Developing and maintaining intergenerational relationships in an economically vulnerable community: findings from the Flint women’s study

ABSTRACT Few studies describe how community disadvantage impacts intergenerational relationships. Using interviews with women and service providers (n = 100), we explored benefits and challenges of intergenerational relationships in Flint, Michigan, an economically vulnerable community. Women valued relationships that increased social connections and generativity; however, few community resources promoted such relationships. Intergenerational relationships were important for leaving a social legacy in lieu of a meaningful economic legacy. Some middle-aged women are overwhelmed by caregiving, balancing employment while caring for multiple generations. Women desired intergenerational activities that include children and younger adult women. Further, caregiving programs should attend to the needs of middle-aged caregivers.


Introduction
There is a growing body of literature that seeks to examine the impact of intergenerational relationships on older adults. Most studies focus on grandparent caregiving, which often takes place in the form of either raising grandchildren in the absence of parents, providing support to parents within a multigenerational household, or providing childcare while living elsewhere (Statham, 2011). In quantitative studies, there have been mixed findings on the impact of grandparent caregiving on grandparents' health and well-being depending on the structure of the caregiving relationship. The literature on raising grandchildren in the absence of the child's parents has largely been linked to poor grandparent health-related outcomes (Hayslip et al., 2019). On the other hand, grandparents who spend time with their grandchildren, but do not serve as primary caregivers, report positive healthrelated outcomes (Hughes et al., 2007;Sneed & Schulz, 2019).
Aside from grandparent caregiving, the literature also indicates that other types of intergenerational relationships can be beneficial. Erickson's theory of generativity suggests that older adults have a strong desire to transfer care, knowledge, and wisdom to younger generations (Erikson, 1982). This desire for generativity often motivates social engagement in late life through activities such as mentoring, volunteer work, and continued employment. Several studies suggest that giving back to others is a key component of successful aging. Productive, generative social engagement has been linked to a range of positive health outcomes for older adults, including fewer functional limitations, less cognitive decline, and better self-rated health (Gottlieb & Gillespie, 2008).
The purpose of the current study is to explore how intergenerational relationships operate within Flint, Michigan, a majority-minority city that (in the last 50 years) has endured economic disinvestment that has resulted in high rates of unemployment, poverty, and violent crime. Historically, Flint is an industrial city whose local economy once relied heavily on the automotive industry. As the birthplace of General Motors, Flint was once the second largest city in Michigan, with a population that peaked at almost 200,000 in 1960 (Hollander, 2010). Flint has lost more than half of its population since then, and with that loss has come the loss of many resources, such as food outlets and community programs, that may impact intergenerational relationships.
Social relationship quality may be particularly important in economically distressed communities. In the absence of significant financial resources, individuals tend to rely more heavily on their social relationships and social capital to achieve goals, sustain their existing lifestyles, and procure tangible resources. Several studies suggest that high social capital (in the form of close relations and tight-knit communities) can attenuate the negative effects of low socioeconomic status (SES) on health-related outcomes (Uphoff et al., 2013). Thus, understanding how individuals develop and maintain social relationships is particularly important in low SES communities.
In this paper, we report on how older Flint residents benefit and/or experience challenges related to establishing and maintaining intergenerational relationships, which we define as any relationships that exist between people not born in the same generation. In most cases, these include relationships between older people (age 65+) and children, but they can also include relationships between older people and younger adults. Further, we explore how Flint's historical and current social/economic status may shape the nature of intergenerational relationships among Flint residents.
We are particularly interested in evaluating perspectives on intergenerational relationships among older women of Flint. Women are more involved in grandparent caregiving than men, serving more often as primary caregivers and as secondary caregivers in support of their adult children. Although only 54% of the U.S. population over age 50 is female, two-thirds of grandparents living with their grandchildren are women (U.S. Census Bureau, 2017). Further, of the 2.7 million grandparent-headed households in the United States in 2013, 1.7 million were headed by grandmothers (U.S. Census Bureau, 2017). Additionally, the literature suggests that there are substantial differences in the structural and functional aspects of social relationships between men and women. Women are typically expected to manage more social roles than men, which may lead to significant role conflict. Further, given that women live longer than men, older women experience bereavement at greater frequency than men, which may have implications for their social lives as they get older.
To address this topic, we analyzed data from the Flint Women's Study, a qualitative community-based participatory research (CBPR) project conducted in 2018 in Flint, Michigan (Hailemariam et al., 2020). One hundred women and human service providers who live or work in Genesee County (where Flint is located) were recruited and interviewed using a community-partnered model that included both academic research staff and community members. Information about intergenerational relationships was gleaned from coding and transcription of study interview data.

