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Creating Continuity Through Mutual Assistance: Intergenerational Reciprocity in Four Ethnic Groups

Institute for Health and Aging, University of California, San Francisco.

Address correspondence to Gay Becker, PhD, Institute for Health & Aging, School of Nursing, University of California, San Francisco, Box 0646, San Francisco, CA 94143-0646. E-mail: becker{at}itsa.ucsf.ed

	Abstract

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Objectives. Our purpose is to examine how culture-specific conceptions of mutual assistance in four ethnic groups reflect the nature of social exchange and its role in creating continuity.

Methods. We conducted five in-depth interviews over a 5-year period with 270 respondents aged 50 and up (59 African Americans, 85 Latinos, 78 Filipino Americans, and 48 Cambodian Americans). We asked both open-ended and semistructured questions to determine how respondents viewed their role in mutual assistance in the family.

Results. Mutual assistance was a critical element in intergenerational relations in all four groups, as it represented continuity within the family and was a part of a broader cultural ethos of family relationships. There were differences between groups in overall approach to mutual assistance, the factors to which they assigned the greatest importance, and the degree of dissatisfaction expressed over family relationships.

Discussion. Social exchange can be viewed not only as a means by which those who are old maintain power but as a major vehicle for perpetuating continuity across the generations. When social exchange breaks down, elders suffer from loss of power as expressed through role loss. Elders must have a negotiable commodity to exchange as well as the flexibility to adjust to changes in the extended family. Maintaining continuity of the family in the face of disruptive threats poses a particular challenge for elders.

INTERGENERATIONAL mutual assistance has received relatively little attention in gerontology, perhaps because of the shift in gerontology from a broad concern with intergenerational relations to a focus on caregiving (Bengtson, Rosenthal, & Burton, 1996). Research that examines reciprocity over the life course, or intergenerational transfers, may emphasize the care that elders receive from children in old age in exchange for parental support of children much earlier in life rather than contemporary exchange (Silverstein, Conroy, Wang, Giarrusso, & Bengtson, 2002). Yet research suggests that ongoing mutual assistance between older and younger family members is commonplace (Rossi & Rossi, 1990; Spitze & Logan, 1992), and that much more has to be known about patterns of mutual assistance (Antonucci & Cantor, 1991; Bengtson et al., 1996; Hareven, 2001). Research on mutual assistance among intergenerational ethnic minority families has been limited except for that on African Americans (Cantor, 1979; Groger & Kunkel, 1995; Mutran, 1985; Taylor & Chatters, 1986; Taylor, Chatters, & Mays, 1988). Bengtson and colleagues (1996) observed that questions about ethnic minority families have revolved around the relative strengths and weaknesses of such families, but such research has been demonstrated to be inconclusive (Groger & Mayberry, 2001).

We suggest a different starting point for exploring intergenerational mutual assistance: to examine how specific ethnic groups view the family, the cultural expectations that arise from those views, and the ways in which those expectations are enacted. Doing so promises to lead to a more comprehensive understanding of mutual assistance in families as well as to how people view continuity and the complexities of social exchange. The comparative examination of mutual assistance can tell us not only about mutual assistance itself but about the nature of social exchange and its role in creating continuity. Emanating from social exchange theory, Dowd (1975,1983) has posited that older people must have some negotiable commodity to exchange in order to maintain their status in society; otherwise, they will be devalued. On the basis of their comparative study of Japan and the United States, Akiyama, Antonucci, and Campbell (1997) suggested that how exchange commodities are defined is culturally specific. Studies of various societies have shown that the status of elders is enhanced when they participate in social exchange (Akiyama et al., 1997; Becker, 1980; Becker, Beyene, & Canalita, 2000; Johnson, 1979; Keith et al., 1994). Social exchange through retaining responsibilities to the family can be seen not only as a means by which those who are old maintain power but as an antidote to disruption and a major vehicle for perpetuating continuity across the generations.

