Intergenerational Reciprocity Research Articles

Are ageing Nordic welfare states sustainable? An analysis of pension and care policies in Finland and Sweden

Introduction: The article discusses the aging population in Nordic countries, focusing on Sweden and Finland, where the median age has steadily increased since 1950. The text emphasizes the impact of demographic changes on the old-age dependency ratio and the subsequent implications for the welfare stateObjective: It is examination and comparison of the aging policies of Nordic countries, with a specific focus on Finland and Sweden. The author aims to shed light on the differences in pension and long-term care systems between these two nations, challenging the perception of a common "Nordic pension model."Materials and methods: The article employs a theoretical background based on the "intergenerational reciprocity trichotomy" developed by André Masson. The methodological approach utilized in the research is that of a "comparative case study." The author analyzes the pension and long-term care systems of Finland and Sweden, reviewing key indicators, policy documents, and relevant research literature.Results: While the Swedish system is financially robust, it encounters political challenges due to low public pension levels, prompting discussions about potential reforms, such as increasing contribution rates for higher benefits. Finland's public pension system, characterized by stable political support, raises concerns about long-term financial sustainability. The decision-making model, led by social partners, may shift to a more parliamentary approach as trade union density decreases and aging-related issues become more significant for the electorate. Both countries have successfully promoted high employment rates among older workers, but long-term care policies pose a greater challenge to the sustainability of their welfare models. The growing importance of family and informal care, coupled with a reliance on migrant workers for healthcare, highlights the strain on the welfare systems. Demographic changes increase pressure on pro-old welfare policies, particularly in long-term care, with Sweden better positioned than Finland to sustain elevated spending towards the elderly.

Intergenerational Ambivalence and Negotiations: Malaysian Chinese Family Dynamics in the Film The Journey

The millennium is witnessing the emergence of several key feature films produced by Malaysian producers-directors of Chinese ethnicity. Such Malaysian Chinese films comprise a majority of ethnic Chinese as lead actors, who converse predominantly in the Chinese language and consist of narratives that focus on the experiences of the Chinese community in Malaysia. This article seeks to analyse one such film, “The Journey”, directed by Chiu Keng Guan in 2014. In particular, through the film’s narrative, it aims to explore the extent to which this film visualises the possibilities of intergenerational negotiation and engagement as well as the implied issues of intergenerational and cultural differences. Using a conceptual framework that incorporates selected Confucian virtues, namely filial piety, benevolence and propriety, the discussion highlights the significant moments of intergenerational dialogue and engagements within the domestic context of a family. It concludes that the film provides a significant space to reflect on Malaysian Chinese intergenerational reciprocity through the negotiation of cultural differences between older and younger family members in the form of meaningful dialogue and engagement that lead to the realisation of Confucian ideals of intergenerational harmony intertwined with conjugality.

Intergenerational reciprocity and WHO function ability domains predict loneliness in older Chinese adults.

To examine loneliness in old age and whether intergenerational reciprocity and WHO functional ability predicted loneliness. Using the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study Wave 4 (2018) database (CHARLS), logistic regression models were adopted to investigate the relationships. The prevalence of loneliness was 28% in older people in China. Corresponding to the five domains of functional abilities, providing financial support to adult children (adj. OR 0.83, 95% CI 0.70-0.99), self-perceived health (adj. OR 1.30, 95% CI 1.19-1.41), having a retirement pension (adj. OR 0.73, 95% CI 0.57-0.93), the ability to decide on taking medications (adj. OR 1.32, 95% CI 1.10-1.58), as well as being able to get up from a chair (adj. OR 1.15, 95% CI 1.02-1.3), and having paid work (adj. OR 0.72, 95% CI 0.54-0.95) were associated with less loneliness. On the contrary, infrequent contact (once a month) with adult children (adj. OR 1.18, 95% CI 1.01-1.38), troubling body pain (adj. OR 1.16, 95% CI 1.10-1.23) and falling since the last interview (adj. OR .23, 95% CI 1.04-1.45) were positively associated with loneliness. In this study, functional abilities of meeting basic needs, making decisions, being mobile and contributing to the support of adult children and society were protective factors for experiencing loneliness in late life. We need to rethink interventions for addressing loneliness in the context of healthy ageing and specific cultural values, taking into account not only providing services to older adults but also supporting them to gain values by contributing to society.