Research design
The current study is a secondary qualitative analysis of data collected from the 2018 Flint Women's Study (Hailemariam et al., 2020), a community-based participatory research (CBPR) project designed to elicit perspectives on the unmet needs, challenges, strengths, and solutions of women in the Flint community.

Data collection
The current study utilizes data from the Flint Women's Study (Hailemariam et al., 2020). The Flint Women's Study utilized data from one hundred women and human service providers serving women (mean age 48; age range 18-84; 52% African-American, 41% White, and 7% Other Race) who either lived or worked in Flint, Michigan and its surrounding county (Genesee County). Individuals were recruited to participate in a 60-90-minute in-depth, semi-structured interview at the site of their choice utilizing an interview guide created by academic and community partners. After informed consent, participants were interviewed by academic research staff trained in clinical interviewing techniques. All interviews were conducted in 2018 over a nine-month period. Interviews were audiorecorded, transcribed verbatim by a professional team, and de-identified prior to coding. The Flint Women's Study was approved by the Michigan State University Institutional Review Board (IRB) as well as the Flint Community Ethics Review Board (CERB) (Key, 2017).

Coding and data analysis
After transcription, framework analysis was used for data reduction and analysis. A main framework introduced in the early stages of the research was used to guide data management and analysis. Interviews were coded by 5 pairs of trained academic and community partner coders (Hailemariam, 2020). The "Belongingness theory" framework (Shevellar et al., 2014) was used to categorize the needs, hopes, assets, and solutions of women in the domains of personal, interpersonal and community/macro level codes. The three dimensions of belongingness framework used for coding in the Flint Women's Study included (1) belonging to self (i.e., basic needs and ability and resources to reach one's goals); (2) belonging to others, and (3) belonging to something greater than self (including meaning, purpose, etc.). Each of these dimensions served as a main theme within the data set. Subthemes were then created under each of the main themes. Additionally, specific populations were double-coded within the dataset, including older women, pregnant women, and young women (among others). All data management and analyses were conducted using NVivo 11. For the current study, we created a separate code to capture a subtheme for grandparent caregiving, which was created within the "belonging to others" theme. Additionally, we identified mentions of intergenerational relationships evaluated data within the subtheme created for older women.

