Intergenerational Exchange Research Articles

The Ageing of the Population in Developed Countries – the Economic Consequences in the Czech Republic

IntroductionOne of the tasks of economic sciences is the endeavour to estimate the economic consequences of current development trends on the future - among other things, on the forthcoming living standard of inhabitants, but also on issues of cooperation among individuals, corporations, states and continents. A truly fundamental trend at the turn of the 20th and 21st century is the of the population in developed countries. In the following text, we will attempt to explain certain consequences of this development and make certain deductions which attempt to describe the probable impacts of this on economic systems which we usually label as democratic and market, based on private ownership.For this reason, we define the term ageing per se in the way it will subsequently be worked with in the text, i.e. not as an individual question, but as a social and, understandably, an economic problem.In order to be able to express the question of ageing as a crucial question of future economic development, it is necessary at least partially to deal with certain traditional concepts of collisional situations of economic development in the next decades. In respect of the fact that it is not the aim of the work to refute or confirm this theory in the given context, but only to set it into the correct context with the theme, we can assert after a relatively general analysis of the problem that, from the perspective of current knowledge, the of the population is truly the main problem of the world economy of our century.A decisive aspect of the problem of the ageing of the population in the 21st century is not the danger of inhabitant decline on a global scale; in this sense, there is no reason not to believe expectations that the population as a whole will increase to a level higher than ten billion people (from the current approximately seven billion) within the next decades. The decrease of numbers of inhabitants will, however, concern developed countries, despite considerable migration. Most importantly, however, a fundamental generational change of the population will occur, the impacts of which will be extremely broad on the economy. We will attempt to describe them at least schematically in the environment of the Czech Republic - for instance, for the area of industrial production or for the area of education.1. The issue of ageingEurope is overall and it is threatened by a real reduction of the original population and the national and cultural definition thereof. This fact is irrefutable; it is practically pointless to prove it statistically. Journalists (e.g. Steyn, 2006), demographers (e.g. Arltova, Langhamrova, 2010; Fiala, Langhamrova, 2009, 2010), sociologists (e.g. Scholefield, 2001) and, last but not least, we too (Smrcka, Arltova, 2012; Arltova et al., 2013) have drawn attention to this issue for several years. As Mark Steyn precisely put it, we are living in a time when children are decreasing faster than oil. The problem, however, is for the most part viewed from the political, cultural, often religious, social, sociological or anthropological perspectives. These approaches have appeared in various constellations, for instance at the close of the First and Second World Assembly on Ageing in Vienna in 1982 (United Nations, 1982) and in Madrid in 2002 (United Nations, 2002). Only exceptionally, however, is it viewed as a highly economic issue, and if so, then rather in connection with the problem of poverty in old age (Walker, 1981; Phillipson, 1991), or in connection with the necessity to reform pension systems (Pinera, 2001; Peterson, 1999; Van der Noord, 1993; World Bank, 1994). Only singly is the matter treated from the perspective of the problem of and inter-generational exchanges of information, experience and skills.As it is known, the concept of ageing generally has a clearly defined individual significance. In dependence to the number of years passed from the birth of an individual, population path from birth to death marks a certain phase. …

Intergenerational Exchange of Resources and Elderly Support in Rural China

This study examines how parental investments on children affect elderly support, and how this effect is contingent on emotional closeness or parental authority. Data collected from 770 elderly parents residing in rural China were analyzed. We gathered dichotomous data for (a) whether parents invested on their children via financial or instrumental means (i.e., parental investments) and (b) whether parents reported closeness to their children (i.e., emotional closeness) and whether children respected them (i.e., parental authority). We examined the relation between these variables and children's elderly support (financial, instrumental, and emotional). We tested models in two ways, one examining the direct effect of investments, and another testing the interactions between investments and closeness or authority. We first found that investments were not directly associated with elderly support, although the closeness and authority were. Additionally, the association between investments and support was found within parents who reported authority or closeness with their children.

