Untitled Document

Research

Jan Steven Greenberg

Ph.D., University of Minnesota
Professor, School of Social Work, and
The Waisman Center
greenberg@ssc.wisc.edu
http://socwork.wisc.edu/new_web/?q=node/93

Aging Families Caring for Adult Children with Mental Illness

Over the past decade, I have been investigating the unique challenges faced by aging families of persons with mental illness and identifying those psychological and social resources most helpful in coping with these challenges. This research has been funded by the National Institute of Mental Health [NIMH] since the early 1990s. With this support, I have completed two major studies of families coping with mental illness. In a survey of over 1000 Wisconsin families caring for a relative with a severe and persistent mental illness, we documented the importance of professionals involving family members as collaborators in the treatment process. We found that family members had lower levels of distress when professional care providers involved them as partners in their relative's treatment and provided family members with education about mental illness and its treatment, and advice about how to manage their relative's difficult behaviors.

The second study, conducted in collaboration with Dr. Marsha Mailick Seltzer (UW-Madison) and Dr. Marty Krauss (Brandeis University), has been to investigate differences in the mental health of aging parents caring for an adult child with mental illness and of those caring for an adult child with developmental disabilities. We found that parents caring for a child with mental illness experienced elevated levels of depression and caregiver burden, and greater pessimism about their child's future care than parents caring for an adult son or daughter with mental retardation. This study led to new insights into the differential effectiveness of coping and social support across different caregiving contexts. Dr. Seltzer and I, along with our colleague Dr. Frank Floyd, at Georgia State University, are continuing this comparative line of caregiving research in a newly-funded NIA study using data being collected in the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS). Our research will investigate how life course attainment in education, occupation, marital, and childbearing domains diverges when parents have long-term caregiving responsibilities for an adult child with a disability. In addition, we will investigate the impact of lifelong caregiving on parental mental and physical health during the transition to retirement.

In collaboration with Dr. Marsha Seltzer, I am presently conducting a five-year, NIMH-funded longitudinal study of aging parents caring for an adult son or daughter with schizophrenia. This study examines the long-term toll that coping with mental illness takes on parental and family well-being. It also explores the involvement of and the effects on the lives of siblings when aging parents are no longer able to remain in a primary caregiving role.

Representative Publications
Aschbrenner, K.A., Greenberg, J.S., & Seltzer, M.M. (In Press) Parenting an adult child with bipolar disorder in later life. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease.

Ghosh, S., & Greenberg, J.S. (In Press) Aging fathers of adult children with schizophrenia: The toll of caregiving on their mental and physical health. Psychiatric Services.

Seltzer, M.M., Almeida, D.M., Greenberg, J.S., Salva, J., Stawski, R.S., Hong, J., & Taylor, J.L. (2009). Psychosocial and biological markers of daily lives of midlife parents of children with disabilities. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 50(1), 1-15.

Smith, L. E., Hong, J., Seltzer, M. M., Greenberg, J., Almeida, D. M., & Bishop, S. (2009). Daily experiences among mothers of adolescents and adults with ASD. Journal of Autism & Developmental Disorders, DOI 1.1007/s10803-10009-10844-y [Epub ahead of print].

Seltzer, M. M., Greenberg, J. S., Hong, J., Smith, L. E., Almeida, D. M., Coe, C., et al. (2009). Maternal cortisol levels and behavior problems in adolescents and adults with ASD. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. DOI 10.1007/s10803-009-0887-0. 2009 Nov 5. [Epub ahead of print].

Ha, J.H., Hong, J., Seltzer, M.M., & Greenberg, J.S. (2008). Age and gender differences in the well-being of midlife and aging parents with children with mental health problems or developmental disorders: Report of a national study. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 49, 301-316.

Seltzer, M.M., Greenberg, J.S., Orsmond, G.I., Lounds, J., & Smith, M.J. (2008). Unanticipated lives: Inter- and intra-generational relationships in families with children with disabilities. In A. Booth, A. Crouter, S. Bianchi, & J.A. Seltzer (Eds.), Intergenerational caregiving. Washington, DC: Urban Institute Press.

Taylor, J.L., Greenberg, J.S., Seltzer, M.M., & Floyd, F. (2008). Siblings of adults with mild intellectual deficits or mental illness: Differential life course outcomes. Journal of Family Psychology, 22, 905-914.

Smith, L.E., Greenberg, J.S., Seltzer, M.M., & Hong, J. (2008). Symptoms and behavior problems of adolescents and adults with autism: effects of mother-child relationship quality, warmth, and praise. American Journal on Mental Retardation, 113(5), 387-402.

