Intergenerational Family Research Articles

Effects of Intergenerational Care Behavior on Residents' Nutrition Intake-Descriptive Statistical Analysis of Rural China Survey 2010-2014.

Nutritional status plays an indispensable role in enhancing human capital and preventing the return to poverty. In the context of the three-child policy and the aging society in China, intergenerational care will inevitably become a core component of family support. Thus, this paper evaluates the impacts of intergenerational care behavior on nutritional intake in Chinese rural residents from the perspective of household consumption. The study's data is from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) (2010-2014), and, the fixed effect model and analyses are applied to achieve the study's objective. The results reveal that rural residents with intergenerational family care behavior have significantly higher food diversity. Thus, Chinese rural residents with intergenerational care consumed 22.4% more food. A possible mechanism is that intergenerational care improves young mothers' labor participation and income, thus optimizing their dietary structure. Moreover, there was heterogeneity concerning the nutrition intake among rural residents in different geographic and family net income groups. Finally, the robust check is consistent with the baseline regression results. In summary, governments should fully affirm the elderly contribution to families to give full play to the elderly family benefit maximization.

Commentary: The roles of mothers versus fathers in intergenerational family risk - a commentary on Rothenberg etal. (2023).

Basic research studies in the past 2 decades have established that conduct problems and antisocial behavior are associated across generations within families. The Fast Track study represents a major prevention effort with children showing higher levels of conduct problems in childhood, and the Rothenberg etal. (Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 2022) study sheds light on whether this intervention has beneficial effects on the family of procreation. In this commentary, we consider the implications of the major finding that such effects were found for women but not for men. We discuss evidence that men's parenting behavior is influenced by the parenting behavior and overall risk of their women partners, and thus preventive interventions in childhood may have beneficial influences on fathers through mothers.

A Life Course, Intergenerational Perspective on Loneliness.

The present study relied on 15 dyads of adult children and their older parent to better understand intergenerational family relations from a life course perspective. Interviews were analyzed relying on qualitative thematic analysis, identifying similarities and differences within and between interviews and dyads. Our analysis resulted in three major themes. The first concerns the important role of intergenerational family relation as a means to define and conceptualize the experiences of loneliness and ways of coping with loneliness. The second theme concerned intergenerational relations as a cause (and at times a remedy) of loneliness. The third theme concerns the ability of the dyad's members to reflect on the level of loneliness of the other member in the intergenerational dyad. The findings stress the importance of intergenerational family relations throughout the life course and highlight the importance of adopting an intergenerational lens as a possible means to address loneliness.

Settlement in Nanjing among Chinese rural migrant families: The role of changing and persistent family norms

After nearly four decades of rural–urban mobility in China, most rural-to-urban migrants are still in a disadvantaged position. Nevertheless, an increasing number of them have started to pursue permanent settlements in urban destinations. Despite many quantitative studies concerning their settlement outcomes, little is known about the strategies employed and processes undergone by families in realising their settlement plans. The permanent settlement of migrants usually requires the commitment of their extended intergenerational families. We investigate how changing and persistent family norms feature in decisions over settlement plans made by nuclear families of the younger generation of rural-to-urban migrant workers in a Chinese megacity. Building on face-to-face interviews in Nanjing, we found reflections of individualism among the younger generation, such as a greater desire for personal fulfilment, stronger voices of wives in couples and the decline in filial obligation. The older generation also revealed certain aspects of individualism. They expressed rising concerns for their well-being and chose to accept the loss of authority in the plans to support adult children to settle down. Under a child-centred logic, parental sacrifice has been persistent among younger and older generations. Thus, difficulties encountered during urban settlement have transferred from the younger generation to their parents through parental sacrifice embedded in Chinese Confucian ideology. The exclusive urban housing and education systems, combined with the lack of care systems for children and the elderly, mediate these family norms.