A study on inhabitants' consciousness gap between generations and the possibility of intergenerational exchange toward sustainable society in long-distance suburb

A study on inhabitants' consciousness gap between generations and the possibility of intergenerational exchange toward sustainable society in long-distance suburb

The Effect of Emotional Intergenerational Exchange Patterns on The Attitude of Remarriage among Single Elderly: The Mediating Effect of The Parent - child Relationship Satisfaction

The Effect of Emotional Intergenerational Exchange Patterns on The Attitude of Remarriage among Single Elderly: The Mediating Effect of The Parent - child Relationship Satisfaction

Mapping in the Oiapoque Indigenous Territories

Participatory mapping for land use planning in the Indigenous Territories (Terras Indígenas) of Oiapoque, in northeastern Amazonia has been carried out by governmental and non-governmental organizations in partnership with indigenous institutions. The first mapping exercise was carried out through regional workshops with a selected group of indigenous (Indigenous Environmental Agents) using a georeferenced Landsat satellite image and drawing physical and cultural aspects of the territory over the images on paper. In this study, we document an alternative approach started at the village level, included more time consulting with diverse members from the community and collective field visits to sites within the indigenous land. This experience was carried out in ten villages in the Uaçá, Juminã, and Galibi Indigenous Territories (Amapá, Brazil) from October 2013 to August 2014. Results showed detailed classification of the landscape into 13 different local categories of land use and management. The collective mapping process allowed people to reflect and analyze together their current land use and existing management practices. Fields visits were an important aspect of the methodology as for promoting intergenerational exchange of traditional knowledge. The comparison of the two mapping exercises suggests that focus on particular segments of society might achieve limited success if not associated with other strategies to strengthen their interaction with the villages in the long term. Finally, the study questions current practices: what remains of mapping exercises in the community? Do they lead to a better political organization and/or environmental consciousness? Mapping for Territorial Management as conducted here seems to offer the additional and important opportunity to retrieve, remember, discuss and register the history of the community.

Il terzo settore in italia: profili organizzativi e relazionali

During the last decade the Italian third sector has been affected by major changes that can be grouped as internal ones, to do with organizational and cultural trends, and external ones, related to variations in the institutional scenario, particularly the legislative agenda, to social transformation, and to collective meaning attribution processes. A further type of change can be detected in the social relationships forming within thirdsector organizations and the inter-generational exchanges taking place within them. The data emerging from ISTAT’s Census on Non-Profit Institutions point to some (mainly meso-level) changes in social organization and provide a basis for ad hoc processing to highlight inter-generationality as a distinctive trait of the third sector in Italy. The availability of such a large database has made it possible to document in detail some peculiarities of Italian third-sector organizations and highlight some trends that have emerged in the last ten years.

Long-term effects of an intergenerational program on functional capacity in older adults: Results from a seven-year follow-up of the REPRINTS study

BackgroundSocial engagement activities can help older adults maintain mental and physical functioning levels. This study examined the long-term effects of the intergenerational picture-book reading program “REPRINTS” (Research of Productivity by Intergenerational Sympathy) on older adults. MethodsAfter baseline assessment, participants were allowed to decide which condition they wanted to participate in: the REPRINTS intervention or control group involving only assessments. REPRINTS participants participated in group activities that involved playing a hand game and reading picture books to children at kindergartens, elementary schools, and public childcare centers, once every one–two weeks. A follow-up assessment, which focused on functional capacity (i.e., instrumental activities of daily living, intellectual activity, and social function), was conducted after seven years. The analysis included responses from 62 REPRINTS (mean age [SD]=66.2 [5.7]) and 100 control-group participants (mean age [SD]=68.0 [4.7]). ResultsA logistic regression analysis examining intervention effects revealed that control-group participants were more likely to reduce intellectual activity and interactions with children compared to REPRINTS participants (p=.013 and .003, respectively). Furthermore, the REPRINTS group maintained greater functional reach compared to the control group (p<.001). However, the REPRINTS group was likely to stay indoors more often, compared to the control group (p=.045). ConclusionThe present study indicates that the REPRINTS intergenerational program has long-term, positive effects that help maintain and promote intellectual activity, physical functioning, and intergenerational exchange, although the effect of the increasing amount of physical activity is unclear.

Intergenerational Exchanges and Social Networks of Italian Active Elders: A Quantitative Analysis

Intergenerational Exchanges and Social Networks of Italian Active Elders: A Quantitative Analysis

The Influence of Intergenerational Exchange Programs on Young Children’s Attitudes toward the Elderly

The Influence of Intergenerational Exchange Programs on Young Children’s Attitudes toward the Elderly

Saving and Bequest in China: An Analysis of Intergenerational Exchange

Saving and Bequest in China: An Analysis of Intergenerational Exchange

Examining the disjunctures between policy and care in Canada’s Parent and Grandparent Supervisa

