The Future of Intergenerational Relations in Aging Societies

Abstract

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. Family systems are among the most enduring and universal institutions that human beings have devised; in one form or another, they exist in every society as a social arrangement for regulating reproduction, supporting the young, and caring for the elderly. The survival of family systems stems from their remarkable ability to transform their structure and practices in response to new demographic, social, and economic conditions. That the family system has persevered despite the vast global changes of the last century attests to this resiliency and adaptability. But there are a number of indications that the family's capacity to perform its traditional functions is becoming strained as the pace of social and economic change quickens around the globe.Family formation and childbearing, robust a halfcentury ago, have slowed to below populationreplacement levels in most developed nations. Marriage has become a less central and stable institution, making child care more precarious.

A Decade of Research on Intergenerational Ties: Technological, Economic, Political, and Demographic Changes

“…That prior uptick may have reflected declining prices for long‐distance phone calls and airline deregulation. The persistent trajectory also reflects the prolonged transition to adulthood during the past 20 years (e.g., higher education, delay partnering) that fosters interdependency among adults and parents (Fingerman et al, ; Furstenberg et al, ). As such, younger generations today report contact at least once a week or even daily.…”

“…The past 30 years have seen shifts in the nature of early adulthood with 18‐ to 34‐year‐olds increasingly dependent and interconnected with their parents throughout much of the developed world (Arnett, ; Furstenberg, 2010). These changing patterns have rendered ties between young adults and their parents distinct from relationship dynamics observed later in adulthood and old age (Fingerman, Huo, Kim, & Birditt, ; Furstenberg, Hartnett, Kohli, & Zissimopoulos, ). Furthermore, midlife adults often support both young adults and aging parents, and aging parents are often involved in supporting their midlife offspring and grandchildren (Fingerman et al, ; Huo, Graham, Kim, Birditt, & Fingerman, ; Huo, Kim, Zarit, & Fingerman, 2018).…”

Housing careers, intergenerational support and family relations

“…More recent evidence has suggested, however, that shifting economic conditions are re-galvanizing the family, especially intergenerational interactions KEYWORDS Housing careers; homeownership; intergenerational relations; private transfers; wealth inequality ARTICLE HISTORY and exchanges (e.g. Druta & Ronald, 2017a;Flynn & Schwartz, 2017;Furstenberg et al, 2015;Kohli, 2010). More specifically, along with the decline of labour market security, the erosion of the welfare state and, in many contexts, the assertion of post-crisis austerity policies, the family has been called upon to support social reproduction and, in particular, the advancement of children through early adult life-course transitions.…”

Evolving Eldercare in Contemporary China

“…Especially when their parents lived longer, middle-aged children had to simultaneously attend to care for their children and frail elderly parents (Furstenberg et al 2015 ). As a result, the reconciliation between family and work became more and more challenging for Chinese baby-boomers.…”

“…Indeed, following a sociological tradition, social class can become another new lens to examine how the sociocultural transformation in urban China since the Economic Reform may have infl uenced people's views on caregiving arrangements and beliefs in fi lial piety. Furthermore, the fl ow of resources works differently in different social classes (Furstenberg et al 2015 ). It may be common for adult children from the middle class and higher to seek caregiving alternatives to support their elderly parents, while those who are among the poor and near-poor may be busy making ends meet and may not be able to provide extra monetary support or seek extra caregiving resources for their elderly parents.…”