Intergenerational Relationships Research Articles

Intergenerational engagement with Asian residents in long-term care facilities: a mixed method systematic review.

Asian countries are experiencing a rapid rise in their aging populations. Cognitive and physical decline associated with aging can limit social interaction. This particularly impacts on those residing in long-term care facilities and engagement with children and young people. Intergenerational engagement has known benefits on the health and wellbeing of older people, it is unclear what the impact of intergeneration engagement interventions might have on older people in Asian long-term care settings. This review aims to evaluate the effectiveness and experiences of intergenerational engagement with older people in long-term care facilities in Asia. Ten databases were searched to locate empirical studies of any design published in English or Chinese from January 2000 to June 2023. The search was limited to papers reporting effectiveness and/or experiences of intergenerational engagement on older people residing in Asian long-term care settings. The protocol was registered with PROSPERO (CRD42023413935) and followed PRISMA guidelines for reporting. A convergent design employing narrative synthesis was used to synthesize and integrate findings. From initial searches, 1,092 records were identified, of which 13 studies were retained for the review: 7 quantitative (including 1 randomized controlled trial, 1 cross-sectional observational design, and 5 quasi-experimental designs), 3 qualitative, and 3 mixed methods. Included studies were of variable quality. Quantitative evidence revealed that intergenerational engagement reduced depression (4.47 vs. 8.67, p = 0.005), negative emotions (14.11 vs. 16.56, p = 0.030), and feelings of loneliness (p < 0.01) among older people; and increased quality of life (mean change = -1.91; 95% CI = -3.18, -0.64) and strengthens interpersonal interactions (p = 0.025). Qualitative insights suggested that intergenerational engagement could foster emotional bonds, enhance intergenerational relationships, promote lifelong learning, satisfy social needs and improve older peoples' overall quality of life. However, some challenges such as language differences and noise levels can hinder successful implementation of intergenerational engagement. This review indicates that intergenerational engagement can reduce depression and loneliness, improve quality of life, and strengthen social bonds for older individuals in Asian long-term care facilities. Despite some challenges, the evidence underlines its potential to meet the emotional and social needs of older people. Recognizing and addressing delivery challenges is essential for effective implementation. https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42023413935, identifier: CRD42023413935.

Comparative aging: how early Christian widows illuminate age and aging today

ABSTRACT In a late first century CE Christian text, we find a rather odd sentiment: a widow should be “put on a list” if she is “not less than sixty” (1 Timothy 5:9). In this article, questions around these phrases form a basis for a comparison of age and aging in the ancient Mediterranean and in the author’s own twenty-first century Canadian context, exploring universal aspects of aging and culturally conditioned understanding of age. Comparisons of life expectancy, definitions of age, gendered expectations, intergenerational relationships, and perception of time shed light on aspects of age and aging that we might not otherwise consider.

The Reciprocity of Intergenerational Support and Self-rated Health Among Chinese Older Adults

To move beyond the focus on individual types of support, we examined the overall reciprocity of support between older adults and their adult children. Drawing on the theory of esteem enhancement, we hypothesized that the under benefited older adults, defined as older adults whose support provided is larger than support received in intergenerational relationships, may have better health conditions than those with a more or less balanced exchange of support. To test the hypothesis, we examined the relationship between the reciprocity of intergenerational support and self-rated health (SRH) among older adults in China. We also investigated the moderating role of gender in this relationship. Using data collected from 832 older adults in Wuhan, China, we found that compared to those with a balanced level of reciprocal support in the intergenerational relationship, older adults who were under benefited from the intergenerational support had better SRH. This finding is in line with the esteem enhancement theory. We also found that gender moderated the association between the reciprocity of intergenerational support and SRH. Specifically, older women who under benefit from the support had better SRH than older women with a balanced level of reciprocal support. In contrast, older men who under benefit from the support had worse SRH than older men with a balanced level of reciprocal support. This finding highlights the necessity of constructing social psychological frameworks that are attuned to gender variations for a more comprehensive comprehension of health and health-related behaviors among older adults in China.