Chinese people aged over 60 and intergenerational family cohabitation: A moderated mediation model of role perception, resources, gender, family power

We explored whether the perception of older adults of their role in the family mediated the relationship between resource contribution and sense of power, and if this relationship was moderated by gender. For data collection we adopted a stratified sampling method to recruit 1,200 Chinese people aged over 60 years who were living in intergenerational cohabitation with their adult children in Mengzhou City, China. The results showed that the family role perception of older adults mediated the relationship between their resources (including housing ownership and income level relative to that of their adult children) and their family decision-making power. Further, gender moderated the influence of resources on role perception, in that the relationships among housing ownership, relative income level, and role perception tended to be stronger for men than for women. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

‘If you sell your sickness, you will get its medicine’: Care and intrafamilial communication for chronic diseases in southern Ghana

Knowledge of family health history can help to mitigate risk for chronic non-communicable diseases known to run in families. However, disclosure of disease or illness is not always a given. This paper explores the relationship between care and intrafamilial communication regarding chronic health conditions in Ghanaian families, drawing on concepts of generativity and reciprocity. Data were drawn from a qualitative description study on family histories and health. This paper analyzes four focus group discussions and two intergenerational family interviews conducted among 35 older adults and their adult children and grandchildren in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. Data were analyzed thematically using an inductive approach and themes relating to care and intrafamilial communication were assessed for this analysis. Findings showed that intergenerational care can serve as a means to disclose and communicate family health histories while disclosure of illness serves as a means to receive and give care for oneself and one's family. Furthermore, care services can sometimes be a barrier to communication of family health histories while concealment of disease and of family health histories and identities may be a form of care. Finally, intergenerational family health history discussions may prompt encouragement of care-seeking behaviors and preventive care. The results of this pilot study suggest avenues through which care arrangements could be capitalized on to promote the sharing of health history information within families to better manage chronic disease risk. In addition, they illustrate the potential for family health history discussions to further encourage care-seeking for chronic disease prevention.

Intergenerational family relationships and the impact of behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD): a qualitative longitudinal study

Abstract Research concerning the reciprocal influence of relationships and dementia largely focuses on dyadic relationships despite evidence that whole families are affected. Furthermore, such research generally considers more common forms of dementia such as Alzheimer's disease. Behavioural variant fronto-temporal dementia (bvFTD) primarily although not exclusively affects people below the age of 65 and is distinctly different in its impact from more common forms of dementia, affecting social cognition and therefore relational functioning. We aimed to develop a detailed understanding of intergenerational family experiences of bvFTD over time. We adopted a social constructivist and pluralist approach, using Narrative Thematic Analysis and Grounded Theory. We interviewed seven families in their own homes, including the person with bvFTD, at up to three time-points every six to nine months from 2012 to 2014, resulting in 46 interviews with 19 family members. Three super-ordinate themes were identified: Theme 1: We before bvFTD: cohesive and connected – disconnected and distant; Theme 2: Challenges experienced by us; and Theme 3: Relational outcomes: a changing we – an entrenched we. Results emphasise bvFTD brought early and significant disruption to family relationships. The interplay of prior relational functioning, involving the nature of the relationship for family members, the specific impact of bvFTD on these relationships and family member's understanding of bvFTD was critical to how each family fared over the duration of the research, and the relational outcomes they experienced. These findings suggest health-care practice could enhance its support for families living with bvFTD, through the development of tailored, family-oriented approaches to assessment and practice. Such approaches are necessary to understand how families work together and identify interventions that address the family-specific challenges bvFTD brings. The provision of tailored, relational-focused and specialised information concerning the experience of living with bvFTD is needed to flexibly address families' needs and expectations.

The Impact on Language Maintenance and Studies Among Third- and Fourth-Generation Turkish Students in Melbourne, in the Era of COVID-19

The research into the maintenance of the Turkish language amongst third- and fourth-generation of Turkish students enrolled into the study of the heritage language is part of a greater ethnographic study on Family Language Policy (FLP) of second- and third-generation Turkish parents in Melbourne, Australia. The study investigated the strategies implemented by families in promoting language choice and methods towards maintenance practices of the heritage language. The research also begins to reveal the impact of declining enrolment numbers into the study of the Turkish language and its impact on language maintenance. Data was collected on the language beliefs and practices of forty-five bilingual families through participant observation and in-depth interviews amongst intergenerational family members including parents, children, and grandparents. The current research stemmed from the initial study to investigate an extensive element specific to the maintenance and study of the Turkish language. The subsequent research was instigated during the COVID-19 pandemic, whereby school closures and remote learning were prominent. Families with students enrolled into the study of the Turkish language took part in an online chat forum discussing the impact onsite school closures had on the maintenance of Turkish studies and the continued declining enrolment numbers. Whilst the family home remains for most migrant communities the main domain for language maintenance, formal studies of language education offer an additional platform derived towards heritage language practice as a further strategy in family language policy and planning. The findings reveal that whilst the study of the Turkish language was once a foundation essential for heritage language maintenance amongst the implementations of first-generation Turkish parents, raising their children bilingual; current data reflects a shift in generations to follow second-generation Turkish. The findings reveal the declining enrolment numbers into the study of the Turkish language as an additional factor to the shift in language preference and language maintenance.

