By Robert Preidt
American parents are more likely than European parents to have conflicts with their adult children, finds a new study.
Researchers examined parent-adult child relationships in six countries (England, Germany, Israel, Norway, Spain and the United States) and found that most older parents had relatively conflict-free, affectionate relationships with their adult children.
For example, about 75 percent of parents in England had “amicable” relationships with their adult children, compared to 51 percent in the United States and 49 percent in Germany.
But they found significant differences among the countries in how affection and conflict are likely to interact in these intergenerational relationships.