Intergenerationally tied relocation and care circulation: Motivations, struggles, and future arrangements

AbstractObjectiveThis study investigates the processes and experiences of intergenerationally tied relocation in which older parents from mainland China join their already migrated children in Hong Kong to provide domestic and childcare support.BackgroundStudies on tied migration have mainly focused on couple‐based moves within a human capital framework. With the increasing trend of grandparenting migrants, studies have expanded to address intergenerationally tied relocation.MethodWe conducted thematic analysis of in‐depth interview data of 34 mainland Chinese respondents, including 15 parent–child pairs and four adult children.ResultsThe decision to relocate is influenced by the established history of intergenerational supportive exchange relationships. The initial motivation for tied relocation is to benefit the adult children. Older parents' postrelocation experiences can affect their later decision to leave or remain, with key factors including financial dependence, emotional stress, and difficulty in balancing the duty of care between migrant children and distant family members. In planning for future eldercare, the goal is to meet the needs of both generations. Options include non‐coresidential care, reliance on the parents' hometown sibling network, or living in nearby mainland cities closer to Hong Kong.ConclusionThe study highlights the complex interplay of family relationships and responsibilities in the phenomenon of intergenerationally tied relocation. The findings unveil the dynamic roles and adaptive strategies families utilize to facilitate the transfer of care and support across generations and geographies.ImplicationsPolicy and services should be developed to assist aging immigrant families in their adaptation and integration, and formulate strategies for meeting future care needs.

Structural equation modeling to explain the relationship between intergenerational relationships and depressive symptoms with the mediation of social isolation in the Iranian older adults

Objectives There is ample evidence of the significant role of social isolation and reduced intergenerational relationships in the emergence of various problems and diseases, including depression. Therefore, the present study aims to investigate the relationship between intergenerational relationships, social isolation, and depression in the older adult population of Maku, Iran, in 2022. Methods The present study was a correlational study conducted on 407 older adult individuals in Maku. The sampling method was systematic random sampling. The inclusion criteria were age 60 and above, ability to communicate, no cognitive impairment, no experience of stressful events or incidents in the past six months, and incomplete questionnaire response as the exclusion criterion. The data were collected using the Shokoohi Intergenerational Relationships Questionnaire, Lubben Social Network Scale (LSNS), and Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15). The data were analyzed using SPSS16 software and descriptive statistics tests (percentage, frequency, mean, standard deviation, and confidence interval), Pearson correlation coefficient, and structural equation modeling using EQS6.4 software. Results Intergenerational relationships had a direct negative correlation with depressive symptoms in the older adult population (β = −0.18, p < 0.001), and social isolation was indirectly negatively correlated with depressive symptoms in the older adult population (β = −0.15, p < 0.001). Conclusion Considering that older adults who maintain solid intergenerational ties with their children often encounter less social isolation and display fewer signs of depression, it is crucial to devise suitable strategies to strengthen these relationships and foster social interaction in their later years.

Infants and toddlers in the United States with more close relationships have larger vocabularies.

Young children learn language from their caregivers, family members, and friends. However, with few exceptions, contemporary developmental scientists have studied language input and language learning through the lens of the primary caregiver and the nuclear family, rather than the infants' broader communities. In many communities-and increasingly in the United States-nonnuclear family structures are common, and extended kin, fictive kin, and intergenerational relationships are relied upon for child care. Understanding children's relationships within kinship networks can allow for more inclusive depictions of children's social interactions and their language experiences. We drew upon methods used by researchers studying social networks to assess U.S. infants' and toddlers' network composition. Results showed that young children with a greater number of close relationships (but not those with larger networks overall) had larger vocabularies, after controlling for age and socioeconomic status. These findings suggest that distributed models of child-rearing are an influential factor in early language growth and call for increased attention to social networks for understanding children's developmental trajectories. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Perspectives on vulnerability from the narratives of older migrants.

