Negotiating family relationships: Dementia care as a midlife developmentaltask

This article Is based on interviews with a 44-year-old woman who exemplifie d the concepts of filial anxiety and filial maturity. These two concepts we re initially defined by Blenkner in 1965, but more recently they were devel oped into a conceptual framework for understanding adult child caregiving r esponsibilities. The process of becoming "finally mature" is one of grievin g, mourning, and letting go of previously secure rules and regulations abou t relationships with parents. This adds to a previously mandated imperative of developmental tasks that one must face at midlife (e.g. dealing with mo rtality). Augmenting these midlife tasks, parent care can be defined as a p ositive, growth-enhancing experience, versus the burden-stress model that h as previously characterized this experience.