Social connection and reduced isolation
Several study participants reported that having relationships with individuals from younger generations would improve social connections and reduce social isolation for older women. One participant mentioned poor physical health as a cause of isolation for older women. Commenting on her motherin-law, she said, "I think in particular my mother-in-law's lonely. She isn't healthy enough to do many of the things that she used to do and isn't able to get around as much and so in turn becomes isolated" (age 52, male, workforce development trainer).
Participants often commented that social isolation was common for retired women. One participant said: "A lot of people that are retired, they're pretty much just staying at home and not really getting out" (age 47, female, domestic violence worker). Another reported that, in the absence of social interactions "they sit at home and they get depressed or they just wither away" (age 63, female, retiree).
In addition to retirement, participants reported that social transitions (e.g., bereavement, relocation, and children leaving the home) also reduced the size and quality of older women's social networks. One participant said: Your kids go off, get married, have families they have to raise and they're running all over and stuff like that. I think the older people, women and men, too, actually, need the interaction and comraderie of other humans in general. (age 63, female, retiree) Another participant elaborated further, describing the difficulty of forging friendships as an older woman due to various social transitions.
They need friendships. They need social outlet. Because as women get older, their friends move. They retire. They move. They pass away. It's more difficult, as you get older, to make new friends . . . my mother is 83. All of her friends have either moved or passed away. Her peer group within the family has also passed away. It gets more challenging for older women to connect within another social group, if they're not already deeply embedded in another organization, such as a church family or a volunteer group that they have stayed connected with for long periods of time. (age 62, female, healthcare provider and grandmother) Participants suggested that relationships with people from younger generations might increase vitality among older women, encouraging them to be socially active when they might not be otherwise. One participant described an older woman who volunteers with her through a local program, saying: One of the volunteers-and she's the one that is really running with the idea-she's like 75, I think. Seventy-five, 76, but she loves coming around, talking to young students, especially young, female students. One of the things she constantly says is, "You guys keep me young," because of course, you have to be active. You can't just sit around and say, "Oh, I'm old now. I don't wanna do anything." (age 29, female, college student and preschool mentor)

Feeling valued
A common theme mentioned by participants was older women's desires to feel valued. In some instances, participants reported that older women often felt like they were viewed as less valuable after retirement. One participant said, "I think a lotta times, they feel like they've been forgotten, especially after they retire" (age 39, female, Chamber of Commerce employee).
In particular, older women may feel less valuable because of their health status. One women commented, "Because I think a lot of older people just think that they're a burden now that they're dependent. It's not that way at all" (age 29, female, autism behavioral technician).
Participants expressed that it was important to make older women feel valuable. One participant said: Oh, you've been a mom or you've had your career, you don't stop having important things to say. You still can be a great part of our community and just connecting them with-to let them know that they're still needed and still valued in our community and a great asset. (age 39, female, postpartum support group member) Another participant offered a similar comment, saying: They want to contribute. They want to be of help. They still want to be recognized, not referred to as senior citizens . . . I mean in terms of the way people treats them, like, "Oh, you're so old, we probably can't get much out of you," but they still have a lot to offer. (age 29, female, college student & preschool mentor) In such instances, having relationships with younger people provided them with the opportunity to feel valued and make meaningful contributions to society. When asked about the kinds of relationships that made older women feel valuable, relationships with younger people were frequently cited. One participant said: " . . ..older women that I know wanna spend more time around grandkids or some young people. I feel like that's a great opportunity that we don't really take advantage of" (age 38, female, neighborhood group president).
One woman commented that older people were particularly valuable to individuals who may not have parents or grandparents of their own. She said: Because there are so many people-like I said, both of my parents are gone. My daughter, she only has my husband's parents as grandparents. We wanna get her into volunteering in some of the assisted living homes and stuff like that, so she's around older people, cuz they have so much value still. (age 39, female, postpartum support group member)