Older migrants are considered avulnerable population group in many ways. Marginalization and social exclusion lead to unequal opportunities for social participation. In order to break down barriers for older migrants, the perspectives of people with migration biographies should be given greater consideration. To this end, the results of an explorative intersectional ethical analysis of care narratives of older migrants are discussed in the light of aging studies research. The focus is on the ethical analysis of five guided interviews with older migrants between 65 and 80years old, who have migrated from different countries in southeastern Europe. In contrast to the prevalent expert perspective, the narratives of the older migrants interviewed revealed not only resistance to vulnerabilization but also multiple negotiations of autonomy and dependency. By making ambivalent narrative and action strategies visible and linking them to narratives of intergenerational care relationships, the significance of care-ethical interpretations of vulnerability and characterization of vulnerability as "auniversal, inevitable, and anthropological feature of humanity resulting from the embodied, finite, and socially contingent structure of human existence" [4] can be demonstrated.

Intergenerational Relations and Well-being Among Older Middle Eastern/Arab American Immigrants During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

This study aimed to examine the consequences of COVID-19 socialization restrictions on familial and social support systems of older Middle Eastern/Arab immigrants in Michigan, home to the largest, most visible concentration of Middle Eastern/Arab Americans in the United States. Six focus group (N = 45) interviews were conducted with Middle Eastern/Arab American immigrants aged 60 and older to assess difficulties faced during the pandemic as it related to familial, social, and medical care. Inductive analysis identified two major themes to advance meanings of intergenerational relations among older immigrants (a) the breakdown of family relations, which describes a shift in both the experience and expectations of intergenerational relations in Middle Eastern/Arab families; and (b) cultural sources of increased stress, illustrating how the pandemic interfered with valued family interactions to affect well-being. These findings indicated social and cultural sources of heightened stress linked to shifts in intergenerational relations among Middle Eastern/Arab American older immigrants.

Identifying mechanisms of youth mental health promotion: A realist evaluation of the Agenda Gap programme

Promoting youth mental health is a critical public health priority and merits robust policy and practice responses, inclusive of youth-centred and upstream interventions that address the root factors contributing to mental health outcomes. To that end, non-familial youth-adult relationships can powerfully impact youths’ healthy development, mental health and well-being, and capacities for enacting change within home, school, and policy contexts. Agenda Gap is a youth mental health promotion programme based on this principle, in which adult facilitators support youth (aged 15–24) in co-exploring activities focused on mental health promotion and policy advocacy, while fostering supportive, trusting intergenerational relationships. This study presents a realist evaluation of Agenda Gap, drawing on realist qualitative interviews with youth participants (n = 18) and adult collaborators (n = 4). We constructed 15 initial programme theories in four theoretical areas that we subsequently explored via analysis of the realist interview data. The analysis used the middle-range theories of ‘Third Space’ and ‘Third Place’ to conceptualize and articulate how causal mechanisms were produced from the non-familial youth-adult relationships that are foundational to the programme. Results are presented across 10 context-mechanism-outcome (CMO) configurations in three sections: (1) Agenda Gap Facilitation Activates ‘Third-Space/Third-Place’ Mechanisms; (2) Youth Enhance Personal Mental Health while also Supporting Mental Health of Friends and Family; (3) Youth Become Inspired and Informed to Act as Advocates and Policy Change Agents. Taken together, these findings provide insights into the important mechanisms of non-familial intergenerational trust building and demonstrate how a strengths-based conceptualization of youth mental health supports mental health maintenance, promotion, and advocacy for this population.

