Intergenerational Relationships

Abstract

Intergenerational relationships within family and kinship structures have become a salient issue in scientific research. The major reasons for this are the intense demographic changes that occurred throughout the twentieth century, such as an increased life expectancy in combination with decreased fertility, and the implications of this for the major institutions of the social welfare state. This has resulted in several larger studies that can serve as the basis for an analysis of the situation as it impacts older people, including the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP, Soziooekonomisches Panel), the Generations and Gender Survey (GGS), the Family Survey, the German Ageing Survey (DEAS, Deutscher Alterssurvey), the Survey on Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), and the Panel Analysis of Intimate Relationships and Family Dynamics (pairfam). However, an overarching theoretical and research perspective on intergenerational relationships from their creation (fertility) through parenting to the longest lasting relationships between adults of different generations is still lacking. In order to overcome this deficiency, this paper recommends that future data structures obtain information on intergenerational relationships through data that is obtained (1) simultaneously and is theoretically complete, (2) in a lifespan perspective, (3) from a panel design and (4) a multi-actor design. Studies should (5) account for cultural variability of intergenerational relationships and (6) for institutional settings in cross-national comparisons.