Older People's Long-Term Care Preferences in China: The Impact of Living with Grandchildren on Older People's Willingness and Family Decisions.

The purpose of this paper was to better understand the long-term care preferences of older people based on intergenerational demonstration effects and social exchange theory, derived from the literature on intergenerational family relationships. The authors relied on the 2014 China Longitudinal Ageing Social Survey database to test the study hypotheses. The results indicated that living with grandchildren was negatively related to the institutional care preferences of older people. Family members’ attitudes and older people’s life satisfaction significantly mediated the relationship between living with grandchildren and their institutional care preferences. Gender and marital status had potentially diverse effects on institutional care preferences. Therefore, in the context of China’s culture of filial piety, social exchange, and intergenerational demonstration, motivation may help foster intergenerational exchange and reciprocity in eldercare arrangements.

The role of intergenerational family stories in mental health and wellbeing.

Patterns of memory sharing begin early in one’s life, informing relationships, one’s history, and one’s sense of cultural belonging. Memory sharing among families has been the focus of research investigating the relationship between mental health and intergenerational memory. A burgeoning body of research is showing that intergenerational knowledge of one’s family history is associated with positive mental health and wellbeing. However, research on the specific mechanisms and potential applications of such findings are just beginning to emerge. In particular, studies examining intergenerational storytelling point to the importance of culture and gender as critical factors underlying how stories are told and the extent to which these stories are associated with wellbeing. Such findings hold important promise for the pentation and treatment of mental health issues. As research in this area continues to evolve, the identification and characterization of factors and mechanisms underlying intergenerational family stories and wellbeing may help to guide the integration of family stories into mental health interventions.

Breathing new life into death certificates: Extracting handwritten cause of death in the LIFE-M project

The demographic and epidemiological transitions of the past 200 years are well documented at an aggregate level. Understanding differences in individual and group risks for mortality during these transitions requires linkage between demographic data and detailed individual cause of death information. This paper describes the digitization of almost 185,000 causes of death for Ohio to supplement demographic information in the Longitudinal, Intergenerational Family Electronic Micro-database (LIFE-M). To extract causes of death, our methodology combines handwriting recognition, extensive data cleaning algorithms, and the semi-automated classification of causes of death into International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes. Our procedures are adaptable to other collections of handwritten data, which require both handwriting recognition and semi-automated coding of the information extracted.

Close encounters during a pandemic: Social habits and inter-generational links in the first two waves of COVID-19

Social habits are ingrained in a community and affect human behaviour. Have they played any role in the spread of the pandemic? We use high-frequency data for 220 regions in 15 European countries from March to December 2020 to compare the association between social contacts outside the family and within inter-generational families, on the one hand, and cases and excess mortality on the other. We find that a standard deviation increase in the percentage of people having daily face-to-face contacts outside the household is associated with 5 new daily cases and 2.6 additional weekly deaths, while the incidence of inter-generational households exhibits a less robust association with both COVID-19 transmission and mortality. We compare results across the first and the second wave of pandemic and show that differences are related to the average age of the most affected groups. Our findings are robust to the inclusion of a number of controls, fixed effects, the chosen sample of countries, and the estimation method. We argue that type and frequency of social interactions are interweaved with a region culture and habits and are informative on the potential transmission of contagion and on its lethality.