Systematic revision and molecular phylogenetics refine the generic classification of the bark louse family Stenopsocidae (Insecta: Psocodea: Psocomorpha)

Psocomorpha, as one of the suborders of the order Psocodea, represents a large group of free-living bark lice. The phylogenetic relationships among/within the major groups, such as families, subfamilies, tribes, etc., of the bark lice need extensive investigation. The family Stenopsocidae belongs to the infraorder Caeciliusetae, which is a large group of Psocomorpha and is one of the common groups in Asia. Here we infer the intergeneric relationships of Stenopsocidae based on the mitochondrial genes and the nuclear 18S rRNA. The result supports the monophyly of Stenopsocidae and suggests the paraphyly of the genus Stenopsocus. Combining the morphological evidence, we propose a new genus, namely Neostenopsocusgen. n., which includes a number of species previously placed in Stenopsocus. The checklist of this new genus is provided. This new genus can be distinguished from Stenopsocus by the glabrous forewing CuP. In the revised classification system, Stenopsocidae includes four genera: Graphopsocus, Malostenopsocus, Neostenopsocusgen. n., and Stenopsocus. A key to the genera of Stenopsocidae is provided. We also present the diagnostic characters for each of these genera.

Phylogeny and evolutionary timescales of the tribes Tagiadini and Celaenorrhinini (Hesperiidae, Pyrginae) inferred from mitochondrial genome and nuclear genes

AbstractTagiadini and Celaenorrhinini, two closely related groups of skippers in the subfamily Pyrginae, are mainly distributed across the Oriental, Palaearctic and African regions. While some efforts have been made to explore the phylogenetic relationships within Tagiadini and Celaenorrhinini, several unresolved issues still persist. In this study, we sequenced 13 complete mitochondrial genomes from Tagiadini and Celaenorrhinini. Additionally, we extracted nuclear genes CAD, EF‐1α, IDH, MDH, RPS5 and Wingless from the public database. Through comparative analysis, we gained insights into the structure of these newly sequenced mitogenomes. Furthermore, we constructed a comprehensive phylogenetic tree for Tagiadini and Celaenorrhinini, integrating the newly obtained mitochondrial genomes and nuclear genes with previously published mitogenomes and data from the sequence read archive (SRA). The total length of the mitochondrial genomes of the 13 skipper species ranged from 15,228 bp (Seseria sambara indosinica) to 15,431 bp (Pseudocoladenia festa). The newly sequenced genomes featured the standard set of 13 protein‐coding genes (PCGs), 22 transfer RNA genes (tRNAs), 2 ribosomal RNA genes (rRNAs) and a non‐coding A + T‐rich region implicated in replication initiation. The phylogenetic analysis encompassing all mitochondrial and nuclear gene data consistently upheld the monophyly of genera within the tribes Tagiadini and Celaenorrhinini. Most of the intergeneric relationships identified in our study agreed with recent genomic discoveries, showing enhanced nodal support values in some cases. Lastly, we estimated the divergence of the Tagiadini + Celaenorrhinini branch at approximately 44.06 million years ago (Ma) during the middle Eocene epoch. The crown ages of Tagiadini and Celaenorrhinini were estimated at approximately 41.69 Ma and 38.49 Ma, respectively.

