Exchange of Emotional Support Between Adult Children and their Parents and the Children’s Well-being

The present study examined the associations between exchanges of emotional support of Israeli adult children with their parents, their emotional bond with their parents, and the children’s well-being.

A self-report survey was administered to 1013 participants aged 21–45 (72.8% female, 49.5% students, and 55.7% of whom lived with their parents) that reported on their relationships with their mothers and fathers. Structural equation models tested the relationships of the participants with their mothers and fathers separately.

The emotional bond contributed directly to the emotional support received from each parent and to the children’s positive well-being but not to the emotional support given to each parent. The latter association was dependent on the emotional support received from each parent. The results also showed that emotional support given to each parent made a stronger contribution to children’s positive well-being than emotional support received from each parent.

Adult children’s emotional support given to their parents made a stronger contribution to the positive well-being of these children than emotional support received from their parents. Providing parents with emotional support may contribute to a sense of reciprocity and connectedness that positively relates to adult children’s positive well-being. Further studies are recommended to examine emotional support exchange of adult children and their parents in other countries and cultural contexts as well as to compare the reports of both children and parents on their relationships.