Abstract
Levels of coresidence, residential proximity, face-to-face contacts and intergenerational support exchanges remain overall high and stable across European countries. However, to date, few studies have focused on trends in grandparent–grandchild relations. Therefore, this study aims to investigate whether and to what extent grandparent–grandchild exchanges have changed over time. We used data from the Italian Family and Social Subjects (FSS) Surveys, covering the years 1998–2016, and considered three different currencies of exchanges between grandparents and their grandchildren (coresidence, face-to-face contacts, and grandchild care provision). Our results showed stability over time in coresidence, a small reduction in daily contacts (from 47% in 1998 to 39% in 2016) and an increase in grandchildren care (from 78% in 1998 to 82% in 2016). In addition, we found little changes in the associations between such indicators of intergenerational exchanges and the demographic and socio-economic determinants usually used to explain them. Despite changes among Italian grandparents such as increases in their age profile, in education, and in marital disruption, the relations between grandparents and their grandchildren have so far remained stable over time, with generally high levels of intergenerational exchanges.
Highlights
Have grandparent–grandchild exchanges changed across time in Italy? Table 1 lists the weighted distribution of the main indicators of grandparent–grandchild exchanges over time, which allow us to answer the first research question (RQ1)
The prevalence of grandparents reporting daily face-to-face contact with grandchildren decreased by almost 8 percentage points from 47.7% in 1998 to 39.4% in 2016
The distribution of grandchild care provision changed over time with an increase of about 10 percentage points in the number of grandparents providing intensive care between 1998 and 2016
Summary
Several studies have hypothesised that industrialisation and urbanisation would lead to a convergence of family life towards the nuclear family and a decline in intergenerational exchanges (Popenoe, 1993), evidence at the beginning of the twentyfirst century suggests that levels of solidarity between family members across generations remain overall high and stable (Kalmijn & De Vries, 2009), trends depend on the dimensions of intergenerational solidarity that underlie and shape the relations and exchanges between the generations (Grundy, 2000; Grundy & Shelton, 2001; Mazurik et al, 2020; Pilkauskas & Cross, 2018; Ruggles, 2007; Steinbach et al, 2020; Treas & Gubernskaya, 2012; van der Pas et al, 2007).Pasqualini et al Genus (2021) 77:33To date, most of the research on trends in intergenerational family exchanges has focused on parent–child relationships, excluding family relations across more than two adult generations and grandparent–grandchild relationships in particular. Cross-country and over-time changes in intergenerational parent–child relationships are related to several structural socio-demographic and health factors that may play a major role in shaping such exchanges (Albertini & Kohli, 2013; Hank, 2007; Tomassini et al, 2004a). Mobility of younger generations and patterns of migration among adult and younger children in particular may weaken G3–G1 relationships and face-to-face exchanges, even though, to date, evidence suggests that the proportion of older parents with at least one child (and, a potential grandchild) in close proximity remains high (Tomassini & Lamura, 2009; Wolf & Longino, 2005)
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