < .05. 180WINKELER ET AL. / POSITIVITY IN THE AGED'S PERCEPTIONS investigate whether the observed perceptual differences be- tween aged and middle-aged subjects are restricted to intergenerational relationships or whether they prove to be just as strong in intragenerational relationships. In fact, our ndings on this issue are noteworthy. Wehave shown that each difference between the middle-aged and the aged group found under the intergenerational condition is almost equally strong under the intragenerational condition: The aged tend to perceive all episodes more positively, as being less con ictual and less harmful; and, compared with their middle-aged counterparts, they are more inclined to recommend strategies of avoidance and nonconfrontation--regardless of the age (or generation membership, respectively) of the two protagonists in the episode (i.e. either a parent and a child or two siblings). Thus, these observations indicate that the stake hypothesis needs to be replaced by the leniency effect hypothesis proposing a more generalised mildness in how the aged construe relationships in their social world. In addition, as no moderating effects of gender arefound, this leniency effect may be viewed an age-related phenomenon in social perception that does not necessarily imply gender differences. In the Introduction, we argued that this latter hypothesis might be derived from empirical work and theoretical considerations presented by Midlarsky and Kahana (1994) suggesting that the altruistic behaviour observed in the aged may re ect an enhanced ''prosocial'' orientation. Such an orientation may be guided, at least partially, by the desire to transmit values and knowledge from one's generation to thenext, which would be perfectly in line with the stake hypothesis, as well as by the aged's need to maintain self- conceptions of still being useful, worthy, and competent. Another assumption, however, is that the aged have an enhanced need to view their social world more generally in a positive light in order to avoid interpersonal problems and negative affect. This line of reasoning is supported by results from a completely different eld of research, namely, research on affectivity in old age. For example, Levenson, Carstensen, and Gottman (1994) have studied long-term marriages and report that marital interaction is more positive in affect among older compared with middle-aged couples. This difference was particularly pronounced when couples were asked to discuss a controversial issue compared with a pleasant topic. In addition, when objective coders rated the emotional beha- viours expressed by aged versus middle-aged subjects during con ictive discourses, older couples were rated as more affectionate than middle-aged couples (see Carstensen, Gott- man, &Levenson, 1995). Thus, what we have called a general ''leniency'' effect in the aged's perceptions of interpersonal encounters may also re ect an even more generalised tendency of older people to take a highly active role in construing and optimising their socioemotional environments (seeLevenson et al., 1994). Perhaps we can also view this as an expression of what has often been called the ''wisdom of old age'' (see, e.g. Baltes, Smith, & Staudinger, 1992; Sternberg, 1990). Finally, the theory of generativity (Erikson, 1963) may also Table 4 Cell meansa for dependent measures by participant's age, generational composition of dyad, and topic (N = 809) Topic of Episode Closeness vs. distanceLack of AppreciationDissent in Values GenerationalAge of ParticipantsAge of ParticipantsAge of Participants Composition of Dyad(6575 yrs)(4050 yrs)(6575 yrs)(4050 yrs)(6575 yrs)(4050 yrs) Healthy relationship (range: 03) Intergenerational1.761.451.410.922.101.75 Intragenerational1.641.471.391.002.151.82 Con ictual relationship (range: 03) Intergenerational0.931.181.291.770.810.81 Intragenerational0.881.121.311.740.660.77 Both living in different worlds (range: 03) Intergenerational1.871.882.402.432.112.17 Intragenerational1.991.822.352.361.851.80 Avoid this issue! (range: 05) Intergenerational1.881.242.641.911.921.47 Intragenerational1.791.362.642.091.721.43 Communicate constructively! (range: 05) Intergenerational4.184.323.703.983.954.09 Intragenerational4.114.363.694.033.924.18 Think it over! (range: 05) Intergenerational3.813.982.582.373.573.15 Intragenerational3.563.812.382.383.483.23 Be confrontative! (range: 05) Intergenerational0.770.931.431.710.771.10 Intragenerational1.071.051.701.890.901.10 aFor each combination of topic and generational composition of dyad, mean values of aged and middle-aged subjects were compared with t-tests; pairs of means differing signi cantly with P < .008 (according to Bonferroni correction for n = 6 performed tests) are shown in italics. be considered here in order to account for our ndings.4 Given the premise that generativity is a ''salient preoccupation'' (McAdams &de St Aubin, 1992, p.1003) for many adults, one could conclude that elderly parents perceive most relationships with and/or between members of the next generation more positively, because these people represent their children's generation. This may be the case, irrespective of whether or not their own children are, in fact, addressed explicitly, because generativity is seen not to be limited to the domain of (own) parenthood, but to cover a wide varietyof life pursuits and life settings (cf. McAdams & de St Aubin, 1992). Accordingly, when rating the scenarios in which parents and children, as well as middle-aged siblings were interacting, generativity may have in uenced our elderly subjects' con- struals of what is going on, namely not perceiving these interactions as harmful or destroying. Our aged participants might have tended to construe the episodes so mildly, because protagonists represented their children's generation and had been introduced as members of the same family. Perceiving con ict and tension in these interactions would have threat- ened