The relationship between parents' end-of-life planning and adult children's end-of-life planning

Abstract

The increased incidence of chronic illness provides time for older adults to express their wishes for medical treatment at the end of their lives and their estate settlement after their deaths, a process called end-of-life (EOL) planning, but significant gaps in rates of EOL planning completion remain. Using public use data from the 2003 wave of the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS), this study explores bereaved adult children's (<italic>n</italic> = 1,199) EOL planning in the context of a deceased parent's EOL planning. This study uses Rettig's family decision-making theory foundation and the dependent variable incorporates both medical and financial EOL planning measures. Hierarchical regression results indicate that household net worth, parent's completion of a living will before death, and adult children's avoidance of death ideation explain the greatest proportion of variance in adult children's EOL planning, among variables included in the study. Practitioners can use this information to close accessibility gaps due to net worth differences, advocate for a more unified approach to EOL planning, and shift the focus of discussions of death from the death itself to a life well lived.