In this article we examine how cultural expectations shape intergenerational relationships and how elders work to maintain continuity through mutual assistance in four ethnic groups: African Americans, Latinos, Filipino Americans, and Cambodian Americans. Our aim is to demonstrate how culture-specific conceptions of the family shape the nature of intergenerational relationships, as expressed through mutual assistance. In doing so, we tap the broader context in which intergenerational family relationships must be considered: the quest for generational continuity and the challenges that threaten family connectedness. Although the individual is the unit of analysis in most family-focused research, in this analysis the emphasis is on the family.

Continuity, Disruption, and the Family Life Cycle
Although continuity is apparently a human need and a universal expectation across cultures (Harris, 1989), the concept of continuity has a culture-specific shape (Becker, 1997). How family members envision continuity is directly related to their particular cultural ethos. Families provide the primary setting through which culture is defined and interpreted (Luborsky & Rubinstein, 1987). As a conduit of culture, the family represents continuity (Hareven, 1978). The family is at the hub of most phenomena that represent cultural continuity, such as social organization, religion, and ritual; it is the repository of specific cultural beliefs and practices and a primary source of cultural meaning.

Moreover, the family is shaped by continuities and discontinuities in cultural history, and by disruptions to the ongoing fabric of everyday life, such as those caused by slavery, war, civil unrest, economic scarcity, and migration (Becker, 1997; Becker & Beyene, 1999, Becker et al., 2000; Elder, Rudkin, & Conger, 1995). Most ethnic groups in the United States have a cultural history that encompasses disruptions that have intervened in the personal history of families and somehow affected generational continuity, such as slavery, warfare, or migration. Such events have directly threatened families' cohesion and generational continuity in the present.

The notion of continuity is central to gerontological theories of aging. Throughout much of gerontology's history, theories of continuity have been grounded in a model of life course development that emphasizes "normative" behavior in individuals. Continuity theory (Atchley, 1989) has focused on the individual rather than the family and has been informed by a normative perspective. Subsequently, there has been a shift away from constructs that model normativity to concepts that problematize phenomena and examine them in their fragmented and contingent nature (Becker, 1997). Hence, more recent views of continuity have deconstructed the notion of continuity; in doing so, they have emphasized disruption (Becker, 1993, 1997) and life reorganization (Becker & Kaufman, 1995; Kaufman, 1988; Luborsky & Rubinstein, 1987, 1997).

An alternative approach to continuity theory that has considerable potential for gerontology is to examine efforts to create continuity from the vantage point of disruption (Becker, 1993, 1997). Exploring the ways in which people seek to ameliorate disruptions in their lives and strive to regain a sense of continuity has direct relevance for the study of aging. Even when continuity appears to be present in daily life and people take their sense of continuity for granted, they strive to maintain it, especially in old age (Becker, 1997). Older parents may enhance family solidarity and continuity for all generations (Bengtson et al., 1996). As the family historians, elders have the greatest concerns about a group's cultural history and historic disruptions, as well as with the maintenance of tradition and the continuity of the generations (Keesing, 1992). Elders may be very resistant to social change, combatting change through traditional roles and statuses and working overtime to maintain intergenerational connections.

A widespread assumption is that the family will have continuity through the generations that will override individual discontinuities (Becker, 2000), yet the contemporary family is beset by internal disruptions that threaten family continuity. Job loss, divorce, illness, and death are among the many disruptions that force families to regroup. In her historical study of families, Hareven (1982, p. 370) concluded the family provided continuity: it was both a custodian of tradition and an agent of change. Among persons who have migrated from other societies, threats to continuity lie in cultural and language differences between generations, long-standing separations from loved ones, and changes in younger generations' views of the family. These sorts of threats have far-reaching effects, and in old age they may have major repercussions on elders' lives.

	Methods

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Findings reported in this paper are based on a 10-year qualitative investigation of ethnic minority elders' experiences with chronic illnesses. The sample consists of 270 persons over the age of 50 in four ethnic groups: 59 African Americans, 85 Latinos, 78 Filipino Americans, and 48 Cambodian Americans. Data collection has concluded. See Table 1 for demographic information. Whereas the first 5 years of the investigation concerned the daily life experience of chronic illnesses, the second 5 years focused on daily life in the context of family ties and social support systems. The presence of a chronic illness was not salient to the overall findings presented here because most respondents continued to be fully functional. Chronic illness is therefore not addressed in the findings.