the elderly subjects' desire to create continuity, and even improvement, in the sequence of generations (cf. Lang & Baltes, 1997). Certainly, the design of our study shows a limitation in this respect, as it did not allow for testing this ''generativity hypothesis''. In particular, the intragenerational condition is operationalised in scenarios involving only middle-aged sib- lings. Differentiating ''generativity'' from ''leniency'' would have necessitated to include additional scenarios, in which elderly siblings (i.e. members of Generation 1), were interact- ing. If perceptual differences between elderly and middle-aged subjects would have become observable in intergenerational (G1/G2) scenarios as well as in scenarios with middle-aged siblings (G2/G2), but not in the case of scenarios with elderly siblings (G1/G1), one would have been forced to make interpretations in line with the ''generativity hypothesis''. If, on the other hand, elderly subjects would have perceived even these G1/G1 scenarios in a much more positive way than middle-aged subjects, the ''leniency hypothesis'' would have been supported. As a second limitation, it has to be mentioned that social interactions in the various scenarios involve only family members. As a result, perceptions may have been guided by a particular ''need for harmony'' to be ful lled primarily within families rather than by any generalised leniency in construing social episodes. An extension of the study design with additional scenarios containing intra- and extrafamilial dyads (e.g. neighbours, friends, co-workers) belonging to different generations may clarify this point. The results of our quasi-experimental study have implica- tions for investigations of the intergenerational stake hypoth- esis within the natural eld studies in which it has been up to now. Although, as noted earlier, it would be inappropriate at this point to generalise our ndings to perceptions of relation- ships ''in the real world'', we suggest an additional explanation for the often reported divergence between parents and children in perceptions of their mutual relationships: It may not (only) be due to differences in developmental tasks, current concerns, or their sociostructural position in the life cycle, but it mayre ect more generally an age-bound leniency bias in the social perceptions of the aged. Last but not least, we may speculate that the observed positivity in the aged's perceptions of social relationships may also be due to a cohort effect in a generation born between 1922 and 1932 whose life trajectories have been affected by totalitarianism, war, loss, and other threatening experiences. Manuscript received September 1998 Revised manuscript received December 1998 References Baltes, M.M., & Silverberg, S.B. (1994). 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However, recently Mrs Mu¨ ller's mother has been trying to hint at how lonely she feels. On today's visit, she nally tells her daughter: ''I think you don't really care about me enough. I'm sure you could give up some more of your time for me.'' Lack of appreciation Mrs Schulze is 42 years old. Her 75-year-old mother lives in the same town. They get on relatively well with each other and see each other quite regularly. After a couple of failures at the beginning of her career, Mrs Schulze has built up her own little business. Initially, it was not very pro table, but she now has a lot of regular customers. Today is the day when she has paid off the nal instalment of the bank loan she took out for the business. As she proudly tells her mother about this, her mother replies: ''Well, that's all very nice to hear. But when I think about all the opportunities you've had in life--somehow I'd always thought that you could have made much more out of your life.'' Dissent in values Forty-four-year-old Mrs Huber is married. Her mother, who is 72, lives in the neighbouring village. In general, they have a good relationship, and they see each other quite regularly. Recently, Mrs Huber has been having serious problems with her marriage, and she has often been thinking about a separation from her husband. When she tells her mother she wants to get divorced, her mother replies: ''I don't believe that would be the right thing to do. You cannot just throw everything away. Your Dad and I also had our problems with each other but we still stayed together.''Intragenerational version: Sister/sister Closeness vs. distance Mrs Mu¨ ller is 45 years old and the mother of two children. Because she works very hard, she has hardly any time for herself. She has a sister, who has been a widow for several years now and lives about one hour away by car. All in all, they have a good relationship, and they see each other quite regularly. However, recently Mrs Mu¨ ller's sister has been trying to hint at how lonely she feels. On today's visit, she nally tells Mrs Mu¨ ller: ''I think you don't really care about me enough. I'm sure you could give up some more of your time for me.'' Lack of appreciation Mrs Schulze is 42 years old. She has a sister who lives in the same town. They get on relatively well with each other and see each other quite regularly. After a couple of failures at the beginning of her career, Mrs Schulze has built up her own little business. Initially, it was not very pro table, but she now has a lot of regular customers. Today is the day when she has paid off the nal instalment of the bank loan she took out for the business. As she proudly tells her sister about this, her sister replies: ''Well, that's all very nice to hear. But when I think about all the opportunities you've had in life--somehow I'd always thought that you could have made much more out of your life.'' Dissent in values Forty-four-year-old Mrs Huber is married. She has a sister, who lives in the neighbouring village. In general, they have a good relationship, and they see each other quite regularly. Recently, Mrs Huber has been having serious problems with her marriage, and she has often been thinking about a separation from her husband. When she tells her sister she wants to get divorced, her sister replies: ''I don't believe that would be the right thing to do. You cannot just throw everything away. My husband and I also had our problems with each other but we still stayed together.''