Contrary to popular belief, older people generally do not want to live with their children. Moreover, most adult children (26)_____ every bit as much care and support to their aging parents as was the case in the “good old days”, and most older people do not feel (27)_____.
About 80 of people 65 years and older have living children, and about 90 of them have (28)_____ contact with their children. About 75 of elderly parents who don’t go to nursing homes live within 30 minutes of at least one of their children.
However, (29)_____ having contact with children does not guarantee happiness in old age. In fact, some research has found that people who are most involved with their families have the lowest spirits. This research may be (30)_____, however, as ill health often makes older people more (31)_____ and thereby increases contact with family members. So it is more likely that poor health, not just family involvement, (32)_____ spirits.
Increasingly, researchers have begun to look at the quality of relationships, rather than at the frequency of contact, between the elderly and their children. If parents and children share interests and values and agree on childrearing practices and religious (33)_____, they are likely to enjoy each other’s company. Disagreements on such matters can (34)_____ cause problems. If parents are angered by their daughter’s divorce, dislike her new husband, and disapprove of how she is raising their grandchildren, (35)_____ are that they are not going to enjoy her visits.
