Intergenerational relationships in contemporary UK
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Oxford
Department Name: Sociology
Abstract
Family and kinship have been of long-standing interest to social scientists and form the backdrop for the design of many policies, including social security, pensions, child care and personal care for the elderly. Our focus is on the relationships between parents and their adult children, how intergenerational contact and help respond to needs and resources of both generations, and how contact and help affect people's well being. The research would contribute to the ESRC's strategic priority of 'influencing behaviour and informing interventions'.
Past research on intergenerational relationships includes the important tradition of the community studies of the 1950s and 1960s, a number of studies based on small local or regional samples and recent research on large nationally representative samples. But nearly all of these studies are cross-sectional in nature, which limits their ability to address issues of causality. In contrast, our research analyses longitudinal data (i.e. repeated observations of the same people). In particular, it uses the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS), Understanding Society and the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA).
Each of these supports our investigation in different ways. The BHPS is a mature panel study, having interviewed people since 1991, and its sample is now incorporated in Understanding Society. It interviews people from both sides the intergenerational exchange (although parents and adult children are not matched to one another). Understanding Society has a very large sample, with about 80,000 individuals in each wave, but it only started in 2009. It will allow us to explore differences in intergenerational relationships for small social groups like ethnic minorities (who are over-sampled) and single parents. ELSA is a panel study of the over-50s which started in 2002. It currently offers a four-year panel and has excellent measures of health, wealth and income, but it interviews the parent generation only. All three panel studies contain measures of intergenerational support and contact, but to different degrees.
We are interested in the help that parents and adult children give to one another. Because the frequency of contact between them is valued in itself, particularly by parents, it is another focus of our research. In addition, both help and contact are constrained by geographical distance. Our research would estimate the impacts of the needs and resources of parents and their adult children on: (1) how far apart they live from one another; (2) how often they are in contact with one another; (3) how much and what kinds of help and support they give each other. It also investigates how proximity, contact and help are related to each other. The important final component of our research gauges how contact and help affect the well-being of parents and their adult children.
The research would use a range of quantitative methods which aim to exploit the longitudinal data that we have in the best ways. These include latent class models to establish the underlying structure of intergenerational exchange; instrumental variables to address issues of causality; fixed effects models to account for persistent unobserved differences between individuals; and structural equation models to explore the links between proximity, contact, help and well being. Some of these methods require longitudinal data, others can be applied with greater confidence when such data is available.
We expect to publish the findings as 4-5 articles in leading academic journals. In addition, the research would form the foundation for a research monograph with a major University Press. Of equal importance, we plan to have regular meetings with key stakeholders such as AgeUK to inform our research design and questions, set research priorities, and to discuss our findings.
Past research on intergenerational relationships includes the important tradition of the community studies of the 1950s and 1960s, a number of studies based on small local or regional samples and recent research on large nationally representative samples. But nearly all of these studies are cross-sectional in nature, which limits their ability to address issues of causality. In contrast, our research analyses longitudinal data (i.e. repeated observations of the same people). In particular, it uses the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS), Understanding Society and the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA).
Each of these supports our investigation in different ways. The BHPS is a mature panel study, having interviewed people since 1991, and its sample is now incorporated in Understanding Society. It interviews people from both sides the intergenerational exchange (although parents and adult children are not matched to one another). Understanding Society has a very large sample, with about 80,000 individuals in each wave, but it only started in 2009. It will allow us to explore differences in intergenerational relationships for small social groups like ethnic minorities (who are over-sampled) and single parents. ELSA is a panel study of the over-50s which started in 2002. It currently offers a four-year panel and has excellent measures of health, wealth and income, but it interviews the parent generation only. All three panel studies contain measures of intergenerational support and contact, but to different degrees.
We are interested in the help that parents and adult children give to one another. Because the frequency of contact between them is valued in itself, particularly by parents, it is another focus of our research. In addition, both help and contact are constrained by geographical distance. Our research would estimate the impacts of the needs and resources of parents and their adult children on: (1) how far apart they live from one another; (2) how often they are in contact with one another; (3) how much and what kinds of help and support they give each other. It also investigates how proximity, contact and help are related to each other. The important final component of our research gauges how contact and help affect the well-being of parents and their adult children.
The research would use a range of quantitative methods which aim to exploit the longitudinal data that we have in the best ways. These include latent class models to establish the underlying structure of intergenerational exchange; instrumental variables to address issues of causality; fixed effects models to account for persistent unobserved differences between individuals; and structural equation models to explore the links between proximity, contact, help and well being. Some of these methods require longitudinal data, others can be applied with greater confidence when such data is available.
