[Grandparenthood and multigenerational families: are they a social reality or a demographic myth?].
During the last 20 years, there has been growing literature on the consequences of population aging. Longer life expectancies mean that current cohorts can expect to spend more years as members of a family than was the case 200 years ago. The focus of this paper is on how three lineage generations are affected by the increase of the life expectancy, especially the increase in a multi-generational family and the common life time of the family members. Using event history analysis and the data of the German Socio-economic panel, it is shown, on the basis of different birth cohorts, that both Word Wars and the period after World War II have had profound negative effects on the common life time of grandfathers and their grandchildren. But there has been only a limited influence on the life courses of grandmothers and their grandchildren. One surprising result is that grandparenthood in Germany has developed into a broader phenomenon of the 20th century -- one that arose especially for children born after World War II.
Lauterbach
W
W
Institut für Soziologie, Universität Münster, Scharnhorststrasse 121, 48151 Münster, Germany. Wolfgang.Lauterbach@uni-muenster.de
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D032721:Adult Children; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005190:Family; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D016901:Intergenerational Relations; D008017:Life Expectancy / Q000639:trends*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009026:Mortality / Q000639:trends; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D012737:Sex Factors