Chiara Saraceno

CAN WE IDENTIFY INTERGENERATIONAL POLICY REGIMES IN EUROPE

ABSTRACT This paper examines whether it is possible to recognise specific patterns of institutionally regulated downward (towards children) and upward (towards the old) intergenerational obligations with regard to care and financial support, and to identify specific country profiles and clusters of countries in Europe. Based on the three-fold conceptualisation of familialism by default, supported familialism and de-familialisation, and using a complex set of indicators, we describe how countries, by means of policies, allocate intergenerational responsibilities between families and the state, also paying attention to their gender impact. The study includes all 27 EU countries and for the first time offers a comparative overview of a diversified set of policies with regard to both children and the old. It concludes that although specific policy profiles emerge with regard to the two sets of obligations, these do not always coincide. Furthermore, contrary to widespread opinion, supported familialism and de-familialisation are not always contrasting policy approaches. In some countries, they actually represent part of an integrated approach to public support of intergenerational obligations. Moreover, the gender impact of supported familialism may be different and even contrary, depending on the specific instrument. Finally, once the road of oversimplification is excluded, only one statistically sound cluster of countries emerges. It is, however, possible to detect groups of countries that are similar. These only partly overlap with prevalent welfare regime types.

A COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE ON INTERGENERATIONAL SUPPORT

ABSTRACT It has often been argued that Southern European countries are more familialistic in their culture than Western and Northern European countries. In this paper, we examine this notion by testing the hypothesis that adult children are more responsive to the needs of their elderly parents in countries with more familialistic attitudes. To test this hypothesis, we analyse the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). We focus on three indicators of need: (a) the partner status of the parent, (b) the health status of the parent, and (c) the education of the parent. Using Heckman probit models, we examine the effects of these variables on whether or not the parent receives instrumental support from children, thereby controlling for whether or not children live independently from their parents. We estimate effects of need on support and we compare these effects across 10 European countries, using both graphic devices and a multilevel probit model where individuals are nested in countries. We find significant cross-level interactions of need variables and the degree of familialism in a country. Our analyses, thereby provide more positive evidence for the hypothesis than earlier studies, which have focused largely on comparing aggregate levels of support among countries.

Social inequalities in facing old-age dependency: a bi-generational perspective

Population ageing implies the ageing of family and kinship networks. Because the absolute number of the frail elderly is set to increase, notwithstanding the increase in life expectancy in good health, a top-heavy intergenerational chain is likely both to put stress on the middle generation, and result in the older and younger generations competing for their support. Thus, issues of the redistribution of financial and time resources become relevant in the middle and younger generations when frailty emerges in the older generation. This article adopts a bi-generational perspective in order to examine not only whether social inequality affects resources available to the dependent elderly, but also whether and how a frail elderly person’s demands impact differently on children’s resources and life chances across gender and social classes, as well as what the impact of specific patterns of public care provision (other than healthcare) is on these inequalities.

Childcare needs and childcare policies: A multidimensional issue

Childcare has become a much-debated issue in all developed countries. Who should care for children, how, how much and for how long are the questions at the centre of value conflicts that shape not only policies and struggles around policies, but also individual and family choices. This article contributes to the debate in two ways. First, it presents an up-to-date overview of the different childcare packages offered by the 27 EU countries, indicating how they represent quite different understandings of proper care, as well as of proper behaviour by mothers and fathers. Second, it attempts to unravel the different dimensions implicated in the debate, going beyond the simplification of the mother’s care vs non-family care dichotomy. It concludes that an integrated research agenda, focusing both on the outcomes for labour markets and for children’s well-being, is necessary in order to develop policies that address the complex issues of choice, rights and social inequality involved in child-caring patterns.

