Judith R. Smith, Ph.D, LCSW, is a licensed certified social worker and Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Social Service, at Fordham University, New York City. For over 40 years, her clinical and research focus has been on parenting, focusing on the effects of poverty on young children and their mothers. She is an emerging leader in feminist gerontology research. In this interview, HealthCetera host Barbara Glickstein interviews Dr. Smith on her latest research examining elder abuse in mother’s with difficult children in low-resource families published in the November 2015 Journal of Elder Abuse and Neglect, “Expanding Constructions of Elder Abuse and Neglect: Older Mother’s Subjective Experiences.
She discusses the issues facing healthy women 62 and older, who have adult children who require (or have required) financial, emotional or residential support. Very little is known about the experience of extended parenting responsibilities in later-life. Being the mother of an adult child who is unable to be self-sufficient is a strain on families and one that is often kept hidden, due to the shame and stigma associated with being the mother of a child who is unsuccessful or “off-time” in their adult development.
Tune into HealthCetera Thursday, August 18 at 1:00 PM on WBAI 99.5 FM wbai.org to hear this interview or listen to the interview on our iTunes channel here:
