1

Jenny de Jong Gierveld

Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute, The Hague

VU University, Faculty of Social Sciences

Merton College Oxford, July 9-10, 2012

© VU University, Amsterdam, 2012

Familial support and loneliness

of older adults:

What do we know?

.

1 To what extent are older adults

in Europe socially integrated?

or

are they confronted with

social isolation and loneliness?

2 What about the role of their children in this

context?

Familial integration and solidarity:

-- childless/ number of children

-- distance to nearest child

-- frequency of contacts

-- support exchanges:

. instrumental

. emotional

and

. up

. down

.

Some of the worldwide principles:

“Parents are parents” (Levotzki, 2009)

Children more and more important when parents become old-old

(Carstensen, 2005)

.

Country level differences:

Reher (1998) differentiates between

Catholic Mediterranean region & Eastern European countries:

strong family system

&

Protestant North Europe:

weak family system

Empirical research does not always support this idea:

Glaser, Tomassini & Grundy (2004) we need a more complex

classification of countries

Pichler & Wallace (2007): more than one dimension of

differentiation is needed

Hank (2007): a dual structure of families is not efficient

Dykstra & Fokkema (2010) we have to move beyond the idea that a

particular country is best characterized by a single type of family

structure

.

In search of empirical country level

differences in family functioning,

data are used from the

Generations and Gender Surveys, Under the auspices of the United Nations in Geneva,

Under the guidance of the NIDI in The Hague.

. Panel design

. Same sampling

. Parallel modules in questionnaire

. Central cleaning and handling of the data sets

. In addition: data set encompassing policy and other

characteristics of the participating countries

DATA: Selection of 5 GGP countries

France N= 10.069 Germany N= 9.604

Russian Federation N= 11.261 Bulgaria N= 12.828

Georgia N= 10.000

Men & women, aged 18-79

Selection of men & women, aged 60-79

5 countries that differ tremendously:

GDP

In US $

HH can make

ends meet?

% great

difficulties

Subjective

health

% fair, bad

health

France 26.820 13 47

Germany 26.428 7 49

Russia 8.490 65 95

Bulgaria 6.366 73 71

Georgia 3.553 76 93

Countries differ in family values: “Children should have their parents to live with them when

parents can no longer look after themselves” (De Jong Gierveld, 2009)

Percentage (strongly) agree

population aged 18-79 yrs:

France 42

Germany 44

Russia 70

Bulgaria 80

Georgia 90

Countries differ in family living

arrangements (De Jong Gierveld, 2009):

Percentage mothers, aged 60 -79 yrs,

in coresidence with one or more children 25+

France 4

Germany 7

Russia 27

Bulgaria 35

Georgia 57

.

In search of empirical country level

differences:

More social integration in East than

West (measured via co-residence)!

Less loneliness in East than in

West?

What is the role of the family in East

and West in alleviating loneliness?

What about co-residence?

.

LONELINESS:

“the unpleasant experience that

occurs

when a person‟s network of social

relationships is deficient in some

important way,

either quantitatively or qualitatively.”

Perlman and Peplau (1981, p31)

.

Measuring instrument loneliness:

3 positively formulated items:

example:

There are plenty of people that I

can lean on in case of trouble

Answer categories: yes/ more or less/ no

.

Measuring instrument loneliness:

3 negatively formulated items

Example:

I experience a general sense of

emptiness

Answer categories: yes/ more or less/ no

.

• De Jong Gierveld loneliness scale:

6 Ultimately lonely

0 Not lonely

De Jong Gierveld & Kamphuis (1985);

De Jong Gierveld & Van Tilburg (1999; 2006; 2010)

Outcomes of Reliability and Validity tests on

the De Jong Gierveld scale for 5 countries:

• Reliability coeff alpha: between 0.71 and 0.74

• Confirmatory factor analyses:

– SRMR between .01 and .04

– CFI between .96 and 1.00

• Mokken scale tests for homogeneity:

between 0.41 and 0.50 (strong)

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

60-64 65-69 70-74 75-79

France

Germany

Russia

Bulgaria

Georgia

Mean loneliness by age, adults aged 60-79 (GGS, wave 1)

Mean loneliness by subjective health, older adults aged 60 to 79

GGS, wave 1

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

very good good fair bad very bad

Georgia

Bulgaria

Russia

Germany

France

.

In search of empirical country level

differences:

More social integration in East than

West (measured via co-residence)!

Less loneliness in East than in

West? NO !

A puzzling relationship

.

Does coresidence have no effect at all

on intensity of loneliness??

What is special in the familial support

exchanges in coresidence

Next, we developed a detailed set of

late life familial support types

to better understand the functioning of family

relationships for alleviating loneliness

In the questionnaire we included 16 questions about

support giving and receiving in the family:

Support to those who need personal care

Looking after grandchildren (on a weekly basis, or irregular)

Support received from household members & support from

children outside the household

Frequency of contacts between older adult and

children outside the household

for coresidence households in East Europe

three types of support exchanges identified

(De Jong Gierveld, Dykstra & Schenk, 2012):

I low levels of support exchange

II support mainly up

III support mainly down

(Latent Class Analyses not created for coresidence in West-Europe

because of the low numbers of such households in the region;

Distribution of late-life family support types for respondents

in co-residence, Eastern Europe (in percentages)

(De Jong Gierveld, Dykstra & Schenk, 2012)

28

2

70

14

4

83

45

4

52

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

No support exchanges Ascending in hh Descending in hh

Russia Bulgaria Georgia

Mean loneliness scores of older parents, 60-79 yrs, in

Eastern European countries, by type of living arrangement

and by type of family support exchanges (GGS, wave 1)

Conclusions: Living alone older adults generally most lonely.

Living with a partner less lonely.

Living in co-residence with adult children provides

some protection against loneliness, but ….

especially when support goes down

.

Conclusions II:

The risks of loneliness of older adults are much higher in Eastern than in Western European countries, despite a high incidence of co-residence.

And

This is dispelling the myth of Reher:

Coresidence is in favour of the (grand) children !!!

In an article, co-authored by Clemens Tesch-Römer and recently submitted for publication,

a theoretical model to explain this puzzling relationship between social integration and loneliness was addressed.

Conclusions III:

Societal wealth and the welfare system are important in „pushing‟ people towards co-residence, especially children in need (after unemployment, divorce).

(See: De Jong Gierveld & Tesch-Römer, submitted)

The interplay of individual and societal factors in the emergence of loneliness needs further attention.

.

Thank you !!!

VU © VU University,

Amsterdam, 2012

© © VUVU