We expect to publish the findings as 4-5 articles in leading academic journals. In addition, the research would form the foundation for a research monograph with a major University Press. Of equal importance, we plan to have regular meetings with key stakeholders such as AgeUK to inform our research design and questions, set research priorities, and to discuss our findings.
Planned Impact
Intergenerational relationships is currently an issue of great social and political salience, as indicated by the publication in 2011 of the Dilnot Commission Report on "Fairer Care Funding", and by ongoing debates on intergenerational equity. The proposed research will inform current discussion on, e.g., how best to provide social care for the elderly or to meet the childcare needs of parents with young children. This project will benefit a wide range of non-academic users, in particular:
1. Policy advisors and policy makers in national government including the Department of Health, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), and the Treasury.
2. Think-tanks and policy institutes with interests in intergenerational issues, such as the International Longevity Centre-UK, Civitas, Demos, The Fabian Society, The Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the Centre for Social Justice, the Centre for Policy Studies, the Institute for Public Policy Research, and Policy Exchange;
3. Third sector organizations concerned with the welfare of the elderly, e.g. AgeUK, and those concerned with promoting the role of grandparents in extended family networks, including Grandparents Plus and BeGrand.net;
4. Members of the general public who might benefit from a better understanding of how good intergenerational contact and support are related to well-being.
The research is expected to benefit the above users in a variety of ways, beginning early on in the project as the first findings emerge, by helping to:
1. Promote public awareness of intergenerational issues. For example, by contributing to the public debate on intergenerational support and equity, especially the transfer of resources between generations.
2. Inform discussion about the roles of government, third sector organisations and families in providing social care and support for parents of young children, through monetary transfer and in-kind help;
3. Disseminate knowledge about the significance of intergenerational help and contact for the well-being of individuals.
1. Policy advisors and policy makers in national government including the Department of Health, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), and the Treasury.
2. Think-tanks and policy institutes with interests in intergenerational issues, such as the International Longevity Centre-UK, Civitas, Demos, The Fabian Society, The Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the Centre for Social Justice, the Centre for Policy Studies, the Institute for Public Policy Research, and Policy Exchange;
3. Third sector organizations concerned with the welfare of the elderly, e.g. AgeUK, and those concerned with promoting the role of grandparents in extended family networks, including Grandparents Plus and BeGrand.net;
4. Members of the general public who might benefit from a better understanding of how good intergenerational contact and support are related to well-being.
The research is expected to benefit the above users in a variety of ways, beginning early on in the project as the first findings emerge, by helping to:
1. Promote public awareness of intergenerational issues. For example, by contributing to the public debate on intergenerational support and equity, especially the transfer of resources between generations.
2. Inform discussion about the roles of government, third sector organisations and families in providing social care and support for parents of young children, through monetary transfer and in-kind help;
3. Disseminate knowledge about the significance of intergenerational help and contact for the well-being of individuals.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Tak-Wing Chan (Principal Investigator) | |
| John Ermisch (Co-Investigator) |
Publications
Chan TW
(2015)
Proximity of couples to parents: influences of gender, labor market, and family.
in Demography
Chan TW
(2015)
Residential proximity of parents and their adult offspring in the United Kingdom, 2009-10.
in Population studies
Ermisch J
(2014)
Parents' health and children's help.
