Glenna Spitze's Research Projects

Adult Sibling Relationships

• This project examines relationships among adult siblings, using data from the National Survey of Families and Households on patterns of contact, closeness, and help given and received from siblings. It will also involve examination of the effects of sibsize on adult lives.

Social Network Influences on Illness Self-Management

• The purpose of this research is to explore the influence of family and friends on older adults' self-management of three chronic illnesses.

Aging Parents and Adult Children

• This project uses two waves from the National Survey of Families and Households to study relations between adult children and their aging parents. We have analyzed how adult children’s coresidence relates to quality of parent-child and marital relations, and are beginning to examine the connections among parents’ relationships with multiple adult children.