INTERGENERATIONAL DIALOGUE IN THE NOVEL “BONJOUR TRISTESSE” BY FRANҪOISE SAGAN

The article aims to study the poetic means of reproducing models of intergenerational dialogue in the parameters of “conflict/solidarity”. The material of the study is the novel “Bonjour tristesse” (“Hello Sadness”) by Françoise Sagan, which demonstrates models of intergenerational relations within and around one family. The objective of the research is to study the existential model of “friend or foe” in intergenerational relations, the peculiarities of generational identification and self-identification, to clarify the mythopoetic interpretation of the archetype of Mother, Eros and Thanatos, and the gender focus of intergenerational relations. The study uses the methodology of literary gerontology, existential interpretation of a literary text, mythocriticism, psychoanalysis, sociological and psychoanalytic works related to age anthropology. Historical, cultural, comparative historical and typological methods are used to study the embodiment of age-related aspects, as well as to establish thematic, figurative, and compositional features of the functioning of intergenerational dialogue in a literary text. The result of the study shows that the intergenerational dialogue in the novel takes place within the framework of the models of “solidarity” and “conflict”. The figurative and motivational complex “solidarity” is characteristic of Cécile and Raymond’s relationship with elements of the idealisation of the father. The model of “solidarity” with elements of manipulation prevails in the relationships of Cécile-Elsa and Cécile-Cyril. During the story, these relationships do not have a deep emotional connection. The “conflict” model is expressed in the Cécile-Anne interaction. Anne makes the mistake of taking her role as a mother to Cécile to heart. Thus, she breaks the established ties in the family, trying to impose “foe” roles on the father and daughter, and on the other hand, she attempts to try on the sacred image of a mother, which leads to Anne’s death. The novel presents an artistic interpretation of the Mother archetype in several projections. First of all, in the variation “patronage as a maternal function”, the Mother archetype is characteristic of Anne. However, if Anne’s patronage as a “foe” is acceptable to Cécile, she does not plan to see her as her father’s wife, or her mother (stepmother). The Cécile-Anne conflict can also be seen in the mythological tradition of the stepmother-stepdaughter. Another variation of the Mother archetype, the “sacrificing mother”, is characteristic of Cyril’s mother, but Cécile negatively perceives the type of “woman in the family kinkeeper role”. The mythopoetics of the conflictual parallel of Eros and Thanatos in the novel is closely related to the motif of the intergenerational relationship between Raymond and Elsa. Here, the connection between an older man and a young lover is a necessary confirmation of a man’s physical and emotional state. The line of mutual love between 40-year-old Anne and Raymond provides an example of harmonious ageing. However, the destructive conflict between Cécile and Anne becomes a modulated energy aimed at eliminating the threat (Anne). In this way, the author’s intention reveals the ontological problem of playing with death, the unconscious realisation of the primordial instinct of destructiveness. The motif of Thanatos is immanently present in the novel because of the death of Cécile’s mother. The relationship between Raymond and Anne causes Cécile’s rejection and ends in Anne’s suicide. Anne’s attempt to take her mother’s sacred place ends in death.

University Students’ Knowledge about Welfare Technologies within Active Aging Concept: An Online Survey Interview

Welfare technology has made a significant impact on society, supporting people´s communication, independence, and day-to-day living. This study aims to investigate university students' knowledge of welfare technologies related to smart active aging. The research was guided by the following questions: 1: What do Slovak university students know about welfare technologies? 2: How are welfare technologies used in the households of university students and their relatives? An online interview survey with reflexive thematic analysis was conducted with 120 university students at two universities in Slovakia. Findings show four themes that were identified: (1) Different interpretations of welfare technologies. (2) Broadening students’ knowledge about welfare smart technologies. (3) Attitudes towards smart and welfare technologies. (4) Gap in practical usage of welfare technologies. Welfare technology is a new topic connected to active aging. Primarily, the younger generation, as proved, has low knowledge on this theme. The novelty of the study lies in connecting the welfare technology concept with the education of the younger generation. Welfare technologies have the potential to promote positive intergenerational relationships, autonomy, and mental and physical well-being among older adults. As for improvements, smart active aging and welfare technology concepts should be incorporated more intensively into higher education. This would help curb the knowledge gap and ensure the development of skills for implementing welfare technologies in the daily lives of their elderly relatives. Doi: 10.28991/ESJ-2024-08-03-017 Full Text: PDF

Age Discrimination in the Hospitality Industry: How do Hospitality Students View Their Elderly Colleagues?

