When Out-of-Town Relatives Visit

In questionnaire and interview reports of visits to or from out of town relatives, perceived benefits of the visits were on the average quite high and perceived tensions quite low. Visits involved considerable eating and talking and were typically of short duration, with private sleeping quarters for visitors. The most common visit was of adult offspring to parents. Parents enjoyed these visits more than offspring. During visits focussed on a family member's serious illness or death, reported tensions were extraordinarily low and valuing of the visit was extraordinarily great, apparently due to the social supports family members provided one another at such times and the insignificance of the frustrations of visiting when compared to the weightiness of serious illness or death.