Supportive or overpowering?

This article explores high parental involvement in students’ lives during and after higher education. While many higher education students lack parental support, from advice to resources, there are also experiences on the other side of the spectrum. Students and graduates may feel fated to certain trajectories whether through parental authoritarianism or more subtle compliance and inter-generational reciprocity. This article draws from 18 months of ethnographic research with 30 students and graduates from a high-profile university in New York City. The methodological focus entailed repeat interviews with individuals, talking about their lives, aspirations, studies, and their relationships with people and places. The article discusses intra-familial negotiation over subject and career choices and by association, over agency and the future of young adults. Cultural, classed, and psychological interpretations all indicate the uncertain boundaries between human beings as young people contest and absorb the influence of their parents.

Intergenerational financial support for homeownership and co-residence in Chinese cities

Drawing on questionnaire data from six cities in China, this study explores the relationship between intergenerational financial support from parents in adult children's housing purchases and key life course facts. The regression results indicate an inverted ‘U’-shaped relationship between the age of young adults and the occurrence of financial support from their parents in housing purchases. Intergenerational co-residence, popular in China, is significantly and positively associated with financial support from parents for housing purchases. This suggests that many Chinese parents seek to achieve further intergenerational reciprocity through co-residence after giving financial support to their adult children. Interestingly, the regression results on samples without loans show that intergenerational co-residence is not significantly related to occurrences of parental financial support in housing purchases. This indicates that more affluent families purchasing housing without loans may not need to engage in intergenerational reciprocity through intergenerational co-residence. This paper provides new empirical evidence of intergeneration wealth transfers on homeownership in the context of China. It enriches our understanding of the relationship between intergenerational financial support for homeownership and the phenomenon of co-residence.

Reflecting on a Difficult Past Does Not Influence Pro-Environmental Attitudes or Behaviours

Successfully addressing the environmental crisis requires current generations to change behaviours for the benefit of future generations. Perceptions of responsibility towards future generations have been found to increase pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours. Therefore, methods which enhance feelings of responsibility, or intergenerational reciprocity, are central to tackling the environmental crisis. Research shows intergenerational reciprocity can be increased through the process of reflecting on the heroic actions and sacrifices of past generations. However, the impact of reflecting on a negatively framed ‘difficult’ past remains unknown. Via an online, quasi-experimental questionnaire, this study utilised the context of the ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland, known as ‘The Troubles’, to explore how reflecting on a difficult past influences pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours. The results suggest that reflecting on The Troubles has no effect on pro-environmental attitudes or behaviour. The salience of negative feelings about The Troubles may have supressed the generation of intergenerational reciprocity and environmental concern

Why we need future generations: a defence of direct intergenerational reciprocity

AbstractIn this article I argue that the non-reciprocity problem does not apply to intergenerational justice. Future generations impact, here and now, on the well-being of people now living. I firstly illustrate the economic-synchronic model of direct intergenerational reciprocity (DIR): future generations allow people now living to maintain the economic system future-oriented and capital-preserving. The rational choice for people now living is to guarantee transgenerational sufficiency to future generations. I then analyse the axiological-synchronic model of DIR: future generations give meaning and value to many of the activities that people now living carry out, and this is a compelling reason for the latter to worry about the former. I argue that only the economic-synchronic model of DIR can consistently explain why we need future generations. I conclude by discussing the limits of indirect intergenerational reciprocity.

Feeling a deep sense of loneliness: Chinese late-life immigrants in New Zealand.