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to examine disjunctures between the ways in which Canada’s Parent and Grandparent Supervisa is framed within policy documents and press releases, and how it is actually experienced by older adults and their adult children from the Global South who engage in intergenerational care exchanges once they reunify.Design/methodology/approach– A case study involving qualitative interviews with a married couple (adult children), and official texts from Citizenship and Immigration Canada were analyzed, and subsequently categorized according to themes.Findings– The findings of this paper first demonstrate how policies such as the Parent and Grandparent Supervisa and the revamped Family Sponsorship program are ostensibly made to alleviate the significant backlog of family reunification applications, but in reality streamline and categorize older adults from the Global South as visitors who are given minimal state entitlements. Second, the Parent and Grandparent Supervisa reinforces forms of structured dependency by placing the responsibility and burden of care onto sponsors who must provide financial, social, and health care to their older parents. Finally, official statements on the Parent and Grandparent Supervisa and restructured Family Sponsorship program ignore the complex intergenerational exchanges that take place to ensure the survival of the family unit.Research limitations/implications– Given the nature of the case study’s design, the study’s findings speak to the experiences of Analyn and Edwin; adult children who sponsored an older parent under the Parent and Grandparent Supervisa. Given the recency of the program, the issues highlighted provide a much-needed starting point in examining the Supervisa’s impact on families from the Global South. Moreover, future studies could critically assess how the highly gendered nature of care is experienced under Canada’s temporary reunification programs.Practical implications– The study highlights the everyday challenges of sponsoring a parent under the Parent and Grandparent Supervisa. These issues are particularly important for policy makers and practitioners to assess and understand how such policies transform dynamics of care for families from the Global South. The unbalanced power dynamics raises questions on how to best support overburdened adult children, and vulnerable older parents who have no access to state resources.Originality/value– The findings of this paper further the understanding of how families from the Global South provide and receive care under the Parent and Grandparent Supervisa. These experiences, however, are neglected within official state policies which frame older newcomers as visitors who are managed, and denied entitlements to state resources. Revealing disjunctures between policy and lived experiences can assist service providers, professionals, and policy makers to recognize how programs like the Parent and Grandparent Supervisa overburden the family unit, and exacerbate conditions of poverty and marginalization.

End-of-Life Co-residence of Older Parents and Their Sons in Rural China.

This study examined how intergenerational exchanges with sons and daughters predicted older parents' likelihood of co-residing with a son prior to death in a rural area of China's Anhui Province. Our investigation drew on theories of contingent co-residence, modernization, and social exchange, conceptualizing co-residence as having practical and symbolic importance in rural Chinese culture. The sample included 470 older parents, reported as deceased during 2001-2009, and their posthumous informants. We used logistic regression to assess intergenerational support and cohesion as predictors of co-residence with a son just prior to death. Older parents who provided instrumental support to, and received instrumental support from, sons and had better emotional relationships with sons were more likely than their counterparts to co-reside with a son at the end of life. Living with sons demonstrates filial piety for older parents at the end of life, but its realization is sensitive to intergenerational transactions.

Effects of intergenerational exchange program on university students

Effects of intergenerational exchange program on university students

Living Legends: Effectiveness of a Program to Enhance Sense of Purpose and Meaning in Life Among Community-Dwelling Older Adults.

We investigated the therapeutic benefits (i.e., sense of purpose and meaning in life) of the Living Legends program, which includes life review writing and an intergenerational exchange, compared with life review writing alone, for community-dwelling older adults. This study was a randomized controlled trial with a connected qualitative component. We analyzed quantitative data using independent-samples t tests and written descriptions of program experiences using Collaizi's qualitative methodology; we then used a triangulation protocol to integrate the qualitative and quantitative data. For participants in the writing workshop plus intergenerational exchange, sense of purpose and meaning in life increased significantly (p<.0001) compared with those in the writing workshop alone. Qualitative themes revealed additional program benefits. Living Legends enhanced participants' sense of purpose and meaning in life, a factor known to prevent cognitive loss and disability, compared with life review writing alone.