Following key tenets of the in-depth interviewing approach (Spradley, 1979), we focused on respondents' interpretations and meanings of their experiences. Respondents' statements were "reframed" as further questions in the interview, thus following informants' lines of thinking and following their leads (Rubinstein, 1987). Respondents were interviewed five times over a period of several years. 1- to 2-hour interviews were semistructured (i.e., there were some structured questions and many open-ended ones), and they were tape recorded and transcribed verbatim. Topics included experiences with illnesses, relationships with family and friends, and access to health care. Respondents were interviewed in their language of choice by interviewers who were members of the same ethnic group. African Americans were interviewed in English. Latinos and Cambodian Americans were interviewed in Spanish and Khmer, respectively. With the exception of two persons who were interviewed in English, Filipino Americans were interviewed in Tagalog. Interview data collected in Spanish, Tagalog, and Khmer were translated by the interviewer and transcribed into English. Interviewers transcribed interviews they had conducted because of a dearth of trained people who were adequately bilingual to conduct such transcription.

A qualitative content analysis was used (Clark & Anderson, 1967). The data were divided into the four groups and were also divided by gender. Each group was analyzed separately, and then cross-group comparisons were made. A specific procedure was followed, which is presented in abbreviated form here. Core categories that repeatedly reappeared in the data were identified. Selected transcripts were read by the entire team, leading to the development of codes, and followed by successive phases of trial coding until a level of agreement of 95% or more was reached by pairs of coders. A coding lexicon of 97 discrete items was developed, and this was entered into Nudist, a data-sorting software program. The data set was coded for specific topics. Analyses of data coded as family, family support, no support, and reciprocity were used to develop the content for this article. Research questions that drove the data analysis for this article were as follows: How do elders view their roles within the extended family? What kinds of support or assistance do elders provide to family members, and vice versa? Which kinds of support are viewed as important? What cultural values are raised regarding family relationships? What gender differences exist? What are points of tension in family relationships?

	Results

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Ethnic Groups: Similarities and Differences
In all four groups, mutual assistance was a critical element in intergenerational relations, as it represented continuity within the family. Mutual assistance was deeply embedded in the cultural context of family life. The one-directional pattern described frequently in the gerontology literature, of adult children providing support and caregiving to their parents without significant reciprocation, was absent from these findings. Not only were intergenerational relations with children and grandchildren important, but siblings, nieces, nephews, and other relatives contributed to the web of family support. Of the four groups, African Americans had the widest range of extended family relationships, but this difference occurred in part because of migration patterns. In the other groups, many relatives had been left behind in the process of migrating to the United States, but whenever they were present, close ties were found.

Mutual assistance was one reflection of a broader cultural ethos about family relationships to which people in a given group subscribed. The way in which mutual assistance was configured therefore took a somewhat different shape in each group, depending on cultural elements specific to a given group. The portraits of the four groups that follow illustrate how each group's history and ethos led to culturally specific expressions of mutual assistance as a means of maintaining family continuity. There were significant differences between groups in overall approach to mutual assistance and the factors to which they attached greatest importance, although each portrait also illustrates underlying themes of continuity through emotional connectedness and the gendered nature of responsibility to the family.

African Americans: balancing autonomy with the web of family relationships
The high value of the family in African Americans' lives has been linked to cultural survival (Dilworth-Anderson, Burton, & Turner, 1993). Dilworth-Anderson (1992, pp. 29–30) observes that the mutual aid system of extended African American families is rooted in a larger cultural context, in which groups of people were viewed as essential to survival in a hostile and oppressive society; shared meanings and symbols of extended familism in the Black community emerged, in part, in the face of slavery, oppression, and racism. Consequently, family is defined relationally; although most kin are related by blood, fictive kin can be just as important in the family (Dilworth-Anderson, 1992). A large body of work now exists on extended kin relationships among African Americans, which emphasizes, in particular, the supportive nature of these relationships (Chatters & Taylor, 1990; Mitchell & Register, 1984; Shimkin, Shimkin, & Frate, 1978; Stack, 1974).

