Research documents high levels of instrumental, financial, and expressive support exchanges within multigenerational families in the 21st century. The COVID‐19 pandemic poses unique challenges to support exchanges between the generations; however, the pandemic may provide opportunities for greater solidarity within families. In this review, we draw from theoretical perspectives that have been used to study family relationships to understand the implications of the pandemic for multigenerational families: the life course perspective, the intergenerational solidarity model, and rational choice/social exchange theory. We review literature on multigenerational relationships in the United States and discuss how established social support patterns and processes may be altered by the COVID‐19 pandemic. We reflect on how the impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic on multigenerational relationships may vary by gender, race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. Finally, we provide directions for future researchers to pursue in order to understand the lasting impacts of the COVID‐19 pandemic on multigenerational ties.

中文翻译：

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面对 COVID-19 大流行，多代人的社会支持

研究记录了 21 世纪多代家庭之间高水平的工具性、经济性和表达性支持交流。COVID-19 大流行对支持代际交流提出了独特的挑战；然而，这一流行病可能为家庭内部加强团结提供机会。在这篇综述中，我们借鉴了用于研究家庭关系的理论视角，以理解大流行对多代家庭的影响：生命历程视角、代际团结模型和理性选择/社会交换理论。我们回顾了有关美国多代关系的文献，并讨论了 COVID-19 大流行可能如何改变既定的社会支持模式和流程。我们思考了 COVID-19 大流行对多代关系的影响如何因性别、种族、民族和社会经济地位而异。最后，我们为未来的研究人员提供了研究方向，以了解 COVID-19 大流行对多代关系的持久影响。