Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-11T09:00:58.421Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Social mobility, geographical proximity and intergenerational family contact in Sweden

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2008

STEFAN FORS  and
CARIN LENNARTSSON
STEFAN FORS
Affiliation:
Ageing Research Centre, Karolinska Institutet/Stockholm University, Sweden. Department of Social Work, Stockholm University, Sweden.
CARIN LENNARTSSON*
Affiliation:
Ageing Research Centre, Karolinska Institutet/Stockholm University, Sweden.
*
Address for correspondence: Carin Lennartsson, Aging Research Center, Karolinska Institutet/Stockholm University, Gävlegatan 16, SE-11330 Stockholm, Sweden. E-mail: Carin.Lennartsson@ki.se
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This study examined intergenerational family contact. Three questions were considered: Is there a relationship between parent's class, child's class and family contact? Can class-related differences in family contact be explained by differences in geographical distance between parent and child? Is intergenerational family contact affected by children's social mobility? The questions were explored using data from a nationally-representative level of living survey. The results from logistic regressions showed that parent's class as well as the child's class were associated with intergenerational geographical distance and family contact more often than once a week. Those in or retired from non-manual occupations were less likely than manual workers to live close and to have family contact more than once a week. We found no evidence that a change in class position, upward nor downward, had any effect on family contacts. Rather, class-stable non-manual families socialise less frequently than other families, even when they live relatively close. The results therefore suggest that familial class-cohesiveness is a stronger determinant of inter-generational family contacts than social mobility. Future research should address the complex connection between social mobility and other forms of relations and transfers between generations.