ObjectivesTo explore Chinese late‐life immigrants' perceptions of loneliness and social isolation.MethodsA qualitative descriptive methodology underpinned this study. In‐depth individual interviews were conducted in Mandarin with purposively recruited participants. The twenty‐three participants in the study had all emigrated from China, were 65–80 years old on arrival and had lived in New Zealand for between 2.5 and 16 years. An inductive thematic analytic process was undertaken. The COREQ checklist was followed to ensure study rigour.ResultsThree themes, ‘high value placed on meeting family obligations’, ‘feeling a deep sense of imbalanced intergenerational reciprocity’ and ‘moving away from filial expectations’, were identified. Confucianist values of ‘women's domestic duty of caring for grandchildren’, ‘filial piety’, and ‘saving face’ to be accepted and respected by others negatively attributed to participants' understandings and experiences of loneliness. To plan for increasing frailty and to avoid family conflict while ameliorating potential loneliness, some participants reluctantly discarded prior customary filial piety expectations in favour of formal aged care options.ConclusionsParticipants' profound sense of loneliness was seen to be attributed to their deeply rooted cultural values and backgrounds from having lived for a significant period of time in China. Loneliness occurred as a result of the resettlement process in later life. These experiences highlight the importance of using cultural framing that takes into account beliefs and adaptations to host societies anticipated during the process of late‐life immigration.

A Systematic Review of Program Outcomes for the National Family Caregiver Support Program Using a Theoretical Approach

The National Family Caregiver Support Program provides grants to states with large populations of citizens ages 70 and older that are formal and informal caregivers to fund support for various services. The Child Welfare Information Gateway (2016) defined kinship caregiving as the full-time care and protection of children by relatives. The purpose of this study is to identify outcomes of state and community level programs initiated by the National Family Caregiver Support Program (NFCSP) that serves informal grandparent caregivers. Micro and macro frameworks of rational decision making, symbolic interaction, and agency theories were used in this study when determining program outcomes. Outcomes reported in this study were: (1) reduced isolation, (2) increased connection to resources, (3) increased independence/empowerment, (4) reduced stress, (5) lower levels of burden, (6) increased well-being, and (7) intergenerational reciprocity. The NFCSP is a significant first step in assisting this population and is an important federal program that provides much needed funding to Area Agencies on Aging (AAA) in support of grandparent raising grandchildren.

Ancestral leadership: Place-based intergenerational leadership

This article introduces the notion of ancestral leadership that emerges from intergenerational wisdom at the intersection of people, place and ancestral knowledge. Place is a key component of collective continuity in ancestral leadership that reinforces identity, belonging and intergenerational reciprocity. The findings show that places carry leadership legacies and require ongoing maintenance to ensure genealogies of leadership are available to future generations. Engagement with ancestral leadership and its practical application is not bound to tribal and cultural contexts. By knowing the place of someone’s ancestors as a lens into their leadership, one sees structures of accountability that extends beyond culturally bound contexts, and includes their leadership expressed in professional environments. The authors contribute to leadership theory by illuminating how ancestral legacies of leadership continue to inform contemporary generations of leadership and is transmitted intergenerationally within frameworks of genealogy.

The role of non-contributory pensions on internal mobility in Spain

Spain is one of the Southern European nations characterized by very low inter-provincial mobility rates despite large inter-regional unemployment rate differences. We examine whether non-contributory pensions – an increasingly important component of many welfare systems, have curtailed the internal migration of younger cohorts over the past three decades. Using changes in the number of beneficiaries brought about by a policy reform in 1991, we show that old-age non-contributory pensions are associated with reduced internal migration of 25-to-35 year old men and women with less human capital. The effects do not appear to be driven by intergenerational reciprocity or quid pro quo exchanges, and do not extend to other types of pensions, hinting on systematic employment barriers faced by younger, less educated, or unexperienced men and women from lower income households qualifying for these pensions. The ability to rely on the support from older family members residing nearby might provide a lifeline but, simultaneously, curtail their propensity to out-migrate.

Indigenous education sovereignty: another way of ‘doing’ education

ABSTRACT With schools known to be sites of harm for many Indigenous peoples, both historically and currently, this paper re-considers ‘doing’ education another way. As a Gamilaroi woman, educator and researcher, I contemplate the ways Indigenous sovereignty is conceptualised and enacted by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the country now known as Australia. This provides the foundations to apply broader understandings of sovereignty to the notion of education sovereignty. Using narrative and storytelling, I aim to show education sovereignty before considering potential elements involved in doing education sovereignty. I identify six interconnected elements that underpin education sovereignty, including: Pattern Thinking; Country; Time; Relationality; Intergenerational Reciprocity; and Agency. These elements provide a deeper understanding of what education sovereignty could look like, and therefore another way of ‘doing’ education for all students, grounded in Indigenous axiologies, ontologies and epistemologies.