</meta-value></custom-meta></custom-meta-wrap></article-meta></front><back><notes><p>1 With reference to one reviewer’s comment on the concept of “generation”, we agree on “generation” being a multifaceted term, which is used to describe birth cohorts, age groups, and/or lineage structures within families. To take dyads of siblings as representing intragenerational relationships is based on the assumption that, within the family context, the boundaries between generations are defined by “lineage” rather than by age <italic>per se.</italic> Accordingly, siblings are considered as members of the same generation, regardless of their actual age difference.</p><p>2 Table 2 also shows main effects of topic, which were similar in all MANOVAs and turned out to be the strongest source of variation in the data. All in all, “Lack of appreciation” was perceived to be the most serious topic (after controlling for its position in the research instrument), indicated by lower values in H E A L T H Y and higher values in C O N F L IC T U AL and D IF F E R E N T, and underlined by recommendations of more avoidance, less constructive communication, less reflection, but more confrontation. Perceptions of the other two topics were more counterbalanced: H E A L T H Y and D IF F E R E N T were viewed to be higher for “Dissent in values” opposed to “Closeness vs. distance”, whereas C O N F L IC T U AL was lower. Differences in recommendations of appropriate action occurred for only two scales (i.e. C O M M U N IC A T E and T H IN K), in which the topic “Closeness vs. distance” scored higher than “Dissent in values”.</p><p>3 In addition, significant main effects of dyad’s generational composition were found for two dependent variables, namely, for DIFFERENT [<italic>F</italic>(1,804) =9.18, <italic>P</italic> < .01, ζ<sup>2</sup> = .01], superimposed by an interaction with topic [<italic>F</italic>(2,1610) = 16.11, <italic>P</italic> < .001, ζ<sup>2</sup> = .02], as well as for C ON FRON T [<italic>F</italic>(1,804) = 11.15, <italic>P</italic> = .001, ζ<sup>2</sup> = .01]. These effects indicated, first, that participants (regardless of their age group) were more likely to interpret parent-child interactions in terms of “living in different worlds” than interactions between siblings, particularly when the episode dealt with a matter of values; second, participants recommended confrontational strategies more frequently when they had to rate sibling relations compared with parent-child relations. As generational composition of dyads proved to be a completely independent source of variance in the obtained data, these effects were not relevant for the present study.</p><p>4 We thank one anonymous reviewer for drawing our attention to this particular line of reasoning.</p></notes><ref-list><ref><citation citation-type="book" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Baltes, M.M.</surname></name> , & <name name-style="western"><surname>Silverberg, S.B.</surname></name> (<year>1994</year>). <article-title>The dynamics between dependency and autonomy: Illustrations across the life-span</article-title>. In <name name-style="western"><surname>D. Featherman</surname></name> , <name name-style="western"><surname>R. Lerner</surname></name> , & <name name-style="western"><surname>M. 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This study investigated an alternative hypothesis: Drawing on research on prosocial behaviour in old age, it proposes that the aged tend to construe all social relationships in a positively biased manner (“leniency hypothesis”). Using a quasi-experimental (vignette) approach, scenarios describing two family members discussing a controversial issue were presented to 809 middle-aged (aged 40 to 50 years) and aged subjects (over-65s). The lineage composition of the dyads of family members in the scenarios (i.e. aged parent and adult child vs. two adult siblings) was varied systematically as a between-subjects factor, and the controversial issue was varied as a within-subjects factor. Dependent variables were the participants’ evaluative and prescriptive judgements on the protagonists’ behaviour and the quality of their relationship. Overall, results showed that the aged perceived all scenarios in a significantly more positive light than middle-aged participants, regardless of their lineage composition. Thus, a “positivity bias” was observed in judgements of both intergenerational as well as intragenerational dyads, and it is concluded that the leniency hypothesis provides a better account of these findings than the stake hypothesis.</abstract><relatedItem type="host"><titleInfo><title>International Journal of Behavioral Development</title></titleInfo><genre type="journal">journal</genre><identifier type="ISSN">0165-0254</identifier><identifier type="eISSN">1464-0651</identifier><identifier type="PublisherID">JBD</identifier><identifier type="PublisherID-hwp">spjbd</identifier><part><date>2000</date><detail type="volume"><caption>vol.</caption><number>24</number></detail><detail type="issue"><caption>no.</caption><number>2</number></detail><extent unit="pages"><start>173</start><end>182</end></extent></part></relatedItem><identifier type="istex">13CE173286511D6ECAD400B384323526853B9933</identifier><identifier type="DOI">10.1080/016502500383296</identifier><identifier type="ArticleID">10.1080_016502500383296</identifier><recordInfo><recordContentSource>SAGE</recordContentSource></recordInfo></mods></metadata><serie></serie></istex></record>Pour manipuler ce document sous Unix (Dilib)
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