Family proximity and relocations in older adulthood

The family remains one of the most important sources of support for older adults. Geographic proximity between family members has important implications for the growing demand for formal and informal care. As people age, their own and their family members’ residential (im)mobility may be a strategy to facilitate the exchange of care. Drawing on the full population register data from Norway and Sweden, this research addresses the following question: How are needs-related life circumstances of older people associated with their own and their relatives’ migration and immobility (including older adults’ moves into institutionalized care facilities)? The roles of a range of needs-related life circumstances of older adults in their own and their family members’ locational choice are documented: needs for formal care, severe health problems, the absence of core family members, or losing a partner recently. The overall answer to the research question is that older adults’ needs-related life circumstances deter intergenerational geographic divergence, and inspire moves toward adult children, siblings, and into institutionalized residential care. The results emphasize the importance of non-resident family members in migration and immobility both as a deterrent to moving into institutionalized care and elsewhere when family members live nearby and as an attraction to migrate toward clusters of relatives. The findings broadly suggest that even in Norway and Sweden where formal care services are available, the welfare state is far from “crowding out” the family from the sphere of care and the family plays an important role in the locational choices of older adults

Older Adults’ Internal Migration Toward Faraway Siblings

OBJECTIVES: Research on the role of siblings in older adult migration lags behind a growing number of studies on adult children as a mobility attraction. We attend to this gap by examining (a) to what extent the absence of partners and/or adult children influences older adults’ (age 70–84) migration toward faraway siblings (at least 50 km away) and (b) how these migrations are patterned by the location of other family members (children, other siblings, and nephews/nieces). METHODS: We use multinomial logistic regression models and analyze dyads of older adults and all distant siblings from the Swedish population register data between 2012 and 2016 (N = 1,743,234). We control for several characteristics of older adults and their siblings that may affect the decision to move closer, including sociodemographic characteristics and measures of location-specific capital. RESULTS: Widowed, divorced, and never-married older adults were more likely to move closer to distant siblings than those with a partner. Not having children was associated with a higher likelihood of moving toward a sibling. Living near adult children or other siblings deterred relocation toward siblings, while family clustered at a distance reinforced the location’s attractiveness for migration. DISCUSSION: As declines in fertility broadly reflect people’s decisions to have fewer children or forego having families, siblings might emerge as more active players in the family networks of older adults. Our research indicates that siblings can be a destination for migration and, therefore, should be considered as important members of social networks of older adults, especially those who do not have partners and/or adult children available

Do older parents' assistance needs deter parent-child geographic divergence in Norway?

The role of intergenerational geographic proximity in individuals' migration decisions has been well-established. The circumstances under which parents and their adult children move away from or remain close to each other are, however, less clear. Drawing on Norwegian register data for 2014-2016 and three-level logistic regression models, we examine whether formal care needs of older parents (aged ≥65) deter parent-child geographic divergence and whether variation in the likelihood of divergence is associated with municipal-level characteristics. After accounting for location-specific capital and parents' and children's sociodemographic characteristics, parents and children were less likely to diverge after the onset of parental care needs. Utilising in-home nursing decreased the likelihood of divergence for mothers while utilising institutionalised care decreased the likelihood of divergence for fathers. The use of in-home nursing care among single mothers further reduced the likelihood of divergence. Parents and adult children living in central areas were the least likely to diverge geographically. The likelihood of intergenerational divergence was lower for fathers and children living in municipalities with high healthcare spending.publishedVersio

The sequence of life events of Russian men serving and not serving in the military

Using two representative Russian surveys – “Person, Family, Society” (used for building research models) and “Russian monitoring of the economic condition and health of the population” (for auxiliary, descriptive analysis) – we analysed the differences in the life courses of Russian men who served and did not serve in the army. For these two groups of men, we compared the ages and sequences of the most important first events (separation from the parental home, first job, obtaining an education, first cohabitation, first marriage, and first child). We constructed socio-demographic “portraits” of these men at the age of 15 and at the moment of the survey (2013). Our results revealed that those men who served in the military have more socio-economic and demographic events than those who avoided military service: men with military experience start adult life earlier and more intensively. The mechanism of selecting men for military service has changed since the 1990s. Men who serve are mainly children of parents without higher education and not occupying senior positions in the period of their children’s socialisation. After completing] military service, men often work and live separately, while those who did not serve in the army study and live with their parents

Do characteristics of family members influence older persons’ transition to long-term healthcare services?