Missing Policy for Supporting Cultural Heritage Preservation of Batik Industry Clusters in Barlingmascakeb Region, Indonesia

The emergence of ‘new’ batik industry clusters in the Java mainland in the early 2000s has raised inquiries towards the interplay between indigenous business formation and government intervention. Following the historical trajectories, the batik industry has performed an intergenerational family business model by forwarding long-standing local genius in local development. However, top-down government intervention has also taken a key role in driving the local batik industry. Batik industry clusters in Barlingmascakeb Region may perform differently. This study focuses on scrutinizing how their persistence may contribute to local development where either the tradition root or policy support is missing. A mixed-method approach with sequential strategy was used by conducting case study analysis of the key informants and statistical analysis on the development of batik industry clusters in situ. The results show that their persistence is mostly encouraged by opportunistic trading businesses with little multiplier effects to local development. The local government policy merely serves a program matching instead of promoting the so-called cultural heritage preservation. As a result, the localized cultural identity brought by the batik industry clusters is unrecognizable and leaving profit-taking of the batik trading at the place.

The impact of generational intelligence on intergenerational family relations and quality of life in Israeli society during Covid-19 pandemic?

Covid-19 period was never experienced before globally. Unfortunately its with us again. This article will attempt to investigate types and patterns of family intergenerational relations, trying to understand how communication, assistance, as well as conflicts between different family generations, during such a complicated period Lowenstein & Daatland1 are solved in Israeli society. Additionally, does Generational Intelligence, which presents a new approach to family relations, contribute to strengthen these relations.2

‘Part of our DNA': intergenerational family learning in informal science

ABSTRACT Families create contexts for learning to enhance and support the interests of their children, while simultaneously teaching language, morals, and culture. This research examines intergenerational family teams engaged in a long-term conservation project in their community. Participants were interviewed during and after project completion with the central research purpose of exploring how the intersecting experiences of family members explain emerging family cultural learning pathways. Intergenerational family teams shared narratives which were then analyzed using the cultural learning pathways framework [Bell, P., Tzou, C., Bricker, L., & Baines, A. D. (2012). Learning in diversities of structures of social practice: Accounting for how, why and where people learn science. Human Development, 55(5-6), 269–284. doi:10.1159/000345315] that we subsequently used to create family cultural learning pathways for each participating family. Family interactions are powerful influences on the identity development of children, not only in their academic development, but also in their moral, ethical, and social development.

Between Grandma and Granddaughter – The Process of Becoming a Black Woman in a Racist Society. Analysis of Intergenerational Transmission on the Example of bell hooks’ autobiography Bone Black: Memories of Girlhood

The aim of the essay is to discuss an intergenerational transmission of family history and its impact on the process of becoming a Black woman in a racist society. The example chosen for analysis is the autobiography of bell hooks, Bone Black: Memories of Girlhood (1996), which is a story about girlhood. (B)ell hooks is a pen name of Gloria Jean Watkins, an African-American scholar and writer whose childhood and adolescence were during the period of racial segregation and desegregation in the 1960s of the twentieth century. (B)ell hooks writes Bone Black to reflect on being a Black girl growing up in racially segregated American society in the 60s of the twentieth century. She shows the historical and political contexts of her growing up, however, it is the local community and intergenerational family ties that she places at the center of her process of becoming the woman: bell hooks. Relationships with women, particularly a relationship between grandmother and granddaughter are of great significance in this process. The essay begins with a brief summary of the biography of bell hooks and a description of Bone Black, with particular emphasis put on the author’s interand intragenerational relationships with women. Next, I will move on to discuss the intergenerational transmissions of family history and their impact on the process of becoming a woman. For this purpose, I will refer to the life story concept introduced by Daniel Bertaux (2016), and the notion of subjective resources created by Catherine Delcroix (1999, 2014), in order to discuss the importance of intergenerational transmission of life stories in the process of becoming the woman knowns as “bell hooks.”

A Multivariate Analysis of the Interest in Starting Family Businesses within a Developing Economy.

