PERSONAL LIVES, IDENTITIES AND SOCIAL CARE

Personal Lives, Identities and Social Care

Personal Lives, Identities and Social Care

Family Change and Its Inter-Generational Consequences

Current concerns about family change and its inter-generational consequences are not new. This edited collection of essays was compiled when Sarah Harper was developing the 'Older People and their Families' research programmed for The Nuffield Foundation. The article was published in 2004 although much of writing (with some notable exceptions) is familiar. The article comprises 10 topics that cover three broad themes: (i) the impact of demographic change upon family structures, (ii) roles and relationships, and (iii) inter-generational support. Each topic explores aspects of these themes in the context of different countries.

The first two topics provide a wealth of data on the demographic and social forces that affect families. Harper's topic uses data from Europe, North America and Australasia to explore how the ageing of societies impacts on family roles, responsibilities and transitions. It is a thorough and useful introduction with few surprises. While recognizing that kinship systems are adaptable, Murphy's topic uses data from seven countries to explore whether changes in family interaction suggest a more fundamental change in family systems. While the most pronounced differences in family contact were observed between different countries, those in southern Europe reporting most contact, there was no evidence of different kinship systems. (Adams, 1998, 263)

Achenbaum's Historical Perspective

Adopting a historical perspective, he argues that American sociologists and demographers did not systematically begin to analyse the impact of population ageing on family dynamics until after World War II. He reports that scholarly interest then turned to topics such as family structure, kin relationships, and care-giving and role conflicts. These were generally analysed through the lens of ideological predilections, such that those who saw the family in decline worried about its capacity to support elders, while those who seized on the strengths of older women celebrated the capacity of individuals to survive adversity in subsequent years. Achenbaum ends on a positive note, believing that relations between spouses, parents and children will continue to provide the majority of support with friends, neighbours and a network of agencies filling the gaps.

Berlin Ageing Study (BASE)

Lang uses the Berlin Ageing Study (BASE) to explore how older people activate extended kin relationships when nuclear family members are not available. The study of 516 Berliners designed by a multi-disciplinary team with geriatricians, psychiatrists, psychologists and sociologists. Dimmock, Bornat, Peace and Jones examine inter-generational relations in British stepfamilies using findings from a study of 60 people living in Luton, Bedfordshire. The topic is full of fascinating insights into the way in which the notion of the family has evolved to take account of divorce, re-coupling and remarriage, rendering the 'stepfamily' redundant as a conceptual tool. They highlight the importance of applying an understanding of emotional attachment to adult parent-child relationships, and suggest that parents' descriptions of their relationships with their children were usually more positive than the children's accounts of their relationships with their ...