The COVID-19 pandemic and changes in the level of contact between older parents and their non-coresident children: A European study

Jorik Vergauwen,Piet Bracke,Katrijn Delaruelle,Pearl A. Dykstra,Dimitri Mortelmans

doi:10.20377/jfr-695

Abstract

Objective: The present study aims to investigate changes in the frequency of parent-child contact among Europeans aged 65 years and over within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, while recognizing heterogeneity within the group of older adults. Background: Physical distancing measures have been implemented worldwide to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although this policy has proven to be effective in flattening the curve, it undoubtedly posed a serious challenge to intergenerational relations. Experts hinted that physical distancing measures may have reduced older adults’ level of contact with their non-coresident children. However, empirical evidence is lacking. Method: Data from the SHARE COVID-19 questionnaire and previous SHARE waves for 26,077 individuals from 26 European countries and Israel were used and analyzed using multilevel multinomial logistic regression analysis. Results: The analysis revealed that older adults’ level of intergenerational contact remained stable or even increased – rather than decreased – during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the overall positive outcome, some subgroups (i.e., older men, residents of nursing homes, less educated older adults and older adults living in countries with less stringent COVID-19 measures) were more likely to report reduced intergenerational contact. Conclusion: Although variation was observed among older adults, the pandemic generally did not pose a threat to their level of intergenerational contact with non-coresident children.

Highlights

In order to halt the spread of the COVID-19 virus, national governments worldwide implemented unprecedented measures to reduce in-person interactions (Hale & Webster 2020)
Studies demonstrated that the majority of older adults in Europe had at least weekly contact with their children living outside the parental home (Cooney & Dykstra 2013; Steinbach et al 2020), but because of the physical distancing measures that isolated older adults from their children, one could expect that the level of intergenerational interaction has generally decreased during the pandemic
The present study aimed to investigate changes in older adults’ level of intergenerational contact with non-coresident children within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, using data from 26,077 European respondents aged 65 years and over

Summary

Introduction

In order to halt the spread of the COVID-19 virus, national governments worldwide implemented unprecedented measures to reduce in-person interactions (Hale & Webster 2020) While this policy was crucial to both reduce the death toll of the pandemic and avoid the over-burdening of healthcare systems, it may have had severe drawbacks for adults older than 65 years of age, who in particular were told to shut themselves off from others because of their high risk profile (Settersten et al 2020; Wortham 2020). Mandated school and childcare closures meant that adult children experienced increased time demands at home (Del Boca et al 2020), potentially leaving less time to spend with their older parents These observations lead to the hypothesis that the contact frequency between older adults and their non-coresident children decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic (Hypothesis 1a)

Methods

Results

Conclusion