Generativity and leaving a legacy
The concept of generativity was also described by participants. Several women reported that participating in intergenerational relationships provided older women with the opportunity to "give back" to future generations, which was desirable. Several participants commented on older women's desires to impart their wisdom and knowledge upon younger generations. One participant said: I mean, they don't lose that longing to help or be involved with kids. I mean, some never-not necessarily want to be around children, but as far as mentoring and still being in the schools and giving that knowledge and life experience to others. Not even just children, but even just women younger than themselves. (age 39, female, postpartum support group member) Another participant echoed these sentiments, saying that older women valued giving back to younger people much more than engaging in other types of social activities: Older women want the opportunity to be able to impart their wisdom and knowledge to younger women . . . They've got all of this knowledge. They've got all of these skills, life skills, life experiences . . ..they just want people to learn their experiences. I think a lotta times they're forgotten. We've got community centers for older women to go to, but is that really what they want? Do they wanna go play bridge hours a day on end? I don't think so. I think they want the opportunity to share what they've learned in their life with other people. I just don't see that as somethin' that's available. (age 39, female, Chamber of Commerce employee) Participants wanted to dispel the notion that older women wanted less engagement after retirement. Rather, they wanted to serve their communities after retirement. One participant said, "Everybody's not retiring and moving away and going to have that wonderful life some place. There's a lot of women who retire, and they want to be of service" (age 72, female, community volunteer).
Many participants described participating in intergenerational relationships as an opportunity for older women to leave a meaningful legacy behind. One participant said, "I think older women really want to know that their life has not been in vain, that they're able to leave something behind for someone else to pick up and carry or to better" (age 46, female, pastor and community leader).
She went on to say: Older women, to me, need help building legacy. They need help making sure that they have something to leave behind and how they're next-the sisters that's coming behind them can take the mantle or the torch further. By building legacy and help building legacy, they need to have their stories told, their experiences, right, wrong, or indifferent shared, but also is rest. (age 46, female, pastor and community leader) This participant also noted that interacting with younger women helped older women to leave behind a meaningful social legacy. She said: [Older women need] a legacy for them to have resources to leave behind for their community. Not just the name on the park bench, but really something that they valued and that they worked hard for, to have that be established and a staple in the community. (age 46, female, pastor and community leader) One participant commented that leaving a meaningful social legacy was particularly important in a community where many older people are not able to leave behind a meaningful economic legacy, describing debt, property taxes, and burial expenses as important barriers to generational wealth. She said: [Older women need] to know that their generation is leaving with the generations after them -the knowledge that they are on the right track. In my community -in the Black community, we cannot seem to leave our young ones any kind of inheritance . . ..We can't even leave 'em a house because we got folk in there that's taxin' us to good high Heaven. They still owe too much money on it 'cause they had to remortgage it two or three times, and there's nothing, absolutely, that we can leave our children except for debt. You have the morticians asking for so much and then, here we are, still falling for that trick to have a $10,000 funeral, $5,000 funeral, which we can't afford in the first place because a lot of us don't have insurance . . ..to have that peace, we need to know that our youth's gonna live a better life than we do, at least one step up, if it's not two steps.
(age 67, female, community volunteer) The desire for intergenerational programming Notably participants described the importance of, not only informal relationships between generations, but also the need for formal intergenerational programming in Flint.
There's a lot of older seniors in our community who have time and a lot of knowledge, and then there's a lot of young people whose parents are gone, so it feels like we should create more spaces that we can do intergenerational activities together. (age 38, female, neighborhood group president) One participant noted that it was sometimes difficult for older women to initiate relationships with younger people, saying "It's hard for them to just go to a young person and say, 'I wanna help you,' so they need that some type of intervening process to do that" (age 72, female, community volunteer).
Because of this barrier, participants expressed the need for formal programs that could link older women to younger women or children. Several participants described intergenerational programs that formerly existed in Flint or programs that they were aware of in other communities. One participant expressed the need for a matching program to connect older women with younger people. Participants commented that older women could be particularly helpful in programs for mothers due to their experience with parenting and caregiving. One participant described her interest in a program in another city where older women interacted with young moms, saying: It's basically like a group of volunteers, and they're trained, but they go into homes of new parents and they help. "Okay, mom, you need to go take a nap. I will watch the baby while you take a nap," or, "Hey, I will vacuum for you or do dishes." I mean, I would love to do that, but I'm sure older women too would still love to be needed and want to feel like they are doing something. (age 39, female, postpartum support group member) Another participant remarked: People, especially people that are older could take the younger women and teach 'em in the system. Don't just talk about 'em and say, "You should've. You don't do this good." Really, "Let me show you how to pack a bag for your baby, so you have diapers with you. You have an extra bottle." (age 42, female, community member)

Challenges associated with intergenerational relationships
The challenges associated with maintaining intergenerational relationships were most often discussed in the context of caring for grandchildren. Many participants reported that older women in Flint were tasked with providing care to minor grandchildren, which often created significant burden.