In this study, African Americans had either migrated from the southern or eastern regions of the United States between 40 and 60 years earlier or grew up in the study locale. The majority of their extended families lived in the area at the time of the study.

Emotional support was highly valued and was multifaceted. Most elders were involved with their kin in an ongoing, often daily, basis. Reports of receiving no support were rare, and everyone had someone they could turn to. Deference was not an expectation of elders; instead, equality was emphasized in family relationships.

A wide variety of kin and fictive kin sustained mutual support networks. Elders not only had ongoing contact with children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, but with siblings, nieces, and nephews, and other kin, as well. For example, one woman whose daughter lived with her enumerated all the other relatives who provided emotional support: "I talk to my daughter-in-law, too. And I talk to my sister. I have a brother in [town]. I can't talk to him too regularly but he's here for me, too. He gives support."

Although some research has reported that African American men have fewer supports than women and are less integrated into social networks (Barker, Morrow, & Mitteness, 1998), this study found that although men's networks were sometimes less extensive, they were nevertheless complex, as a man who was blind reported: "I have an ex-wife. She'll do anything that she can to help me, and I do the same with her. We're friends. My son comes just about every weekend. Anytime I need him or something, I could call him and he'd come. That's his son who lives here with me. My grandson. He sleeps downstairs. And my niece, she's come over a lot of times."

When kin lived in other parts of the United States, respondents reported they kept in touch by phone and visits. They made ample use of the phone to maintain family connections, often talking to kin daily, and even using conference calls for family get-togethers. For example, a man who raised his grandchildren reported on the daily phone calls he received from his granddaughter: "I had my granddaughter who was around here and calling me, and now she has gone to [city 500 miles away]. She calls me everyday."

Elders played a critical role in providing support to younger generations. Mutran (1985) found that elderly African Americans provided more assistance to children and grandchildren than Caucasians did. Women in this study reported they gave emotional support, money, goods, help with rent, care for children and elders, and a place for younger relatives to live, whereas men reported providing emotional support and a place to live, all of which kept emotional connections between family members strong. Women, in particular, reported on the help they gave daughters: "I go up at least once every 2 weeks. I wash her hair, clean the linen closet, straighten. I do it at my leisure. When I go, I've got to shampoo her hair, got to rub her feet, cut her toenails, polish, rub her back, and her husband, too. Forty-five years old!" In return, her daughter offered continual companionship. "‘Mama, come up and give out the Halloween candy,' or ‘Come here and grade this soap for me,’ or it's, ‘Mama, let's go down to [town] for the weekend.’"

Although they were heavily involved in the lives of their extended families, elders subscribed to a high degree of autonomy and sought a balance. One cultural expression of autonomy was type of living arrangements. Of the four groups, African Americans most often lived alone, which was the stated preference of almost all who did.

It was rare for parents to move in with their children, but it was common for children and grandchildren to move in with them. Although these arrangements were sometimes made to provide support for an impaired parent, most often the parent was helping out the child. For example, a woman said, "The only thing I'd like to change is for my daughter to get her own place. She came here last year when she and her old man split up, but she's my daughter and I have to put her up." Parents often provided direct financial support, as well. Another woman was helping her daughter out from afar: "I had to send clothes. I had to send rent money. Now I have to send utility money. It's not working out well, but at least she has finally gotten work."

Latinos: the primacy of emotional interdependence
Familism is a primary value of Latino cultures (Baca Zinn, 1982; Cuellar, 1990; Wallace & Facio, 1987). Among Latinos of Mexican descent, a distinct set of values and behavior emphasizes familismo, compadrazgo, and a collectivist orientation (Segura & de la Torre, 1999). Motherhood and grandmotherhood are cherished (Guendelman, Malin, Herr-Harthorn, & Vargas, 2001; Zepeda, 1979). Most studies show that Latino elders have high status in their families (Carrasquillo-Morales, 1982; Valle & Mendoza, 1978) and are closely tied to their families (Keefe, Padilla, & Carlos, 1979), although there are exceptions to these findings (Beyene, Becker, & Mayen, 2002; Markides, Martin, & Gomez, 1983; Wallace & Facio, 1987).