Elderly individuals are frequently perceived as being physically weak, reliant on others, and a source of societal stress. It is imperative for public health professionals and society at large to confront ageism, as they have the potential to mitigate and prevent discrimination, influence policy development, and impact the possibilities available for older individuals to achieve healthy ageing (WHO 2022). The focus of this study is the incidence of discrimination against older people (ageism) as a distinct form of prejudice in the tourism and hotel business. On the basis of an investigation of reciprocal interactions and the perception of working with older colleagues, the current situation of intergenerational relationships among the aging population is revealed. The aim of this study is to address the need for a better mutual understanding of the older and younger populations in the business environment and to foster more pleasant and productive collaboration between them. Using the proposed model, the study examines how prepared hospitality students in Serbia are to work with older colleagues and what their general opinion is about the older population. A survey was conducted among 198 students of hospitality management from Novi Sad (Serbia), incorporating several metrics indicated in the literature. The results imply that students' attitudes towards the social skills of older colleagues have the greatest positive influence on their willingness to work with older workers. In addition, the study revealed that a higher degree of anxiety about aging is associated with a decreased willingness to work with older colleagues. This emphasizes the need for hospitality and tourism faculties to incorporate pedagogical strategies, such as intergenerational service learning, to encourage and maintain intergenerational cooperation in the hospitality industry.

Lions or Cheetahs? Who is Responsible for Raising Kids in Faith?

Scripture encourages parents to pass on faith to children, and a multitude of studies show that the biggest predictor of the faith of kids is the faith of their parents. However, raising kids in faith is more complicated and nuanced than simple “parent to child” religious transmission. In this paper, animal family models are used to explore the relationship between congregations and families. By engaging instructions from scripture, research on changing household structures, and contemporary perspectives on parenting, this paper offers a new way of thinking about religious transmission within intergenerational family relationships and the uniquely central role for congregations.

Parent-Child Relationship Typologies and Associated Health Status Among Older Adults in the United States and China: A Cross-Cultural Comparison.

Cultural differences in intergenerational relationships have been well established in prior research. However, cross-national comparison evidence on the parent-child relationship and its health implications remains limited. Data from the 2014 U.S. Health and Retirement Study and the 2015 Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study in China were used (N US, non-Hispanic Whites only = 3,918; N China = 4,058). Relationship indicators included coresidence, living nearby, having weekly contact, receiving assistance with daily activities, providing grandchild care, and financial transfer to/from children. Latent class and regression analyses were conducted. Four classes were identified for non-Hispanic White older Americans: (1) distant and uninvolved (6.58%), (2) geographically proximate with frequent contact and downward support (47.04%), (3) coresident with frequent contact and upward support (13.1%), and (4) geographically proximate with frequent contact (33.28%). Three classes were identified among older Chinese: (1) coresident with frequent contact and upward support (37.46%), (2) coresident/interdependent (25.65%), and (3) geographically proximate with frequent contact and upward financial support (36.89%). For non-Hispanic White older Americans, providing downward support was associated with fewer functional limitations and better cognition. Receiving instrumental support from children was associated with more depressive symptoms, more functional limitations, and poorer cognition among older Chinese. Cultural contrasts were evident in parent-child relationship typologies and their health implications. Compared to the U.S. non-Hispanic Whites, parent-child relationships in China tended to be closerand associated with poorer health status. The findings call for culturally relevant strategies to improve parent-child relationships and ultimately promote the health of older adults.

Overcoming vulnerability by editing the germline?

The concept of vulnerability has become widely acknowledged as a fundamental concept for medical ethics and research ethics, yet rarely considered with respect to ethical assessments of human germline genome editing. A first aim of this paper is to make vulnerability ethics considerations fruitful for issues related to these technical innovations. The possibility of altering the genome promises to overcome forms of vulnerability inherently connected to our existence as physical beings and would hence allow to increase the resilience of human nature or even to move evolution forward by equipping people with new character traits and enhanced capabilities. I suggest a more fine-grained distinction of various applications purposes than the dichotomy of therapeutic and enhancement. I support the rejection of most application purposes as ‘therapeutic’ and claim that framing them as ‘therapeutic’ in the context of the current discursive constellation runs the risk of accentuating existing vulnerabilities. With respect to intergenerational responsibilities, I reject the view that editing the germline necessarily leads to corrupt intergenerational relations based on which it must be categorically excluded. I conclude that it is nevertheless important to take a very close look at the challenges that arise, especially from a vulnerability perspective, before irreversible facts are created overhastily.

