An examination of the trajectory of the adult child's caregiving for an elderly parent

Study objective was to delineate stages in filial Pole development from rec ognition of responsibility to provision of help. Fifty-three adult child-el derly parent pairs reported on parent health status and child filial behavi ors. Child concern was unrelated to parent health status; urging parent to modify health was moderately related to health status; child's action to pr ovide help was related only to parent's functional adequacy (p < .05). Pair members' reports agreed most strongly regarding functional adequacy.