Ionuţ Földes

Intergenerational Care Giving Transfers within Kinship Relations: Rural-Urban Comparison

Ionuţ Földes


Article information

Volume: IX Issue: 1, Pages: 104-128
Ionuţ Földes
Babeş-Bolyai University, Faculty of Sociology and Social Work,
Teodor Mihali 58, Cluj Napoca, Romania,
00-40-746-191-301,
ionut.foldes@gmail.com


Abstract

In the context of various changes related to family and as well to the idea of familism, numerous questions are raised about the consequences of these transformations on intergenerational transfers between members of extended family. Bulgaria and Romania, two former socialist countries, are beginning to face the same demographic changes, so a new niche starts to worth to be explored for the two countries. Focusing on practical support provided by adult children and by parents, the article will address a both a descriptive and an explanatory approach on the differences between rural and urban areas in Bulgaria and Romania. Using personal and family characteristics, living arrangements and opinions about family responsibilities, I will try to show on what grounds informal support transfers occur.

Keywords: family relationship, intergenerational transfers, functional solidarity, normative solidarity.

References

Bawin-Legros, B., Stassen, J. F. (2002). “Intergenerational Solidarity: Between the Family and the State”. Current Sociology 50(2): 243 – 262.

Bengtson, V.L., Rosenthal, C.J., Burton, L.M. (1990). “Families and ageing: Diversity and heterogeneity”. In Binstock, R.H., George, L. K. (ed.). Handbook of aging and the social sciences. 3rd ed. New York: Academic Press, pp. 263–287.

Bianchi, S.M., Hotz, J.V., McGarry, K.M., Seltzer, J. A. (2006). Intergenerational Ties: Alternative Theories, Empirical Findings and Trends, and Remaining. California Center for Population Research. Los Angeles: On-Line Working Paper Series.

Brandt, M., Haberkern, K., Szydlik, M. (2009). “Intergenerational Help and Care in Europe”. European Sociological Review 25 (5): 585-601.

Cooney, T.M., Dykstra, P. A. (2013). “Theories and their empirical support in the study of intergenerational family relationship in adulthood”. In Fine, M.A., Fincham, F.D. (ed.) Handbook of family theories: A content-based approach. New York: Routledge/ Taylor and Francis, pp. 356-378.

Coward, R.T., Dwyer, J.W. (1990). “The Association of Gender, Sibling Network Composition, and Patterns of Parent Care by Adult Children”. Research on Aging 12 (2): 158-181.

Dykstra, P.A., Van den Broek, T., Mureșan, C., Hăraguș, M., Hăraguș , P.-T., Abramowska-Kmon, A., Kotowska, I.E. (2014). State-of-the-art report: Intergenerational linkages in families. (Preprints, Families And Societies Working Paper Series, no 2103(1). http://www.familiesandsocieties.eu/wpcontent/uploads/2014/12/WP0 1DykstraEtal2013.pdf: FP-7 funded project “Changing families and sustainable societies: Policy contexts and diversity over the life course and across generations”. Deliverable 7.1.

Dinkel, R.M. (1944). “Attitudes of children toward supporting aged parents”. American Sociological Review 9 (4): 370-379.

Fokkema, T., Ter Bekke, S., Dykstra, P. A. (2008). Solidarity between parents and their adult children in Europe. Den Haag: Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI reports; 76).

Ghysels, J. (2011). The provision of informal childcare by European grandparents: Constraints versus selective preferences. Antwerp: Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy (CSB Working Papers; 11/08).

Guzman, L. (2004). Grandma and Grandpa Taking Care of the Kids: Patterns of Involvement. Washington D.C.: Child Trends (Child Trend Research Briefs; 2004-17).

Hank, K., Buber, I. (2009). “Grandparents caring for their grandchildren: Findings from the 2004 survey of health, ageing and retirement in Europe”. Journal of Family Issues 30(1): 53-73. doi:10.1177/0192513X08322627.

Herlofson, K., Hagestad, G., Slagsvold, B., Sørensen. A.M. (2011). Intergenerational family responsibility and solidarity in Europe. Multilinks deliverable 4.3, www.multilinks-project.eu. Jappens, M., Van Bavel, J. (2012). “Regional family norms and childcare by grandparents in Europe”. Demographic Research 27 (4): 85-120.

Kalmijn, M., Saraceno, C. (2008). “A comparative perspective on intergenerational support: Responsiveness to parental needs in individualistic and familistic countries”. European Societies 10: 479-508.

Keck, W., Hessel, P., Saraceno, C. (2009). Multilinks Database on Intergenerational Policy Indictors: Methodological Report. Berlin: Social Science Research Center Berlin.

Kulcsár, L.J., Brădăţan, C. (2014). “The Greying Periphery—Ageing and Community Development in Rural Romania and Bulgaria”. Europe-Asia Studies 66 (5) DOI: 10.1080/09668136.2014.886861.

Leopold, T., Raab, M. (2011). Short- Term Reciprocity in Late Parent – Child Relations. Journal of Marriage and Family 73 (1): 105-119.

McGarry, K. M. (1998). “Caring for the Elderly: The Role of Adult Children”. In Wise, D.A. (ed.). Inquiries in the Economics of Aging. Chicago: University of Chicago Press: 133-163.

Mureșan, C. (2012). Schimbările comportamentului familial în România: o abordare din perspectiva cursului vieții. Cluj Napoca: Presa Universitară Clujeană.

Puur, A., Põldma, A., Sakkeus, L., Herm, A. (2011). “Intergenerational family constellations in contemporary Europe: Evidence from the Generations and Gender Survey”. Demographic Research 25 (4): 135-172.

Rossi, A. S., Rossi, P. H. (1990). Of human bonding: Parent-child relations over the life course. New York: Aldine de Gruyter.

Silverstein, M., Conroy, S.J., Gans, D. (2012). “Beyond solidarity, reciprocity and altruism: moral capital as a unifying concept in intergenerational support for older people”. Ageing and Society 32 (7): 1246-1262. doi: 10.1017/S0144686X1200058X.

Viazzo, P.P. (2010). “Family, kinship and the welfare provision in Europe, past and present: Communalities and divergences”. Continuity and Change 25 (1): 137-159.