An Autoethnography on Intergenerational Relationships and Transnational Care for Older Parents

I employ autoethnography to undertake a broader scholarly inquiry on intergenerational relationships and transnational care shaped by global migration and aging. Specifically, I reflect on the dynamics of my relationship with my mother, beginning with my departure from my home and spanning a period of 40 years, 8 in China and 34 outside China. In doing so, I contemplate theoretical models of intergenerational solidarity, ambivalence, and role ambiguity. I also challenge cultural assumptions of filial piety. The geographical distance, passage of time, and acculturation process have profoundly influenced my perception of filial piety, which differs markedly from my mother’s. However, this divergence in consensual solidarity—marked by variations in attitudes, beliefs, and values—does not translate into weakened affectual solidarity, characterized by positive sentiments and emotions. Furthermore, aided by advancements in transportation and social media technology, I have been able to extend crucial emotional and some “instrumental” care to my mother, along with financial support if needed, despite limited hands-on care. Nevertheless, I must negotiate my care for my mother and navigate a delicate balance in coordinating my care efforts with those of my non-migrant siblings.

Temporal Orientations in Life Stories

This article draws on ethnographic material from life stories and nonfiction literature and is complemented by fieldwork vignettes. The material is used to discuss how experiences of connections and disconnections between past and present, self and intergenerational relationships, relate to temporal orientations (Bryant and Knight 2019). In the narratives, traces of two salient paradigms framing the temporality of the present, which represent antithetical ways of dealing with connections between the past, present and future, are identified. These traces are found in expressions such as ‘timelessness’, ‘beauty’, ‘now’, and ‘silences’, but also more negatively, as ‘depression’, ‘hauntings’, ‘pain’, and ‘time collapse’. I argue that the two paradigms (‘presentism’ and ‘presence’) coexist, and that they are partly in conflict with each other. Traces of temporality in life stories provide us with keys to understand how temporal orientations, and their related horizons of expectation (Koselleck 1985) may also contribute to shape life trajectories. By explicating how narrators grapple with experiences of temporal disruption and how they try to come to terms with their experiences by seeing them as parts of larger societal events, aspects of the mechanisms whereby dominant modes of thinking become established are made visible to us (Scarry 2022). The merit in this kind of exploration for the ethnography of historicity (Palmié and Stewart 2019), lies in its potential for showing us how future life scenarios are impacted by the ways in which people deal with past events and affect their potential futures. Keywords: Temporal orientations, presentism, presence, historicity, life stories, self, intergenerational relationships.

Frictions between familism and neoliberalism: exploring the intergenerational ambivalence narratives of migrant older parents in China

ABSTRACT This article explores the narratives of Chinese migrant older parents and addresses how the interplay between familism and neoliberalism, as structural forces behind older parents migrating to reside with their adult children, influences their perceptions of intergenerational relationships in the context of internal migration in China. Adopting the intergenerational ambivalence perspective, this study thus analyzes the connections between participants’ lived experiences and the structural forces and processes. The empirical data are drawn from 16 semi-structured interviews with 10 migrant older parents in Shenzhen. Through narrative and thematic analyzes, three main areas of intergenerational ambivalence are identified, which were expressed through how they talk about: (1) their adult children; (2) the childcare work they provided; (3) their expectation about filial care. These narratives highlight a strong focus on the younger generation’s socioeconomic success, with older parents inscribing themselves the role of supporting them to achieve this goal. This entails a change in the norms that regulate intergenerational relationships in contrast to the traditional direction of obligation around filial piety. Furthermore, the analysis demonstrates that the intergenerational ambivalences experienced by migrant older parents are created by their unfavourable positions across two incompatible systems: the neoliberal state-capitalist economy and unchanged family-based welfare/care regime.