Regional family cultures and child care by grandparents in Europe

Structured ambivalence in grandchild care and the quality of life among European grandparents

“…In Scandinavian countries with affordable, highquality childcare services, like in Denmark and Sweden, working parents do not have to rely on grandparents on a daily basis. Analysing the childcare strategies of European mothers, Jappens and van Bavel (2012) provide evidence that the normative context in a region influences the likelihood of relying on grandchild care instead of formal childcare, even when the availability of formal childcare is controlled.…”

Generational interdependencies in families

“…The database has 71 indicators; 48 pertain to responsibilities for the young, and 23 pertain to responsibilities for the old. 3 The usefulness of the MULTILINKS database has been illustrated in a number of recent studies (e.g., Aassve, Arpino, and Bordone 2012;Daatland, Herlofson, and Lima 2011;Jappens and Van Bavel 2012;Saraceno 2010Saraceno , 2011Keck 2010, 2011;Schenk, Dykstra, and Maas 2010).…”

“…adults living with their parents) favours the exchange of support, economic and otherwise (see Heylen et al 2012 in this special collection). In their contribution, using data from round 2 of the European Social Survey, Jappens and Van Bavel (2012) show large variations across Europe in the rate of intergenerational co-residence, reflecting historical, cultural and socio-political differences (Billari 2004;Iacovou and Skew 2011). More than 48% of the 55-plus live with adult children in Ireland, parts of Spain, Italy, Hungary, and Poland, but less than 15% of the 55-plus do so in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark and most of Germany, Belgium, France, Great Britain and the Netherlands.…”

Childcare and participation at work in North-East Italy: Why do Italian and foreign mothers behave differently?

“…In Europe, the strength of the "regulatory climate" (more or less family-oriented) acts on parents' decisions to entrust their children to grandparents (Jappens and Van Bavel, 2012) However, even after measuring the difference at individual and regional levels and controlling for many variables (including two measures of family-oriented regulatory climate and the availability of public childcare), there are still significant unexplained differences across European countries in the propensity to entrust children to grandparents, Italy, Spain and Greece having the highest proportions of this kind of childcare. This unexplained difference may be due to the absence, among the explanatory variables, of an indicator of the distance between the residences of parents and grandparents.…”

“…The choice of working after the birth of a child and the type of childcare for the newborn baby if a woman works, depend on opportunity costs but also on women's preferences, which are influenced by cultural aspects1. For example, in Italy, the choice between formal childcare and childcare provided by grandparents is affected, among other things, by the family-oriented approach towards the care of children prevalent in Italy (Jappens and Van Bavel, 2012). Several issues must be examined in understanding women's decisions.…”