Keywords

socio-economic statussocial classsocial mobilityfamily contact
Type
Research Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 28 , Issue 2 , February 2008 , pp. 253 - 270
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andersson, L. 1994. Äldre och äldreomsorg i Norden och Europa [The Aged and Eldercare in the Nordic Countries and Europe]. Ädel-utvärderingen 94:2 [ÄDEL evaluation 94:2], Socialstyrelsen [National Board of Health and Welfare], Stockholm.Google Scholar
Andersson, L. G., Erikson, R. and Wärneryd, B. 1981. Att beskriva den sociala strukturen [To describe the social structure]. Statistisk Tidskrift, 19, 113–36.Google Scholar
Antonucci, T. C., Ajrouch, K. J. and Janevic, M. 1999. Socioeconomic status, social support, age and health. In Adler, N. E., Marmot, M., McEwen, B. S. and Stewart, J. (eds), Socioeconomic Status and Health in Industrial Nations, 896. New York Academy of Sciences, New York, 390–2.Google Scholar
Arber, S. and Ginn, J. 1993. Class, caring and the life course. In Arber, S. and Evadron, M. (eds), Ageing, Independence and the Life Course. Jessica Kingsley, London, 149–68.Google Scholar
Arber, S. and Attias-Donfut, C. (eds) 2000. The Myth of Generational Conflict: The Family and State in Ageing Societies. Routledge, London.Google Scholar
Attias-Donfut, C. and Wolff, F. C. 2000. Complementarity between private and public transfers. In Arber, S. and Attias-Donfut, C. (eds), The Myth of Generational Conflict: The Family and State in Ageing Societies. Routledge, London, 47–68.Google Scholar
Bengtson, V. and Roberts, E. L. 1991. Intergenerational solidarity in aging families: an example of formal theory construction. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 53, 856–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Breen, R. (ed.) 2004. Social Mobility in Europe. Oxford University Press, Oxford.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Broese van Groenou, M. I. and van Tilburg, T. 2003. Network size and support in old age: differentials by socio-economic status in childhood and adulthood. Ageing & Society, 23, 5, 625–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Connidis, I. A. and McMullin, J. A. 2002. Sociological ambivalence and family ties: a critical perspective. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 64, 558–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Daatland, S. O. and Lowenstein, A. 2005. Intergenerational solidarity and the family-welfare state balance. European Journal of Ageing, 2, 174–82.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Erikson, R. 1983. Changes in social mobility in industrial nations: the case of Sweden. Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, 2, 165–95.Google Scholar
Erikson, R. 1984. Social class of men, women and families. Sociology, 18, 500–14.Google Scholar
Erikson, R. and Goldthorpe, J. H. 1992. The Constant Flux: A Study of Class Mobility in Industrial Societies. Clarendon, Oxford.Google Scholar
Fritzell, J. and Lennartsson, C. 2005. Financial transfers between generations in Sweden. Ageing & Society, 25, 3, 397–414.Google Scholar
Fritzell, J. and Lundberg, O. 2006. Health Inequalities and Welfare Resources: Continuity and Change in Sweden. Policy Press, Brighton.Google Scholar
Goldthorpe, J. H. 1980. Social Mobility and Class Structure in Modern Britain. Clarendon, Oxford.Google Scholar
Greenwell, L. and Bengtson, V. 1997. Geographical distance and contact between middle-aged children and their parents: the effects of social class over 20 years. Journal of Gerontology, Social Sciences, 52B, 13–26.Google Scholar
Grundy, E. 2005. Reciprocity in relationships: socio-economic and health influences on intergenerational exchanges between third age parents and their adult children in Great Britain. British Journal of Sociology, 56, 233–55.Google Scholar
Hank, K. 2007. Proximity and contacts between older parents and their children. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 69, 157–73.Google Scholar
Jonsson, J. O. 2004. Equality at a halt? Social mobility in Sweden 1976–99. In Breen, R. (ed.), Social Mobility in Europe. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 225–50.Google Scholar
Knijn, T. 2004. Family solidarity and social solidarity. In Knijn, T. and Komter, (eds), Substitutes or Complements in Solidarity Between the Sexes and the Generations. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, 18–33.Google Scholar
Kohli, M. 1999. Private and public transfers between generations: linking the family and the state. European Societies, 1, 81–104.Google Scholar
Kohli, M. 2004. Intergenerational transfers and inheritance: a comparative view. In Silverstein, M. (ed.), Intergenerational Relations Across Time and Place. Annual Review of Gerontology and Geriatrics 24. Springer Publishing Company, New York, 266–89.Google Scholar
Krause, N. and Borawski-Clark, E. 1995. Clarifying the functions of social support in later life. Research on Aging, 16, 251–79.Google Scholar
Kulis, S. 1991. Why Honor Thy Mother and Father: Class, Mobility and Family Ties in Later Life. Garland, New York.Google Scholar
Künemund, H. and Rein, M. 1999. There is more to receiving than needing: theoretical arguments and empirical explorations of crowding in and crowding out. Ageing & Society, 19, 1, 93–121.Google Scholar
Kupiszewski, M., Borgegård, L.-E., Fransson, U., Håkansson, J., Durham, He. and Rees, P. 2001. Internal Migration and Regional Population Dynamics in Europe: Sweden Case Study. Working Paper 01/01. School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds, Yorkshire.Google Scholar
Larsson, K. and Thorslund, M. 2006. Old people's health. Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, 34, suppl 67, 185–98.Google Scholar
Lawton, L., Silverstein, M. and Bengtson, V. 1994. Affection, social contact, and geographic distance between adult children and their parents. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 56, 57–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lennartsson, C. 2001. Still in Touch: Family Contacts, Activities and Health among Elderly in Sweden. Swedish Institute for Social Research, Stockholm.Google Scholar
Lin, G. and Rogerson, P. A. 1995. Elderly parents and the geographic availability of their adult children. Research on Aging, 17, 303–31.Google Scholar
Lundberg, O. and Thorslund, M. 1996. Fieldwork and measurement considerations in surveys of the oldest old: experience from the Swedish Level of Living Surveys. Social Indicators Research, 37, 165–67.Google Scholar
Myles, J. 2002. A new social contract for the elderly? In Esping-Andersen, G., Gallie, D., Hemerijck, A. and Myles, J. (eds), Why We Need a New Welfare State. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 130–72.Google Scholar
Rossi, A. S. and Rossi, P. H. 1990. Of Human Bonding: Parent-child Relations Across the Life Course. Aldine de Gruyter, New York.Google Scholar
Silverstein, M. 1995. Stability and change in temporal distance between the elderly and their children. Demography, 32, 29–45.Google Scholar
Silverstein, M. and Litwak, E. 1993. A task-specific typology of intergenerational family structure in later life. The Gerontologist, 33, 258–64.Google Scholar
Silverstein, M. and Bengtson, V. 1997. Intergenerational solidarity and the structure of adult child-parent relationships in American families. American Journal of Sociology, 103, 429–60.Google Scholar
Silverstein, M., Parrott, T. M. and Bengtson, V. L. 1995. Factors that predispose middle-aged sons and daughters to provide social support to older parents. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 57, 465–75.Google Scholar
Sorokin, P. A. 1927/1959. Social and Cultural Mobility. Free Press, New York, 522–26.Google Scholar
Spilerman, S. 2000. Wealth and stratification processes. Annual Review of Sociology, 26, 497–524.Google Scholar
Sundström, G. 1986. Intergenerational mobility and the relationship between adults and their aging parents in Sweden. The Gerontologist, 26, 367–71.Google Scholar
Szebehely, M. 1998. Changing divisions of carework: caring for children and frail elderly people in Sweden. In Lewis, J. (ed.), Gender, Social Care and Welfare Restructuring in Europe. Ashgate, Aldershot, Hampshire, 257–83.Google Scholar
Szebehely, M. 2000. Äldreomsorg i förändring – knappare resurser och nya organisationsformer [Eldercare in change – less resources and new forms of organisation]. In Szebehely, M. (ed.), Välfärd, vård och omsorg [Welfare and Care]. SOU 2000:38, Fritzes, Stockholm, 171–223.Google Scholar
Szebehely, M. 2005. Care as employment and welfare provision: child care and elder care in Sweden at the dawn of the 21st century. In Dahl, H. M. and Eriksen, T. R. (eds), Dilemmas of Care in the Nordic Welfare State. Continuity and Change. Ashgate, Aldershot, Hampshire, 80–100.Google Scholar
Warnes, A. M. 1986. The residential mobility histories of parents and children and relationships to present proximity and social integration. Environment and Planning A, 18, 6, 1581–94.Google Scholar
Winqvist, M. 1999. Vuxna barn med hjälpbehövande föräldrar – en livsformsanalys [Adult Children of Parents in Need of Assistance: A Life-mode Analysis]. Sociologiska Institutionen, Uppsala Universitet, Uppsala, Sweden.Google Scholar