Primary caregiving for grandchildren
Participants often mentioned that older women in their community had primary responsibility for their grandchildren due to the parent's general immaturity or irresponsibility. Parental incarceration was also mentioned as a factor that played a role in grandparent involvement in childrearing activities. One woman remarked: I've had cousins who've been in and out of the jail system for whatever crime they were committing at that time, so they'd be locked away for five or six years, and grandparents would have to step in. (age 35, female, university employee)

Financial burden
Participants also described significant financial burden associated with their intergenerational caregiving. Most notably, despite not being the official guardians of their grandchildren, grandparents still provide significant financial support to them, often to their own financial detriment. One participant shared: As you get into the grandparenting segment, you're finding a lot of grandparents are raising their grandchildren now. They've been a parent. Now they're a grandparent raising grandchildren and they're on fixed income and aging, so they're having the difficulty of being able to do the math and keep up with the other events as well as their income is being stretched. Sometimes they don't live with them officially, but they're there unofficially all the time, so they've got to make that adjustment in their income to help take care of them. (age 63, female, churchbased youth director) Another participant affirmed this notion and elaborated to suggest that this hardship exists across income levels. She said: . . . they're trying to get food on the

Effects on workforce participation
Some participants also discussed the effects of intergenerational caregiving on workforce participation. In particular, one woman mentioned that caring for grandchildren left many women with financial responsibilities that rendered them unable to retire. One participant said, "I have a couple of employees who work for me who should be retired, but their children live at home and are not working, and they're working to support multiple family households" (age 48, male, probation facility director). The need to support grandchildren financially often means that older women take on additional work in order to sustain their families. One woman commented, "Some of 'em have two and three jobs" (age 63, female, social worker).
Participants also discussed how caring for grandchildren was often in direct conflict with employment responsibilities, sometimes resulting in job loss. Given Flint's history as the home of a leading automotive manufacturer, many women work in factories that have strict attendance policies. One participant noted how employment policies in her workplace were quite different from policies in effect for many women who served as grandparent caregivers. She said: You know for the women that are working here, they have a job in a stable environment, but this place is not the norm in Flint. If you're late because of a family emergency, our request is that you call and let me know. There's no three-strikes-and-you're-out policy or how a lot of the factories are. We have a very tolerant, late/absentee policy that doesn't fly in a lot of other places. (age 33, female, workforce development trainer) Participants also noted that women in Flint become grandparents in their forties, when they are also in their prime earning years. One participant commented: "I started having grandkids when I was 40. Black women [have] grandkids, basically, when they get 40 years old" (63, female, social worker).

Lack of time for self/derailment of personal goals
A challenge commonly cited by study participants was the lack of time for self and derailment of personal goals that often resulted from engagement in intergenerational caregiving activities. One participant said: You're retired. You're thinking you're settled, but now you've got your children coming in. You've got your grandchildren coming in. I think that's another area that-I don't know. I had a lady say she felt like her life had become so complex because she had to take over her grandchildren until she was not able to live her own life anymore. (age 63, female, church-based youth director) Participants discussed how older women who care for grandchildren often become the backbone or "strength" of the family, which may not have been in their life plans after retirement. Ensuring a grandchild's future success, however, often means rethinking life plans. One participant said: Well, just think about Granny being the strength at 70-somethin' years old, which, that is not the plan for a woman in her twilight years, but tends to be the plan of the one that raise the grandchild to, hopefully, make it.