Three quarters of Latinos in this study immigrated to the United States between 20 and 40 years ago, mostly from Central America. Everyone left behind members of their extended families. Many families have eventually been reunited in the United States, but for most, close relatives remained in the homeland or were scattered around the United States.

Emotional interdependence was the norm through which elders viewed the family. Of the four groups, Latinos most often articulated the importance of feeling emotionally connected to relatives. Elders reported the ideal was to live with or near adult children and other family members who would provide love, attention, respect, and care in old age. For example, one woman said, "Let me tell you that I am a happy mother, because my daughter loves me and cares about me. ‘Why didn't you tell us where you were going? Mom, please understand we worry about you.’ For me, this means the results of my love and dedication to them." Another Latina, asked how often she saw her children, responded, "Everyday. One of them picks me up at noon [that day]. The other one visits me every morning to see how I am doing. They care about me. He tells me, ‘Mom, I can't promise you money because you know my situation.’ I don't care. The love and care is enough for me." Those who were childless frequently reported close ties with relatives, as well. For example, one woman reported, "I have never gotten married. I have nephews. My nephews are like my grand-kids. They care about me."

Older Latinas provided cooking, cleaning, and care for children and incapacitated adults. A woman in her sixties described how her 80-year-old mother continued to take care of her: "When I was healthy, I had responsibilities at home, but now I excuse myself because I'm in pain, so my mother comes and does everything." This woman's four-generation family continued to live together: "We are ten in the family. We live in a two-floor flat. My daughter and her family and me are living downstairs. My mother and my sister are in charge of cooking. During dinner we get together upstairs."

If adult children immigrated to the United States first, they were followed by parents who sometimes lived with them. Sometimes this arrangement worked well, as one woman reported: "I came to visit my family, and then I started to take care of my daughter's kids, take care of the house. I have good memories about everything. My granddaughter loves me a lot. My son-in-law loves me, too. That is a big reward for me." However, such arrangements did not always work out, and underscored, instead, parents' feelings of being displaced. If children did not live up to elders' expectations, it caused a rift in the family: "The only time they call me is to ask me to take care of their kids, but they never call me to ask me how I am doing. At first I cried, but then I got used to being alone."

Of the four groups, Latinos most often reported being displeased with intergenerational relations, although those persons were a minority (25%) compared with those who reported satisfaction. For example, a man said, "One son is a very good person. The other one, he is good for nothing," whereas a woman said, "Can you believe that there is one son living around the corner, and he doesn't even call me? I used to visit him before but now I don't worry about him. I was checking on him all the time but then I realized he is supposed to take care of me so I stopped visiting him."

Of the four groups, the provision of financial support was reported least often among Latinos. Although parents providing financial support to children is not an expectation among Latinos, there is some expectation of receiving financial support from children, an expectation that is frequently unrealized. Asked about this, a woman said, "No, nothing. My kids are ungrateful—well, that is my opinion. I have never begged them. In their own opinion, I have more than them." If adult children show care and concern, however, that is sufficient, as another woman said: "What I learned is that kids have the obligation to support their parents but I give them something from time to time. In this country things are the other way around! But we are hanging in here." Elders did occasionally provide financial support to children, however: "I don't need anything. I just need moral support. I don't need their help. I am the one who helps them."

Filipino Americans: the centrality of providing economic support
Social norms of the Filipino family dictate close family relationships, emotional ties, loyalties, and economic exchange (Williams & Domingo, 1993). Respect, the fundamental basis of social interaction among Filipinos, extends to everyone including parents and older individuals. Filipinos place high value on proper social conduct, which is acquired through practicing avoiding shame (Anderson, 1983). Social norms govern intergenerational assistance (Domingo & Feranil, 1987). Greater social status within the family is accorded to elders in the Philippines when they contribute economically (Williams & Domingo, 1993). Family responsibilities and the promise of greater social status facilitate decisions to immigrate (Becker et al., 2000).