BACKGROUND: Future demographic and economic changes warrant a better understanding of older persons’ need for health-related long-term care services (LTC). LTC uptake among older people is likely to be influenced by the presence or absence of family members, but there is scarce research on the role played by partners with different caregiving potential. There is even less research on the contributions of adult children and their caregiving potential. The current study examines the extent to which transitions into LTC in older men and women differ according to the presence and caregiving potential of partners and children. METHODS: Linked registry data for Norway on older persons (aged 65+), their partners, and their adult children are used to examine how characteristics of these family members influence transitions into LTC from 2010 to 2016, using logistic discrete-time hazard regression models. We observed around 215,000 transitions to LTC, corresponding to around 26.3% of individuals and 5.4% of the total person-years (4.0 million). Caregiving potential is measured in terms of employment, income, health and educational attainment for partners and education and geographical proximity for children. RESULTS: Personal, partner and child(ren)’s resources are all associated with older persons’ LTC uptake. Unpartnered and/or childless older people are more likely to use LTC than those with partners and/or child(ren). Older persons with resourceful partners and children are the least likely to transition into LTC. The geographical proximity of adult children appears to have only a minor influence on LTC use among older people. CONCLUSIONS: Population ageing and strained public resources will likely challenge the future provision of formal old-age care. The role of family networks in the future provision of formal old-age care is expected to become progressively important in the years to come. Inequalities in the health, care and welfare of older persons with and without resourceful family members are likely to increase. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12913-022-07745-5

Time and context shaping the transition from out-of-home care to adulthood in Portugal

The difficulties that modern care leavers face on the way to independence are the focus of many studies. The present research illustrates how time and context - operationalised through belonging to different generations, from the previous century to today – has shaped care leavers’ pathways to adulthood in Portugal. To trace these pathways, ten care leavers were selected based on purposeful sampling and snowball methods. To reveal the factors that indicate care leavers’ better life outcomes, interviews with seven experts working with this vulnerable population group were organised. The pathways of male informants look “normal”, even thriving, when compared with the trajectories of the general population of Portugal in the second half of the 20th century, while the experiences of female care leavers sound somewhat traumatising. The timing and sequence of the young cohorts’ transition to adulthood events does not look aberrant compared to the general population. The various factors that determine a care leaver’s better life outcomes emerged as access to the tangible and intangible resources needed to generate human and social capital, and personal agency. Care leavers from older cohorts were empowered by means of education and the support of former residents of out-of-home care institutions. Women from older cohorts could receive education but, due to the social context, they were not expected to build careers. The educational opportunities given to them were very basic and did not afford them the confidence to deal with adversity. Care leavers from younger cohorts seem to lose the advantage of competitive education and the sense of belonging to a large and powerful childcare institution due to the democratisation of the education system and de-institutionalisation of residential care in the country. However, they can stay in care longer, gain practical skills for independent living and benefit from the personalised support of professionals to deal with adversity

Geographic proximity to siblings in older adulthood

Background: Research on older adults' geographic proximity to their family has focused almost exclusively on intergenerational distances, while factors associated with intragenerational proximity have received little attention. Objective: We explore associations between (1) having at least one sibling nearby and characteristics of older adults (aged 65‒84), and (2) proximity to siblings and characteristics of dyads of siblings. Methods: Drawing on Swedish population register data from 2016, we use multi-level logistic regression models to investigate individual-, dyad-, and family-level determinants of close proximity to siblings. Results: Based on information about 987,486 individuals nested within 475,644 family groups, nearly 35Š of Swedish older adults have their closest sibling living within 10 km.The likelihood of living close to at least one sibling is higher for those with a parent nearby, without partners and children, the less-educated, and living in urban areas and/or their counties of birth. This likelihood decreases with age. At the family level, having more than one sibling, same-gender siblings, and only full siblings are associated with living near a sibling. Based on information about 814,506 dyads, the propensity of close intragenerational distance is higher for those with a parent nearby, without partners or children, brothers, full siblings, the less-educated, and those living in counties of birth and urban areas. Contribution: This study contributes to the knowledge about the geography of siblings - the family members that might emerge as more active players in older adults' family networks