A Life-Course Analysis of Geographical Distance to Siblings, Parents, and Grandparents in Sweden

Abstract

This study makes a contribution to the demography and geography of kinship by studying how internal migration and demography shape the geographical availability of kin in contemporary Sweden. Age structures an individual's relationship with their parents and other kin, and this is reflected in how geographical distance to kin varies over the life course. This study uses a longitudinal approach in which the distance to siblings, parents, and grandparents is measured for the same individuals at different ages. The study follows all men and women in Sweden born in 1970 (N = 74,406) and their kin from age 10 (in 1980) to age 37 (in 2007), examining changes in distances to kin at ages when the cohort leave the parental home and often begin a new family. Swedish administrative registers containing yearly information on residence of everyone in Sweden are used to examine how geographical proximity changes over the life course. The study reveals overall continuity in geographical distance to family members after age 25. Overall, results show that Swedes live close to parents, siblings, and grandparents and have a large family network in their proximity. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Migration patterns of parents, children and siblings: Evidence for patrilocality in contemporary Finland

“…Unlike Kolk (), who reported that gender differences are mainly related to the timing of leaving the parental home, we thus find persistent gender differences among adult Finns. This finding is in line with similar research on marital migration from Norway, although the Norwegian study concentrated on couples (Løken et al, ), and with the study by Chudnovskaya and Kolk () from Sweden, who found that adult daughter's lived further away from their mothers than adult men lived from their mothers at the time of the birth of the first child.…”

“…The persistent geographical attraction of close family members is similar to that reported in previous studies, for instance, Mulder and Kalmijn (), using Dutch data and Kolk (), using Swedish data. One novelty of our study is the inclusion of half siblings.…”

“…Adult children may continue to live in the area of their childhood or move back to it at later stages of life, and parents may move closer to their adult children in order to care for their grandchildren or to receive help themselves as they age (e.g., Blaauboer, Mulder, & Zorlu, ; Geist & McManus, ; Pettersson & Malmberg, ). A life course perspective on migration processes is therefore warranted (Mulder, ), ideally using longitudinal data in order to trace how actual family relations evolve as individuals age (Kolk, ).…”

Moving back to “mamma”? Divorce, intergenerational coresidence, and latent family solidarity in Sweden

“…This is in accordance with previous findings showing that adult children with divorced and separated parents remain in closer contact with their mothers than with their fathers (see, e.g., Daatland, ; de Graaf & Fokkema, ; Kalmijn, ). This finding also suggests the relevance of location‐specific capital in the decision to come back to the parental home, and more in general the relevance of the geographical distance between members of the kin network (Kolk, ). However, it is also worth noting that living in the same municipality had a relatively weak strengthening effect of family dissolution on coresidence, suggesting that many cross municipality borders to live with their parents in the face of divorce and separation.…”

Retirement timing and grandparenthood: A population-based study on Sweden

“…Second, having multiple grandchild sets has been shown to produce weaker ties overall but to increase the likelihood of contact with at least one set (Fingerman 2004;Uhlenberg and Hammill 1998). The opportunities for individuals to engage with kin in Sweden are likely high, as most Swedes live relatively close to their kin networks (Kolk 2017), and individuals with many children are more likely to live close to at least one child (Holmlund, Rainer, and Siedler 2013). Given these two reasons, the sixth formulated hypothesis is that the more grandchild sets grandparents have, the earlier they retire.…”