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Relationships between parents and their adult children: a West European typology of late-life families

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 December 2010

PEARL A. DYKSTRA  and
TINEKE FOKKEMA
PEARL A. DYKSTRA*
Affiliation:
Sociology, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
TINEKE FOKKEMA
Affiliation:
Social Demography, Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute, The Hague, The Netherlands.
*
Address for correspondence: Pearl Dykstra, Department of Sociology, Erasmus University Rotterdam, PO Box 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands. E-mail: dykstra@fsw.eur.nl
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Abstract

Following Reher's (1998) seminal paper on family ties in western Europe, the perspective that family solidarity patterns are divided between an individualistic north and a famialistic south has dominated the literature. We challenge this view and address the variability in intergenerational family solidarity within and across countries. Using multiple dimensions of intergenerational solidarity drawn from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe, we develop a typology of late-life families which is robust across northern, central and southern regions. The four types are: (a) descending familialism: living nearby, frequent contact, endorsement of family obligation norms, and primarily help in kind from parents to children, (b) ascending familialism: living nearby, frequent contact, endorsement of family obligation norms, and primarily help in kind from children to parents, (c) supportive-at-distance: not living nearby, frequent contact, refutation of family obligation norms, and primarily financial transfers from parents to adult children, (d) autonomous: not living nearby, little contact, refutation of family obligation norms, and few support exchanges. The four types are common in each European country, though the distributions differ. The findings suggest that scholars should abandon the idea that a particular country can be characterised by a single dominant type of late-life family. Socio-demographic differentials in family type follow predictable patterns, underscoring the validity of the developed typology.

Keywords

family typologyintergenerational supportfamilialismcross-national differencesSurvey of HealthAgeing and Retirement in Europe
Type
Articles
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 31 , Issue 4 , May 2011 , pp. 545 - 569
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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