One third of Filipino Americans in this study immigrated over 20 years ago and were permanent residents of the United States. The remaining two thirds immigrated during the past 10 years in order to benefit from citizenship belatedly bestowed upon Filipinos who served in the U.S. Armed Forces during World War II. Those who were in the United States for 20 years or more usually had many children, grandchildren, and other extended kin living nearby in the United States, and they had no plans to return to the Philippines. Approximately half of those who arrived after 1990, however, planned to return home eventually, and in those cases they carried on their intergenerational relations long distance.

Having a big extended family was highly valued as a source of emotional sustenance and mutual support. Elders unanimously reported that their families were supportive. Such support was represented by their ongoing involvement with their children and grandchildren. A woman said, "We were poor and my children are poor but we have a lot of love. If someone gets sick, everyone is there. A woman or man and their wives and in-laws are there taking turns to help." Those who had moved to the United States late in life and left their families behind reported missing them. If they decided to return home to the Philippines, the primary reason given was to be with the family.

An emphasis on providing economic support was particularly marked among Filipino Americans. Of the four groups, they most often attested to their economic contribution to the extended family and anticipated in return that they would receive care in extreme old age. Only two respondents depended on their children for financial support, but many reported comfort in knowing that children would provide help if needed.

In order to send money home, recent immigrants deprived themselves of many comforts. They lived in substandard housing and relied on free meals and clothing to keep living costs low. Their families usually remained in the Philippines, and providing for them from afar was a primary focus of daily life. They were concerned about the poverty in which their children's families sometimes lived, and they put their children's needs ahead of their own. Elders sent boxes of food and clothing to the Philippines frequently. Thousands of such boxes are sent from the United States to the Philippines yearly (Rafael, 2000). A woman reported, "I'm still trying to save money. Can you imagine, that is three boxes. You can't just send one. I still have three girls there." Another woman said, "Our children in the Philippines are always happy when they receive these packages. We have too much food to eat. But over there, they are only poor." Requests for money from relatives who assumed elders living in the United States were financially well off were usually honored.

The emphasis among those whose families were in the United States was on continuing to help their children through hands-on assistance, although parents continued to contribute economically, as well, expecting that children would later care for them. Coresidence of multiple generations was common, creating complex patterns: "Sometimes it's my daughter-in-law [who cooks], sometimes it's my kids, my sister. There are a lot of us. We are overpopulated [in house]. All of the rooms are occupied." Providing child care was also an important part of family connectedness among women and men: "I am the one who raised [son's] three children. They were still small when I made them study. I was very strict with them. I have taken care of many, many grandchildren."

Cambodian Americans: co-residence as validation of tradition
The family is the focus of social life among Cambodians. Cultural moralities focused on the individual as well as on family, face, and honor are entwined with each other, to work in a complementary fashion (Smith-Hefner, 1999). Three values—selflessness, cooperation, and respect—define the Cambodian ideal of being a good person (Hopkins, 1996). Although the Khmer social hierarchy has disintegrated in Cambodia as an outcome of the genocide of the Khmer Rouge (Becker, 2002), the family has withstood this disintegration, placing the family's interest and collective welfare above that of the individual, with sons and daughters being expected to uphold the family's reputation, or face, and to honor and care for their parents in their old age (Smith-Hefner, 1999). There is tension between American individual and material success, and Khmer Buddhism and filial responsibility, as elders worry about the loss of traditional values among the young (Becker & Beyene, 1999; Smith-Hefner, 1999).

Cambodian Americans in this study came to the United States as refugees between 10 and 20 years ago following the genocide of the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia, a period in which their loved ones often died or were separated from them (Becker, 2002; Becker & Beyene, 1999). They came to the United States with the remnants of their families. Elders have worked to maintain the extended family despite language barriers that emerged when young children and grandchildren failed to learn Khmer.