(age 52, male, workforce development trainer)
Participants mentioned the importance of respite periods for grandparent caregivers, as many lack time for managing their own health or for running household errands. When asked about the needs of grandparent caregivers, one participant said: I think [they need] just a break, like respite periods. They have to go to doctors, too, or they have to go to the grocery store. It'd just be nice if they had someone that they can call to come over for four hours here, four hours there, and especially through the night. That's when they have a lotta trouble, too. I think that would take a big burden off of them. (age 32, female, social worker) Another participant made similar comments saying: You tell 'em to go take a break, "This is your time to rest," and they don't feel like they can. It's because I don't think they have enough support at home. That would be great for them to be able to go out, and go to doctors, or the store without having to worry about what's happening at home. (age 32, female, social worker)

Managing grandchildren's traumas and unfamiliar social situations
Participants frequently commented on the difficulties that older women may experience in managing difficult social situations that their grandchildren may face. For example, a few participants described the ways in which older women often care for grandchildren who have past and/or current experiences with psychological and physical trauma. In many instances, grandmothers still care for and manage the traumas of their grandchildren into adulthood. Describing her own grandparent caregiving experience, one woman said: I have one granddaughter that lives with me. She has a lot of medical issues. She has dissociative personality. She was raped by her stepfather when she was at 12 'til the age of 17 when she finally reported him, so she has PTSD, and dissociative, and severe mental issues because of the situation she was in. (age 66, female, retail worker) Another participant spoke similarly when describing the traumas of a (now adult) family friend who had been raised by her grandmother. She said, Another girl, who we had the highest of hopes for, her mother's rights had been terminated. She lived with Grandma. Grandma was very-great grandma! You know what I mean? . . ..retiree, had a nice house. The kid wasn't really wanting financially because Grandma-but the trauma that this girl has suffered over the years is just amazing. We really had high hopes for her . . ..From what I've heard from her cousin is, is that she and her boyfriend got a place. The boyfriend is beating her up. It's just very discouraging. Just these anecdotal kinds of things that I hear over and over again. Participants also talked about grandparents' difficulties in communicating with their grandchildren about difficult social situations. One participant noted that children today often face peer pressures to engage in activities that older women may not have experience with or understand. Consequently, grandmothers might not be able to successfully communicate with their grandchildren about some aspects of their everyday lives. She said: When kids talk about some of the situations that are going on in life now, like the drugs and the different lifestyles, these are things that some of these grandparents have not been accustomed to-being involved when they don't understand what they're going through in the school level, so there's an education that's needed not only for the children to interact with an older person, but for those older people to be able to be familiar with what's going on in this age group. You see things in the newspaper, but if something doesn't touch you directly, sometimes you don't really pay attention, but once it comes home, then you find that 1) you may not know how to deal with it, and 2) there may become more walls and resistance with the kids kind of "you don't understand," which is a common way that they express themselves when they are trying to communicate and they feel that they're not getting through, so "you don't understand" or "you don't listen" so they just shut you out. (age 63, female, church-based youth director)