Grandparents caring for grandchildren in rural China: consequences for emotional and cognitive health in later life

In rural China, where families serve as critical safety-nets for their vulnerable members, grandparents play an essential role caring for the offspring of their migrant children. Evidence is mixed as to whether caring for grandchildren provides health benefits or incurs health risks. In this article, we used six waves of data from a study in rural China to examine the impact of caregiving for grandchildren on grandparents’ emotional and cognitive health. Further, we examined financial transfers from adult children as a resource that potentially moderates the impact of high intensity caregiving on these outcomes. Data derived from six waves (2001–2015) of the Longitudinal Study of Older Adults in Anhui Province, China. We constructed 2,835 person-interval observations derived from 1,067 grandparents to examine lagged change in depressive symptoms and cognitive ability. Results show that caregiving frequency is not by itself harmful or beneficial to the emotional and cognitive health of grandparents, but it does appear to be harmful in the context of custodial care that is less economically supported by adult children. These results are discussed in terms of their relevance to intergenerational reciprocity in a filial culture, time-for-money exchange expectations, and the need for financial resources among caregiving grandparents in rural China.

The role of gratitude in motivating intergenerational environmental stewardship

Many of the most pressing environmental challenges we face—from climate change to habitat and species loss—require present generations of decision-makers to act pro-socially in the best interests of future generations. One factor known to inhibit intergenerational altruism is the absence of direct reciprocal exchange between generations. Research has suggested, however, that present decision-makers can be induced to engage in intergenerational reciprocity (Wade-Benzoni, 2002). In accordance with recent studies (e.g., Watkins & Goodwin, 2019), our current investigation provides additional evidence for the role of gratitude as a powerful mechanism underlying such intergenerational decision-making. Across seven studies, we consistently show that individual differences in gratitude uniquely predict increased perceptions of responsibility for future generations. A sense of responsibility toward future generations in turn predicts: increased climate change beliefs and concern (Studies 2 A and 2 B), increased pro-environmental beliefs (Study 3 A) and environmental intentions (Study 3 B), and increased support for environmental policies (Study 4). Indirect effect tests and structural equation models support these findings. Future interventions can harness the prosocial moral emotion of gratitude to combat the temporal discount and promote intergenerational environmental decision making.

Gambian educational migration, care and the persistence of the domestic moral economy

ABSTRACT This article examines Gambians’ experiences of educational migration to the UK, social reproduction and care, as they organize and map out educational futures transnationally. They do so in order to be in a position to invest in their children's education, with the aim of consolidating and enhancing the family's accumulated wealth and resources across the generations. Access to social, economic and cultural resources can facilitate migration and affect the nature of educational decision-making. Similarly, grandparents may, through transnational care arrangements, look after children who are separated from their parents. Building on the literature, I highlight the way in which parents’ educational and migratory trajectories are entangled with those of their children. It is argued that this entanglement reveals the persistence of the domestic moral economy, informed by intergenerational reciprocity and obligation towards kin. In addition, children's educational futures may be contingent on their parents’ educational strategies and migratory trajectories.

Mothers, daughters, fathers and sons: intergenerational family social capital and inequalities in Guayaquil, Ecuador

This paper describes the role of intergenerational processes in increasing or reducing multidimensional inequality in Indio Guayas, a low-income peripheral settlement in Guayaquil, Ecuador. It also examines the importance of family social capital, irrespective of spatial location, as against household social capital in these processes. This longitudinal case study included a dataset on trends from 1978 through 1992 to 2004, in-depth studies over the decades, and further comparative research in 2018. The anthropological narrative is provided by the voices of three women and their families over 40 years. In 2018, interviews my son and I undertook for the documentary film Calle K demonstrated the importance of family social capital in the intergenerational reciprocity among mothers, daughters, fathers and sons, while illustrating different intergenerational trajectories addressing the challenges of inequality at this micro-level. The postscript points to the likely critical importance of family social capital in the context of the appalling COVID-19 pandemic.