All but 3 Cambodian Americans lived with their children in multigenerational households and considered it to be the norm. Coresidence is the traditional pattern. Living together represented emotional connectedness and reassured elders that traditional Cambodian values were being maintained. A woman proudly described how her children and grandchildren continued to live with her: "I am here with Grandpa and my five children. They are all here in this house. All of my children, they chip in [to pay the rent]. It is so crowded now. We have never been apart."

When the generations did not live together, elders worried about the possible dissolution of the family. A woman who was raising her 11-year-old granddaughter alone, worried that her granddaughter, like her mother, would reject Cambodian values and become too Americanized: "If I tell her, she helps a little because she is small. If she were full grown, I do not know whether she would help me or not. It is hard to say about kids growing up in this country. I am worried about her a lot. I worry about her mother. Now I am worried about her, too."

Typically, older women were responsible for cooking, cleaning, and the oversight of grandchildren while the middle generation worked. One woman said, "I can cook sometimes. I can do the light stuff such as cleaning the house and things like that. The heavy stuff, I cannot. My legs and arms are so painful sometimes." She and her husband did the family grocery shopping together. Older men had their duties, as well. These included watching over the family home and seeing that grandchildren got to school: "I have to take my grandchildren to school and things like that. When I come back, I have to stay home so that Grandma [spouse] can go to her school [learning English]. I can't leave this house without anyone at home watching it." When elders lived with extended kin rather than their children, ties and responsibilities were just as strong.

When impairments prevented elders from carrying out their responsibilities in the family, they continued to maintain a semblance of caregiving. At the same time, when children took over parental responsibilities while demonstrating concern for elders' health, they were viewed as appropriately deferential and a testament to Cambodian culture as enduring. Women were reluctant to relinquish central roles in the household. A woman described how these elements came together: "And if I'm not feeling well, they [daughter and son-in-law] never let me bother with their child. They have him in the playpen. He stays there by himself. I take a mat to sleep outside near him." When women could no longer fulfill their family responsibilities, men took on responsibilities they did not traditionally assume; they were more accustomed to roles elder men held in Cambodia that reflected their high social status, such as family disciplinarian and sage (Becker & Beyene, 1999). When elders did not live with children and grandchildren, with one exception, they had ongoing contact and family responsibilities.

Elders rarely reported feeling completely ignored by their families. In an unusual instance, a woman reported how she felt neglected by her family, resulting in loss of face. Nevertheless, family members came and went, treating her apartment like their own, helping themselves to food: "My kid... I don't want to say it. Her house is just across the street. She never dropped by to see how I was doing. No one dropped by. No one. I am so upset with my children."

Financial assistance from parent to child was expected and was treated as commonplace. Everyone who lived in coresidence turned over their monthly income to their children in order to contribute to monthly rental and mortgage payments. A woman said, "I stay in their house, I pay part of their mortgage payment because usually, when you buy a house in the U.S., no one can pay the whole thing at once. Is that right? And me, whatever I would pay renting outside, I pay my daughter that much."

	Discussion

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This research attests to the centrality of elders in efforts to maintain continuity in family life. The family stands for continuity, the conduit through which tradition is maintained. These portraits of mutual assistance illustrate how family continuity is perpetuated in culturally specific ways. The varied approaches to mutual assistance were shaped by cultural traditions, norms, and expectations, as well as by the threat of disruption to family continuity. As these portraits showed, social exchange is a primary way to maintain continuity.

The family is a social institution vulnerable to change. There are many competing demands on people's time and energy, as well as different expectations about roles in the family. The inroads of social change on the traditional family can be seen especially among those who have migrated to the United States from other societies in recent times, in the disaffection of elders who feel forgotten by their families. When social exchange breaks down, elders suffer from loss of power as expressed through role loss. They become at risk of being isolated from their families. What this research shows is not simply that elders must have a negotiable commodity to exchange, as exchange theory posits, but that they have the flexibility to adjust in old age to changes in the extended family. New roles may be required of them. If the extended family shifts away from cultural values that support traditional family patterns, and if elders cannot respond with flexibility, it may lead to the breakdown of mutual assistance across the generations.

