Fact Sheet: Cohort Differences in Parental Survival

Increases in longevity and especially increased survival into very old age have implications not only for individuals’ own life course but also for that of their families. For example, if parents survive into very old age they will have more opportunities not only to become grandparents but also great-grandparents and to experience these family roles for a longer time period (the so-called “beanpole family”). From their adult children’s perspective, longer survival of parents also can mean that needs for companionship arising from one parent’s widow(er)hood will be postponed into their adult children’s later years, possibly after the child’s retirement. Similarly, because spouses typically function as primary caregivers for their partners, primary caregiving roles on the part of adult children may be postponed into children’s later years if both parents survive into very old age. Despite considerable evidence documenting increases in longevity, little research has been devoted to parental survival among adult children from the World War II babies and baby boom cohorts. We present data comparing parental survival across four cohorts of adult children using data from Health and Retirement Study (HRS)

Grandparents Today: A Demographic Profile

This article presents a demographic profile of grandparents, using the National Survey of Families and Households. Specific dimensions of grandparenthood addressed include grandparents\u27 survival, the timing of grandparenthood, grandparents\u27 involvement in other roles, surrogate parenting, and stepgrandparents. The data indicate considerable heterogeneity among grandparents of different genders and races or ethnicities. They also suggest modifications in previous descriptions of modern grandparenthood

Fact Sheet: Cohort Differences in Parents’ Illness and Nursing Home Use

Surviving parents of the war baby and baby boom cohorts are now reaching very old age. Given their increased longevity and postponement of morbidity into very old age (see Fact Sheets on parental mortality and care needs), it is essential to estimate whether and to what extent these parents will require informal or formal care. Such care is typically most burdensome and costly if it involves long-lasting illness prior to death. Furthermore, Medicare and especially Medicaid expenditures will depend on whether or not these parents require nursing home care. To obtain some estimates of the prevalence of long-lasting illness and nursing home care among these groups of parents, we investigated reports of parental illness preceding death and nursing home placement from four cohorts of adult children, using data from the Health and Retirement Study

Neue Aufgaben einer Soziologie der Familie und der Lebensalter

Einleitend werden die Fragen nach der Problemstellung der Familiensoziologie im allgemeinen und nach ihren bisher vorherrschenden Forschungsschwerpunkten behandelt. Im zweiten Abschnitt werden die gegenwärtigen Limitationen und Mängel der Familiensoziologie untersucht. Dabei werden zum einen die theoretischen Limitationen und Mängel und zum anderen die Unzulänglichkeit der Methodologie und des Forschungsdesigns analysiert. Im theoretischen Bereich werden vier Problemkreise einer näheren Betrachtung unterzogen: die mangelnde Integration theoretischer Ansätze; die Fixierung auf vorhandene theoretische Ansätze und Bezugsrahmen; das mangelnde Abstraktionsniveau der Theoriebildung; die mangelnde Integration mikro- und makrosoziologischer Forschung. Im zweiten Bereich werden die Beschränkung auf relativ einfache Forschungsdesigns und statistische Verfahrensweisen genannt. Skizziert werden drei Problembereiche: das Validitätsproblem; die Verwendung statistischer Forschungsdesigns; Kausalität und Entwicklungsanalyse als methodologische Probleme. Ausgehend von der These, daß eine wesentliche Grundvoraussetzung für Fortschritte der Theoriebildung, aber auch methodischer Entwicklungen die systematische Identifizierung und Entwicklung familiensoziologischer Problemstellungen ist, wird abschließend ein Modell zur systematischen Generierung von Forschungsfragen entwickelt. (RW

Fact Sheet: Cohort Differences in Parental Care Needs

There has been considerable concern about the availability of informal and especially family care when the baby boom cohorts reach old age (Ryan and Smith et al., 2012). However, as care needs typically arise in late old age (age 70 or later), a more immediate issue is the care burden faced by the baby boomer cohorts themselves as their parents now reach late old age. To assess the potential care burden faced by baby boom adult children one first needs to assess their parents’ care needs. Such assessment is also essential as research shows that parental care needs do not only affect the caregivers themselves but also the whole family network (Amirkhanyan and Wolf, 2003). Non-caregiving family members, such as siblings of caregiving adult children, can be adversely affected by the caregiving situation. In order to see if parental care needs have changed over time, we explored cohort differences in care needs among baby boomers’ parents using nationally representative data from 1992 through 2010

Fact Sheet: What Influences Plans to Work after Ages 62 and 65?

Timing of retirement and, implicitly, plans to work in later life have great policy relevance. They affect Social Security expenditures, employers’ pension expenditures, as well as labor force supply and demand. In light of the recent recession, it is particularly important to explore whether economic downturns and workers’ financial status influence their later-life work plans. To answer this question, we analyzed data from the nationally representative Health and Retirement Study (HRS), which included questions about expectations to work full-time after age 62 and age 65

Gender and Marital Status Differences in Retirement Planning

During the past decades, women have increasingly joined the labor force and worked in their later years. Yet women, especially married women, often have shorter work histories than their male counterparts due to taking time off for child care or care for ailing relatives. Are they also different in their retirement expectations? To answer this question, we explore gender and marital status differences in retirement plans

What Makes Retirees Happier: A Gradual or 'Cold Turkey' Retirement?

This study explores the factors that affect an individual’s happiness while transitioning into retirement. Recent studies highlight gradual retirement as an attractive option to older workers as they approach full retirement. However, it is not clear whether phasing or cold turkey makes for a happier retirement. Using longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Study, this study explores what shapes the change in happiness between the last wave of full employment and the first wave of full retirement. Results suggest that what really matters is not the type of transition (gradual retirement or cold turkey), but whether people perceive the transition as chosen or forced

Female retirement: Effects on spousal roles and marital adjustment

pASTresearch on retirement has nearly exclusively centered on the adjustment problems of male retirees. This trend is particularly obvious in studies on the effects of retirement on the marital relationship. Data from a pilot study of 25 female retirees and their husbands indicate that female retirement can, indeed, influence a couple's marital satisfaction and task allocation patterns. The retirement of the wife does not always lead to a redistribution of household tasks, nor d o all female retirees experience a full-time household role after retirement is entirely positive ways. Effects of the wife's retirement on the marital relationship are often described as positive: Many couples feel relieved from the stresses associated with their dual work and family obligations and enjoy their new togetherness and joint leisure time activities. Negative effects on the marital relationship can occur, however, if the wife experiences serious retirement adjustment problems or if the spouses feel irritated by, each other's continuous presence at home. Female Retirement Effects on Spousal Roles and Marital Adjustment* MAXIMILIANE E. SZINOVACZ Florida State University During the last decade, retirement has been considered one of the most important problems for the elderly population. Despite this emphasis on retirement in general, very little attention has been given to female retirement. While some studies include comparisons between male and female responses regarding attitudes toward retirement, reasons fo