The Effects of Separation and Divorce on Parent–Child Relationships in Ten European Countries

Numerous studies have demonstrated a negative long-term effect of divorce on father–child relationships. Compared to married fathers, divorced fathers see their adult children less frequently, receive less instrumental support from them in old age, and their children evaluate the relationship more often as poor (Lye 1996). There are several reasons for this. First, after divorce, mothers usually gain custody which reduces the father’s role in the upbringing of the children (Seltzer 1991). As a result, the father has fewer opportunities to invest in his children and this may have negative effects on what he receives from the children when they are older (Spitze and Logan 1989). Second, divorced fathers may see their adult children less frequently because of sex-role specialisation during marriage. Hence, when gender roles are divided along traditional lines, married men benefit from a wife who takes care of family matters, for instance, by arranging visits from children and buying presents for the children’s birthday (Hagestad 1986; Rosenthal 1985). When men divorce, they not only lose a spouse, they also lose a kinkeeper, which may explain part of the decline in intergenerational contact (Kalmijn 2007). A third possible reason for reduced contact is that divorced fathers may exhibit more behavioural problems. Research has shown that behavioural problems on the part of fathers are often a reason for divorce. Examples are mental health problems, substance abuse and aggressive behaviour (Kitson 1992; De Graaf and Kalmijn 2005). While many divorced fathers will not display such problems, some do, and if they do, this may have negative effects on the relationship they have with the children. Although there are many arguments pointing in the direction of a negative effect for fathers, there are also reasons to believe that there will be a

Changes in the regulation of responsibilities towards childcare needs in Italy and the Netherlands: different timing, increasingly different approaches

This article comparatively analyses how the responsibilities towards childcare needs have been framed and addressed in Italy and the Netherlands following the increase in women’s labour market participation. According to the authors, the differing developments in these two countries partly disconfirm the thesis according to which facilitating family/work conciliation is at the heart of the new social policy paradigms in all Bismarckian welfare states. This concern has indeed been an explicit driver of social policy changes in the Netherlands, but not in Italy. The authors argue instead that these two countries offer evidence for the thesis that timing matters. Italy has been an ‘early bird’ in changing family law and in putting in place childcare policies, but has not been able to innovate these policies when the economic and social context has changed and, in particular, has not reframed them fully as work-family conciliating policies. The Netherlands, on the other hand, was comparatively late in changing family law and developing parental leaves and childcare policies, the latter being framed largely as work-family conciliation strategies. Following the liberal cultural and political developments of the 1990s, which favoured individualisation and freedom of choice, the changes in the Netherlands systematically introduced an increasing mix of individual, family and market responsibility via both commodification supported by tax expenditure and the underpinning of the one-and-a-half breadwinner model offered by the regulation of protected part-time labour contracts.

Italian Families Under Economic Stress: The Impact of Social Policies

The author argues that the persistent and growing inequality in income distribution and relative social immobility of households in Italy depend not only on the specific, dualistic, features of its economy but on its social (particularly family) and welfare arrangements: in terms of the behaviours they encourage within households and by specific household members (along gender and generational lines). Copyright Fondazione Giacomo Brodolini and Blackwell Publishers Ltd 2000.

Grandchildhood in Germany and Italy: An exploration

The twentieth century witnessed dramatic changes both in the population and in the family/kinship age-structure, which affected the prevalence, length, and form of relationships between grandparents and grandchildren. Although most European countries share similar trends, there are considerable national peculiarities which have an impact on the experience of grandchildhood.

The Social Construction of Childhood: Child Care and Education Policies in Italy and the United States

Welfare states and their policies have come to define and shape childhood experiences. This paper compares policies in Italy and the United States on the care and education of children from birth to 10 years of age. The two countries differ both in the extent of government intervention and the criteria they use to single out groups with particular needs. There are two main consequences of these different approaches: first, differences in the perception of a normal childs experiences; and second, differences in the definition by which social rights are granted. Families in the two countries employ different resources and encounter unique limitations in defining and satisfying their childrens needs.

Families and family policies

Governments have had a longstanding interest in family forms and the behaviour of family members, although their goals and instruments have differed over time and across countries. This timely collection, along with an original introduction by the editors, brings together seminal contributions focusing on a number of important topics relating to this field. Volume I focuses on the origins and social foundations of family policies, their main actors and drivers; together with consideration of crucial concepts and themes, including gender, intergenerational obligations and care. Volume II deals with the various areas and goals addressed by family policies and their diversity across countries: the politics of reproduction; support for children, policies to reconcile paid work and family obligations; parenthood policies; patterns of care policies and domestic violence. This important set will be of immense value to those working in the field of families and family policies and will be an excellent source of reference to both students and academics.