Caring for multiple generations
Several participants noted that older women cared for minor grandchildren while also providing support to multiple generations. Participants noted that grandparenting may start at young ages (e.g., late 30s or early 40s), meaning that older women are often tasked with the strain of caring for greatgrandchildren. One participant said: . . ..in Flint, if we're not takin' care of our children, we're takin' care of grandkids. Most of my grandkids, I've taken care of them . . ..I'm beat now. I'm beat . . ..Now it's time for me to take care of my great-grands. I don't have no energy . . ..I started having grandkids when I was 40. I've got two great-grands. One is eight months old, and the other one is two years old. (63, female, social worker) In addition to care for minor grandchildren and great-grandchildren, older women often also care for their own elderly parents, their adult children, and even adult grandchildren. One woman said: "There is a lot of generational cohabitating living situations. There's a lot of grandmothers with mothers and children" (age 36, female, investment group CEO). One participant commented on the stress associated with caring for multiple generations, saying "[I'm] Taking care of my 90-year-old mother; I'm trying to take care of my grandchildren. You just feel pulled in a million directions" (age 67, female, community advocate in research and community volunteer).
Assistance provided to these multiple generations often includes assistance with resources like transportation. For example, in describing the support she provided to her adult grandchildren, one woman said: I have two granddaughters that never had a driver's license and they're in their mid-20's. They don't drive so they have to rely on services of some sort to help get them from place to place. It's usually grandma 's taxi, me. (age 66, female, retail worker) Teen parenthood was mentioned as a unique barrier for older women caring for multiple generations. Participants described grandmothers' needs to provide support to their teen daughters, who were illprepared for motherhood. One participant commented on the burden that grandmothers faced in managing their own lives while also supporting their adult daughters in accessing health care services and resources. She noted that grandmothers needed to support their adult daughters in accessing assistance programs while also managing their own lives. She said: Now, there is more burden on the mother because now the mother has to take on more burden because she has to take her daughter everywhere for these [childcare] classes, do all this paperwork for Medicare [sic] or to even get WIC . . ..Now, it's a burden on the mom. Say, what if she's a full-time mom, who is a full-time employee for someone else? Now, it's a burden on her where she's taking on another responsibility because her daughter was irresponsible. (age 47, female, professional photographer and community volunteer) Participants also noted that many women cared for teenage daughters while managing instability in their own lives. One participant noted that her mother had difficulty in caring for a pregnant teenage daughter while also establishing her career as a self-employed individual. She said: My sister was also a teen mother. It was very difficult when that happened for my mom, who is a single mom. At that time, my mom had just received her driver's license, and so she was gettin' out there, explorin' her career, and she barely had clients. It was very difficult with someone bein' self-employed with no benefits. Things like that. We didn't have government assistance. It was very difficult to take on a new child and to care for the pregnant daughter. My mom, she didn't know what to do. (age 35, female, university employee and neighborhood group member) Participants noted a need for support services for older women specifically surrounding teen parenthood, describing emotional difficulties that women may have in navigating such challenging situations. One participant, in describing her mother's difficulty in navigating teen parenthood, said: I think that havin' those support groups with the parents, especially the parents, that's dealin' with their teen daughter expecting. I can see that bein' 100 percent beneficial. Support group or somethin' to talk to them about how to deal with that and let them know that it's not over. It's not over for them. I think my mom thought it was over for her. (age 35, female, university employee and neighborhood group member)