The main objective of the research is to analyze the factors which influence the intention to start an intergenerational family business in a developing economy, highlighting the measures that can be implemented by decision-makers to stimulate these initiatives. PLS-SEM was used to analyze the data issued from 200 valid questionnaires. The survey was applied to 950 individuals from Romania. We focused on four variables: the closeness to family members, the financial support expected from family, the independence of individuals regarding the intention to start their own business and the intention to form partnerships with family members. All the hypotheses were validated, according to the final results. Thus, closeness to family members has a direct and positive impact on both the financial support expected from the family and the intention to form intergenerational family businesses. There is also a direct correlation between the financial support received from family and the intention to have partnerships with family members. Individuals who are closer to their families are not interested in developing independent businesses. There are several studies on family businesses in Romania, but there is no research analyzing the impact of closeness to family on the intention to develop an intergenerational family business. The study is useful for the decision-makers who can create national strategies in order to stimulate families to develop their own businesses.

Intergenerational family online community and older adults' overall well-being

PurposeThis study aims to evaluate the potential contribution of a membership in an online family community to older adults' overall well-being.Design/methodology/approachA total of 427 respondents over the age of 64 participated in the study (M = 74.55, SD = 7.13), answering a survey. To test the contributing of belonging to family online communities (WhatsApp), three hierarchical regression analyses were conducted, with well-being, self-perceptions of aging and loneliness as outcome variables.FindingsFindings show that belonging to an intergenerational family online community was associated with higher levels of well-being, less loneliness and better self-perceptions of aging, even once demographic characteristics and using social media were controlled for.Social implicationsThis study demonstrates the important role that the family online community membership plays in older adults' lives. This has significant implications that may contribute to intergenerational emotional solidarity.Originality/valueThe authors suggest that technology is not per se, but the intergenerational opportunities that technology facilitates that make a difference.Peer reviewThe peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-06-2021-0332

Associations of Expanding Parental Medicaid Eligibility and Parental Health and Family Functioning.

To examine the effects of parental Medicaid eligibility on parental health, parenting practices, and child development in low-income families. Longitudinal analysis using data from the Early Child Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten: 2011 to 2016. Outcomes included parental self-rated health, parental depressive symptoms, parents' communication and warmth toward children, and children's social skills and externalizing and internalizing behaviors. We estimated 2-way (individual and year) fixed effects models using Medicaid eligibility as a continuous variable, controlling for changing economic conditions, changes in family structure, and state-specific trends. We then estimated triple difference models comparing lower income families to those with higher incomes. Finally, we estimated difference-in-difference models and used entropy weights in order to account for differences in trends prior to 2014 for some outcomes. In fixed effects models, expanding Medicaid eligibility by 100% of the federal poverty line is associated with a 12.7 percentage point reduction in parents' report of having fair or poor health (95% confidence interval [CI], -23.9, -1.5) and a 1.15-point improvement on a 12-point scale of parental warmth towards children (95% CI, 0.15, 2.16). Results were substantively similar in entropy-balanced difference-in-differences models. In triple difference models, expanded Medicaid eligibility is associated with a 0.46 point improvement in warmth (95% CI, 0.10, 0.83) but not improved parental health. No significant effects for child behavior or other outcomes were detected. Expanding Medicaid for parents may have implications for intergenerational family functioning that could lead to broader social benefits.

“My children,” “my grandchildren”: Navigating intergenerational ambivalence in grandparent childcare arrangements in Hong Kong

AbstractObjectiveThis study contributes in‐depth knowledge about informal childcare and family processes in East Asian families in Hong Kong in a time of rapid economic and social development. We explore how families negotiate grandparent childcare and how parents and grandparents manage intergenerational tensions and conflict.BackgroundThe common way of understanding intergenerational relationships in childcare is to focus on the positive experience of taking care of grandchildren, but there is limited discussion on the tension and conflicts that also occur between the generations.MethodThis qualitative study is based on in‐depth interviews with 14 parents and 12 grandparents about childcare arrangements for 53 children within East Asian families in Hong Kong.ResultsTensions are found among the parents and grandparents in childcare provision, and considerable negotiation and ongoing emotional management of relationships is required.ConclusionGrandparent childcare is an important resource for many families, but it might not suit all. The issues of autonomy, seniority, power, respect, and different expectations of care are embedded in established family dynamics. Some intergenerational problems are unable to be settled by the family members.ImplicationsGrandparent childcare should be a care option provided for families with young children. However, it should not be a substitute for childcare services and supports outside the home. Professional family services also should be sensitive to intergenerational family dynamics.