ABSTRACT
Students of the family usually concentrate their attention on the conjugal nuclear family, the family of husband and wife and their chi ldren. Studies of dat ing and courtship, early marriage, and patterns of ch i ld - rearing are routinely reported i n the literature. W h i l e some few scholars have considered family life i n the so-called "empty nest pe r iod , " the time when chi ldren are grown and have left the parental home, these analyses almost invar iab ly assume that association between parents and adult ch i ldren is negligible dur ing this period.