Discussion
Our data suggest that older women in Flint, especially those who are retired, may benefit from developing and maintaining relationships with younger people. Such relationships may provide a sense of purpose, reduce loneliness, provide companionship, and counteract the negative effects of losing other meaningful social connections due to bereavement or relocation. This may be particularly beneficial for those with compromised health status, who may view themselves as burdensome rather than helpful in the lives of others.
Our findings suggest that some older women in Flint want access to resources that can help them to develop these new intergenerational relationships. Programs that can formally connect older women to those younger than them may prove beneficial. Participants noted than many older women lacked confidence in their own ability to establish relationships with younger people. For those women, formal programming could prove beneficial to bridging existing intergenerational gaps. Intergenerational programs that use organized activities to connect older adults to young children have become prominent in the United States over the last 25 years (DeVore et al., 2016). Such activities are known to facilitate sustained connections between older adults and children, which can lead to improvements in older adults' sense of purpose and well-being. Further, the benefits of these programs have been observed across a broad range of older adults, including those with dementia (Baker et al., 2017;Janke et al., 2019) and those living in nursing facilities (Foster, 1997;Hong & Morrow-Howell, 2010). Intergenerational programs that connect older adults to children and adolescents have been well-documented (DeVore et al., 2016). However, there has been limited research on programs that engage older adults in activities with young adults. Our findings suggest that mentoring programs between older and younger adult women might be well-received in Flint.
Conversely, many participants also described negative aspects of intergenerational relationships for older women. For these women, intergenerational relationships existed mostly in the form of caregiving responsibilities. Many participants described the difficulties that older women face in navigating caregiving responsibilities while also maintaining their own lives. These difficulties included derailment of personal goals, lack of time for self-care, difficulties in workforce participation, and financial burden. Some women found themselves to be the primary caregivers for their grandchildren, as their adult children were unable to provide childcare themselves due to incarceration or other difficulties. Other older women found themselves to be informal caregivers for their grandchildren while also caring for their own elderly parents, and the parents of their grandchildren. Additionally, providing support for grandchildren (in some cases) extended beyond adolescence, as grandmothers may provide transportation and other support services to their adult grandchildren. Teen parenthood and management of grandchildren's traumas or unfamiliar social situations were viewed as particularly difficult. Thus, resources to support intergenerational caregiving would likely be of benefit to older women in Flint.
Conversations surrounding the benefits and challenges of intergenerational relationships should be considered in the context of Flint's past and present socioeconomic conditions. Several of the issues highlighted in this study reflect the challenges of residing in a socioeconomically vulnerable community. The desire to leave behind a meaningful social legacy may be particularly important among economically vulnerable older women. Roy and Lucas (2006) found that low income fathers often put greater emphasis on quality time with their children to make up for their poor financial prospects. Such social investment is thought to promote well-being among those who have little control over their socioeconomic prospects (Roy & Lucas, 2006). Likewise, economically vulnerable older women who participate in relationships with younger people may gain satisfaction from being socially generative when economic generativity is not possible.
Our findings suggest that community socioeconomic disadvantage can impact older women's experiences of intergenerational caregiving. For example, given Flint's history as a manufacturing center, employment in the city is often tied to factory work, which has little flexibility for a worker balancing employment and childcare. Further, those who provide care in low-income communities often do so in multigenerational households. Caring for extended family members is common in lowincome communities, as multigenerational living allows families to pool resources in ways that provide a safety net for those who are most economically vulnerable. Some evidence suggests that this strategy is successful. For example, rates of poverty are lower in multigenerational households compared to other types of households (Pew Research Center, 2011). Further, multigenerational living attenuates the negative effects of unemployment on poverty levels, as unemployed adults are less likely to live in poverty when they live in multigenerational versus other types of households (Pew Research Center, 2011). Although this type of living may have economic benefits, it may be stressful when coupled with added caregiving duties. Finally, many of the difficult social situations mentioned in discussions of intergenerational caregiving are characteristic of economically vulnerable communities, including high rates of incarceration (Clear, 2009), childhood trauma (Klest, 2012) and teen pregnancy (Hunter, 2012).
This study had a number of strengths. We analyzed data collected through in-depth interviews of a large sample of Flint residents. Further, our use of a community-based participatory research design helped to ensure that our study participants represented a diverse cross-section of the population. This work, however, is not without limitations. We do not consider how individual-level socioeconomic status (SES; e.g., education, income) might moderate the impact of community SES on intergenerational relationships. We did not specifically collect data on education, income, or occupation from our individual participants, nor did we ask questions specifically about individual SES. It is possible that participants at higher SES levels might experience intergenerational relationships differently, even within a low SES community. Further, although we describe the benefits and challenges of intergenerational relationships for older women, our study sample includes the perspectives of all who participated in the project, including many who were not older women themselves. Future studies should be designed specifically to directly query older women's perspectives on these issues.
Given these data, we make the following recommendations for practice and action. First, practitioners should identify strategies for promoting and sustaining intergenerational programming in community-based settings, as such programming can promote generativity and improve social connection for women who have experienced a loss of social connections due to bereavement and retirement. Second, additional programming to support grandparent caregiving is needed. Such programming should help grandparents to address issues related to children's traumas, teen parenthood, and the social pressures that many grandchildren face. Further, such programs to support grandparent caregiving should not be solely targeted to older women. The average age at first grandchild in the general population is 50 years old (David & Nelson-Kakulla, 2019). However, women in Flint often become grandparents at younger ages. Consequently, programs that support grandparent caregiving should be designed to address many of the challenges that occur during midlife, such as employment-caregiving conflicts and caring for multiple generations. Such programming would likely reduce both the social and economic costs of caregiving.