in Advances in life course research
| Description | In the UK, public provision of childcare and of social care for older people are limited and uneven across the country. At the same time, the market alternatives are, for many people, prohibitively expensive. For these reasons, informal care-giving provided by members of the extended family is potentially very important. In this project, we analyse data from three large-scale panel surveys that are representative of the UK population: the British Household Panel Survey, Understanding Society, and the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. The four foci of our project are: (1) intergenerational proximity, (2) intergenerational contact, (3) exchange of practical support, and (4) well-being. Some of our key findings are described below. Intergenerational proximity Residential mobility over the life course tends to increase the physical distance between the generations. There are large differences in intergenerational proximity between the foreign born and UK born, and among ethnic groups. The determinants of intergenerational proximity from the parent's viewpoint are not identical to those from the child's viewpoint. Contrary to some earlier studies, intergenerational proximity, from the child's viewpoint, does not vary with the number of siblings. But from the parent's viewpoint, having more children is unambiguously associated with a higher probability of living close to at least one child. Several long-term demographic trends in the UK, such as falling fertility, rising education, greater ethnic diversity, have significant implications for intergenerational proximity. (The paper reporting these findings is being considered for publication in the Journal, Population Studies (Revised and Resubmitted).) Proximity of couples to parents As regards middle-aged couples' residential location decision, we find a slight tendency for couples to live closer to the woman's parents than the man's. This tendency is more pronounced among couples in which neither partner has a degree and in which there is a child. In other respects, proximity to parents is gender neutral, with the two partners having equal influence on intergenerational proximity. Better educated couples live farther from their parents. And although certain family characteristics matter, intergenerational proximity is primarily driven by factors affecting mobility over long distances, which are mainly associated with the labour market, as opposed to gender or family circumstances. (The paper reporting these findings is being considered for publication in the Journal, Demography (Revised and Resubmitted).) Exchange of support Viewed in the cross-section, the level of actual instances of intergenerational exchange in contemporary Britain is rather low. Viewed longitudinally, there is an asymmetric pattern in the ebb and flow of exchange, with stopping probabilities being multiples higher than starting probabilities. Nonetheless, there is evidence that parents and adult children are supportive of each other at critical moments of life transitions, such as divorce, the birth of a child, or widowhood. Together, these results paint a nuanced picture of the significance of the extended family in contemporary Britain, and give qualified support to the latent kin matrix hypothesis. (The findings reporting these findings will be sent to a journal for review shortly.) Parents' health and children's help We consider two measures of children's help (one enumerating specific activities and another reporting assistance with particular difficulties) and two measures of parents' health: self-reported assessments of overall health and enumeration of difficulties with activities of daily living. The primary finding is that children's help is highly responsive to problems arising from a parent's health that limit a parent's mobility or their ability to live independently in a community. But it is not responsive to severe difficulties requiring daily care. Previous estimates of responsiveness that are based on between-individual variation overstate the impact of parent's health on help. (The paper reporting these findings has been published in the Journal, Advances in Life Course Research.) Family, friends and well-being among older parents We consider three standard measures of well-being: physical health, mental distress and life satisfaction, our longitudinal analyses indicate that estimates of the impact of interactions with neighbours that are based on between-individual variation overstate their impact substantially. Nevertheless fixed-effects estimates, which use variation within persons, indicate a small but statistically significant positive impact of interactions with neighbours on the well-being of persons aged over 65. There is evidence from cross-section analyses that more close friends also increase well-being. But frequency of seeing children appears to have small effects on parents' well-being, and very frequent face-to-face contact may actually reduce it. (The paper reporting these findings will be sent to a journal for review shortly.) |
| Exploitation Route | Our project has identified some key determinants of intergenerational relationships in the UK. There are large differences in intergenerational proximity within British society. The key variables are education and ethnicity. Better educated individuals tend to live farther from their parents or adult children. South Asians are much more likely than other ethnic groups to live with, or near, the other generations. Our findings allow non-academic users (e.g. national and local governments) to estimate the extent to which individuals and households in a particular area could rely on the extended family for support and practical help, and, by implication, the demand for public support in childcare and social care. We show that while the extended family is responsive to the changing needs of its members, the degree to which individuals could rely on the extended family for intensive support should not be overstated. Because of high moving costs, it is relatively uncommon for individuals to move closer to a parent (or adult children) in need in order to provide support, especially if the latter has severe difficulties requiring daily care. High quality and more equitable public services and/or more affordable market options are both needed to meet the needs of childcare and of social care for older people. Academic users could incorporate the basic parameters of intergenerational relationship identified in this project in further research on family dynamics in particular situations, e.g., after divorce, bereavement or job loss. |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Healthcare,Government, Democracy and Justice |
| URL | http://users.ox.ac.uk/~sfos0006/family.html |
| Description | We have presented our findings to academic users in a range of conferences, including the annual meetings of the British Society for Population Studies, and of the Population Association of America. We have also made presentations at meetings aimed specifically at non-academic users. For example, in a meeting at the King's Fund on 2 October 2014 (set up by the SDAI cluster on Health and Well-Being), we presented to an audience of local government officials (e.g. from Coventry City Council, East Riding of Yorkshire Council, Portsmouth City Council, Tower Hamlets Council, Hertfordshire County Council) and other public bodies (e.g. Public Health England, Age UK, ONS). And in a meeting on 23rd October, organised by the England Longitudinal Survey of Ageing, we presented our research findings at a panel chaired by the Rt Hon David Willetts MP. Attendees of the meeting include representatives from the Department for Work and Pensions, who requested the slides we used for circulation and discussion within DWP. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2014 |
| Sector | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Healthcare,Government, Democracy and Justice |
| Impact Types | Societal |