Forward-Looking Belief Elicitation Enhances Inter-Generational Beneficence

One of the challenges in managing the Earth’s common pool resources, such as a livable climate or the supply of safe drinking water, is to motivate successive generations to make the costly effort not to deplete them out of reasons including inter-generational beneficence. In the context of sequential contributions, inter-generational reciprocity dynamically amplifies low past efforts by decreasing successors’ rates of contribution. The behavioral literature provides few interventions to motivate inter-generational beneficence. We identify a simple intervention that motivates contributions by decision makers who are not beneficiaries of their predecessors effectively disabling the negative side of inter-generational reciprocity. In a large online experiment with 1378 subjects, we show that asking decision makers to forecast future generations’ beneficence considerably increases their rate of contribution (from 46% to over 60%). By shifting decision makers’ attention from the immediate past to the future, the intervention is most effective in enhancing inter-generational beneficence of subjects who were not beneficiaries of their predecessors, effectively neutralizing negative inter-generational reciprocity effects. We provide suggestive evidence that the attentional channel is the main mechanism at work.

Short-term reciprocity between adult children and parents: A within-person investigation of longitudinal data.

Although reciprocity of intergenerational support has been widely considered in family studies, empirical investigations utilizing panel data are still rather scarce. This study used data from four waves of the German Family Panel (pairfam), which were collected in two-year intervals between 2009 and 2016. We examined whether the frequency of received support from parents previously is associated with the frequency of provided support to parents later. Multiple forms of support were considered that may be used as currencies of intergenerational exchange (i.e., one could be exchanged for another): emotional support, practical help, financial aid and personal care. Our analyses used multilevel regression models and investigated both between- and within-person effects. Between-person effects indicated mainly positive associations between different forms of received and provided support. However, these associations were confirmed by only a few of the within-person effects, which examined individuals' variations over time. According to within-person effects, an increase in the frequency of emotional support that a son received from a parent was positively associated with subsequent provision of financial support for that parent. Additionally, an increase in the frequency of practical help that daughters received from their fathers was positively associated with subsequent provision of financial aid to their fathers. The magnitude of these positive within-person effects was smaller compared to the between-person effects. Within-person effects did not provide further evidence for causal intergenerational reciprocity within the investigated time period.

Linked Lives across Borders: Economic Remittances to Ageing Parents in Romania

Economic support is widespread among multigenerational Romanian family units separated by national borders and plays an important role for non-migrating family members. From a political economy perspective, remittances are characteristic of such long-term kin networks, which in turn are shaped by socio-structural contexts. This study aims to analyse transfers of remittances in cash and in kind from emigrant Romanian adult children to elderly parents back home. Both forms of upward support are investigated under the lens of family practices across distance. Data from a survey (Intergenerational solidarity in the context of work migration abroad. The situation of elderly left at home) are used to examine the influence on remittances of family commitments over time and of needs and opportunities. The sample includes 2109 parent-child dyads with data provided by elderly parents from all regions of Romania. Results of the logistic regression models show that stronger familial commitments increase the likelihood of remittances in cash and remittances in kind. Findings indicate the importance of filial support before migration and of various forms of intergenerational reciprocity. Our results stress that remittances in cash are more likely to be variable compared with remittances in kind. Both forms of support are part of a much broader set of family practices and intergenerational relationships but express different understandings of filial responsibility.

Activating the legacy motive mitigates intergenerational discounting in the climate game

Climate change will have dangerous impacts on future generations. Accordingly, people in the present have an obligation to make sacrifices for the benefit of future others. However, research on temporal and social discounting shows that people are short-sighted and selfish—they prefer immediate over delayed benefits, and they prefer benefits for themselves over others. Discounting over long-term time horizons is known as intergenerational discounting, and is a major obstacle to climate action. Here, we examine whether persuasive messages that activate the legacy motive—the desire to build a positive legacy—can increase the willingness of current actors to make sacrifices for future generations. Using a climate change public goods game, we find that when the benefits of cooperation accrue to decision makers in the present, high levels of cooperation are sustained, whereas when the benefits accrue to future generations, intergenerational discounting makes cooperation elusive. Crucially, when the legacy motive is activated—by promoting death awareness, feelings of power asymmetry, and intergenerational reciprocity—intergenerational discounting is attenuated, and cooperation is restored. Our results suggest climate action can be fostered by framing climate change as an intergenerational dilemma, and by crafting persuasive messages that activate people’s drive to leave a positive legacy.