Smith, M.J., & Greenberg, J.S. (2008). Factors contributing to the quality of sibling relationships for adults with schizophrenia. Psychiatric Services, 59, 57-62.

Taylor, J.L., Greenberg, J.S., Seltzer, M.M., & Floyd, F. (2008). Siblings of adults with mild intellectual deficits or mental illness: Differential life course outcomes. Journal of Family Psychology, 22(6), 905-91.

Shattuck, P.T., Seltzer, M.M., Greenberg, J.S., Orsmond, G.I., Bolt, D., Kring, S., Lounds, J., & Lord, C. (2007). Change in autism symptoms and maladaptive behaviors in adolescents and adults with an autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 37(9), 1735-47.

Smith, M., & Greenberg, J.S. (2007). Sibling relationships matter: The effect of the quality of sibling relationships on the life satisfaction of adults with schizophrenia. Psychiatric Services, 58, 1222-1224.

Smith, M., Greenberg, J.S., & Seltzer, M.M. (2007). Siblings of adults with schizophrenia: Expectations about future caregiving roles. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 77, 29-37.

Park, Hwa-Ok, H., & Greenberg, J.S. (2007). Parenting grandchildren. In J. Blackburn, C. Dulmus, & C.N. Hoboken (Eds.), Handbook of gerontology: Evidence-based approaches to theory, practice, and policy (pp. 397-425). New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Greenberg, J.S., Knudsen, K.,& Aschbrenner, K.A (2006). Prosocial family processes and the quality of life of persons with schizophrenia. Psychiatric Services, 57, 1771-1777.

Greenberg, J.S., Seltzer, M.M., Hong, J., & Orsmond, G. (2006). Bidirectional effects of expressed emotion and behavior problems and symptoms in adolescents and adults with autism. American Journal on Mental Retardation, 111, 229-249.

Test, M.A., Greenberg, J., Long, J., Brekke, J., & Senn-Burke, S. (2005). The construct validity of a measure of subjective satisfaction with life of adults with serious mental illness. Psychiatric Services, 56, 292-300.

Greenberg, J.S., Seltzer, M.M., & Brewer, E. (2005). Caregivers to older adults. In B. Berkman & S. D�Ambruoso (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of social work in aging. Oxford University Press.

Greenberg, J.S., Seltzer, M.M., Krauss, M.W., Chou, R., & Hong, J. (2004). The effect of quality of the relationship between mothers and adult children with disabilities: The mediating role of optimism. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 74(1), 14-25.

Chen, F.P., & Greenberg, J.S. (2004). Caregiving gains in family care for people with mental illness. Community Mental Health, 40, 423-435.

Seltzer, M.M., Greenberg, J.S., Floyd, F.J., & Hong, J. (2004). Accommodative coping and well-being of midlife parents of children with mental health problems or developmental disabilities. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 74(2), 187-195.

Greenberg, J.S. (2002). The role of fathers in the lives of their sons and daughters with mental illness. In B. J. Kramer & E.H. Thompson (Eds.), Men as caregivers: Theory, research, and service implications. New York: Springer.

Seltzer, M.M., Greenberg, J.S., Floyd, F., Pettee, Y., & Hong, J. (2001). Life course impacts of parenting a child with a disability. American Journal of Mental Retardation, 106(3), 265-286.

Li, L.W., Seltzer, M.M., & Greenberg, J.S. (1999). Change in depressive symptoms among daughter caregivers: An 18-month longitudinal study. Psychology and Aging, 14, 206-218.

Seltzer, M.M., & Greenberg, J.S. (1999). The caregiving context: The intersection of social and individual influences in the experience of family caregiving. In C.D. Ryff & J. Marshall (Eds.), The self and society in aging process. New York: Springer.

Krauss, M.W., Greenberg, J.S., & Seltzer, M.M. (1999). Aging in adults with developmental disabilities and severe and persistent mental illness. In J.J. Gallo, J. Busby-Whitehead, P.V. Rabins, R.A. Silliman, J.B. Murphy, & W. Reichel (Eds.), Reichel's care of the elderly: Clinical aspects of aging. New York: Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins.

Greenberg, J., Seltzer, M.M., Krauss, M.W., & Kim, H.W. (1997). The differential effects of social support on the well-being of aging mothers caring for adult children with disabilities. Family Relations, 46, 383-394.

Greenley, J.R., Greenberg, J., & Brown, R. (1997). Measuring quality of life: A new and practical survey instrument. Social Work, 42, 244-254.

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