Deference to elders represents the continuity of cultural traditions. In all four groups, cultural expressions of solicitude by children and grandchildren reinforced elders' desire to continue to maintain mutual assistance patterns. Elders who remained connected to their families emerged as a force, whether they functioned as head of the family or as backup support to working children. No matter the precise nature of their assistance, most elders saw themselves as central because of their participation in family life. When traditional cultural values were not reciprocated through deferential behavior by children, however, a breakdown in communication ensued.

Family continuity depends, as well, on the nature and direction of responsibilities within the family. In all four groups, responsibilities within the family provided elders with ongoing status and roles. Although social roles of elders have been described as attenuated in late life (Atchley, 1989; Ferraro, 2001; Rosow, 1973), most persons in this research continued to carry out significant social roles in relation to the family. Those social roles were sources of self-esteem. Although Bengtson and colleagues (1996) have noted that minority elders may be burdened by the number of people for whom they must provide support, in this research contributing to family well-being was not viewed as a burden, but instead represented a culturally meaningful responsibility. Elders took these responsibilities for granted, as part of an accustomed way of life that was known, familiar, and predictable. Elders were invested in mutual assistance because it formed the glue for family relationships. Whether the support they provided was emotional, financial, or hands-on assistance, elders were integral to family life in most cases. When impairments made their continued assistance impossible, they relied on symbolic acts. When elders viewed their children as impeding the maintenance of social roles, however, they felt deprived of their proper place in the family, resulting in loss of self-esteem, alienation from their families, and social isolation. Responsibility to others within the family in later life clearly has a positive effect on elders' role maintenance.

Mutual assistance is gendered according to cultural conceptions of male and female roles and has implications for satisfaction with family relationships and family continuity. Responsibilities and prerogatives of men differed from one group to the next. In each case, men's roles in mutual assistance had an effect on their continued integration in family life. When men demonstrated role flexibility, they were more likely to preserve their social status and sense of continuity, whereas sustained roles for older women were more often ensured by the nature of the assistance they continued to provide within the extended family.

Despite the success of most families in this research in maintaining family continuity, it appears that disruptions, especially those caused by migration, have led to considerable role dissatisfaction for some elders. Disruptions, whether recent or long ago, affect the actions people take to maintain generational continuity as well as the emotional valence of their family relationships. Maintaining continuity of the family in the face of disruptive threats poses a particular challenge for elders. Those who have immigrated from other societies face not only the potential loosening of family bonds, resulting in a possible loss of roles for them in the family, but an even more critical element of life: a sense of loss of their ability to pass on their culture to successive generations. Having survived the disruption of departure from the homeland, sometimes under conditions of extreme duress, in old age they face the threat of a greater disruption: the loss of those dearest to them through changes in the family. It comes as little surprise, then, to see how elders work to maintain their connectedness within the family. Those who have little family make the most of the family they do have. Even those who register dissatisfaction with family relationships rarely walk away from their families completely. Instead, most elders continue to focus on relatives who do express care and concern for them.

What merits more attention in gerontology is the persistence and intricacy of close-knit intergenerational ties despite the disruptions that families weather. Most of the elders in this research have complex and intimate relationships with their children, grandchildren, and other kin that shape their days, provide emotional sustenance and social roles, and affect how they view the continuity of the family. This research thus shows that when social exchange operates effectively, it is a primary way through which elders create continuity.

	Acknowledgments

 
This research, "Cultural Responses to Illness in the Minority Aged," Grant 4 R37 AG11144, was supported by the National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health.

We thank Anneliese Butler, Leilani Canalita, Pauline Ken, Kumiko Shimizu, and Philippa Strelitz for their dedicated work on this project.

	Footnotes

 
Decision Editor: Charles F. Longino, Jr., PhD

Received for publication August 29, 2002. Accepted for publication November 1, 2002.

	References

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