The influence of the patterns of intergenerational exchange on the depressive symptom of rural elderly

The influence of the patterns of intergenerational exchange on the depressive symptom of rural elderly

How do living arrangements and intergenerational support matter for psychological health of elderly parents? Evidence from Myanmar, Vietnam, and Thailand

Living arrangements and family support for older persons have become an increasingly important policy concern in developing and rapidly aging Asia. Formulating a sound elderly care policy for the region will benefit from empirically examining how living arrangements, particularly coresidence, and intergenerational exchanges of financial, instrumental, and emotional support are associated with old-age psychological health. This study analyzes data from nationally representative aging surveys in Myanmar, Vietnam, and Thailand for 2011–2012 to offer a comparative perspective from Southeast Asia where various kinship systems coexist. Results suggest that coresidence with a child of culturally preferred gender significantly improves the emotional health of Vietnamese and Thai elders but with different implications. In Vietnam, living with a married son is more beneficial to parents' psychological wellbeing than living with other children. In Thailand, coresidence regardless of the child's gender improves old-age psychological wellbeing but living with a daughter brings greater benefits than living only with son. Evidence points to the importance of understanding the dominant kinship system that may shape normative filial expectations and gender role expectations within the family. In Vietnam and Thailand, the positive association holds even after intergenerational support is controlled, suggesting that the value of culturally preferred coresidence goes beyond practical functions. In Myanmar, there are almost no significant differences in psychological wellbeing among elderly across various living arrangements, except between coresidence and network living arrangements. For all settings, we do not find evidence in support of network family arrangements as a complete substitute for coresidence in terms of promoting old-age psychological wellbeing after filial support is controlled. Our study highlights important cultural nuances for theorizing the nature of the relationship between living arrangements and old-age psychological health, and presents the important need for more rigorous investigation of the causal links between these two phenomena in future research.

Who supports whom? Gender and intergenerational transfers in post-industrial Barbados.

This study examines the likelihood that older adults and their children in Bridgetown, Barbados engage in exchanges of financial, functional, and material support and the extent to which gender influences transfers. Data come from the 2000 Survey of Health, Well-Being and Aging in Latin America and the Caribbean (SABE) of Bridgetown, Barbados N = 3876 children, representing 1135 families. Multivariate logistic regression models examine the demographic and economic situations of both older and younger cohorts that encourage or constrain intergenerational exchanges. Results confirm, as in many developing countries, a higher proportion of older Barbadians receive rather than provide support. Gender differentiation in support transfers depends on the type of support examined and the living arrangements of parents and children. Support exchanges are highly conditioned by the socioeconomic circumstances of both generations but gender stratification in the labor market does not appear to mediate support exchanges. These findings suggest some flexibility in gender systems with respect to intergenerational support within Barbado.

Inter-generational contact from a network perspective.

Pathways for resource--or other--exchanges within families have long been known to be dependent on the structure of relations between generations (Agree et al., 2005; Fuller-Thomson et al., 1997; Silverstein, 2011; Treas & Marcum, 2011). Much life course research has theorized models of inter-generational exchange--including, the 'sandwich generation' (Miller, 1981) and the 'skipped generation' pathways (Chalfie, 1994)--but there is little work relating these theories to relevant network mechanisms such as liaison brokerage (Gould & Fernandez, 1989) and other triadic configurations (Davis & Leinhardt, 1972; Wasserman & Faust, 1994). To address this, a survey of models of resource allocation between members of inter-generational households from a network perspective is introduced in this paper. Exemplary data come from health discussion networks among Mexican-origin multi-generational households.

The Future of Intergenerational Relations in Aging Societies

As the pressure mounts to reduce the public costs of supporting rapidly aging societies, responsibility for supporting elderly people will increasingly fall on their family members. This essay explores the family's capacity to respond to these growing challenges. In particular, we examine how family change and growing inequality pose special problems in developed nations, especially the United States. This essay mentions a series of studies supported by the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on an Aging Society that aim to examine the future of intergenerational exchange. We focus particularly on adults who have dependent and young-adult children and who must also care for elderly parents, a fraction of the population that will grow substantially in the coming twenty-five years.

Intergenerational Exchanges of Middle-Aged Adults With Their Parents and Parents-In-Law in Korea.

The authors investigated patterns of support exchanges between Korean adult children and their parents and parents-in-law, gender differences in these patterns, and implications of children's marital quality for exchange patterns. Data were from a nationally representative sample of married adults (N = 920, age 30-59 years) with at least 1 living parent and 1 living parent-in-law. Latent class analysis was applied to 12 indicators of exchanges (financial, instrumental, emotional support given to and received from parents and parents-in-law). Five classes of exchanges were identified, 3 showing balanced patterns of exchanges with parents and parents-in-law across three types of support and 2 classes with unbalanced patterns (e.g., giving instrumental and financial, but not emotional support). The findings revealed variability in intergenerational exchange patterns, with a mix of patrilineal traditional and balanced patterns. Significant associations of exchange patterns with adult children's marital quality suggest the importance of balanced exchanges with parents for marriage.