Transnational Families in Lithuania: Multi-dimensionality and Reorganization of Relationships

Siblings as Overlooked Potential for Care and Support Across Households and Borders

“…Gender can be linked to the expression of filial norms and the readiness of individuals to help their family members (Haberkern & Szydlik, 2010), as well as to types of intergenerational solidarity and expectations of support from personal networks in the context of migration. Prior research focusing on the Lithuanian case has revealed the importance of women (particularly mothers) in intergenerational relations (Juozeliūnienė & Budginaitė, 2016;Kanopienė, 2014;Tureikytė, 2015) and different types of assistance to families with migration experience, depending on the gender of the family member remaining in Lithuania (Juozeliūnienė et al, 2018). In this article, we compare the support expectations of the Lithuanian population towards their sisters and their brothers and examine to what extent the relationship patterns within and across generations are gendered.…”

“…As far as we know, to date, sibling relationships in transnational family life never have been at the centre of attention of family researchers in Lithuania. These relations were indirectly touched upon while analysing migrant families in various contexts, for example, when examining the factors of the formation of transnational families in post-communist society (Maslauskaitė & Stankūnienė, 2007), in analysing family practices (Juozeliūnienė & Seymour, 2020) and intergenerational relationships in transnational families (Budginaitė-Mačkinė, 2020;Juozeliūnienė et al, 2018). In these studies, the dependent child-parent relations, adult child-elderly parent relations and the involvement of grandparents in transnational caregiving practices were at the core of the analysis of care circulation in multiple households across borders.…”

Transnational Displays of Parenting and Caring For Elderly Parents

“…In our previous study of migrant families, funded by the Research Council of Lithuania (2012Lithuania ( -2014, we carried out a multi-level analysis of family and close kin relationships of the Lithuanian population (Juozeliūnienė and Seymour, 2015;Juozeliūnienė, Budginaitė and Bielevičiūtė, 2018). By invoking the intergenerational solidarity perspective (Bengtson, 2001;Silverstein, Bengtson and Lawton, 1997) we explored how 'embeddedness' (Smart, 2007) manifested itself through vertical and horizontal ties with family members, close kin, friends, and acquaintances, and how the migratory experience transformed these ties into intensive and meaningful relations.…”