Niels Schenk

The role of European welfare states in intergenerational money transfers: a micro-level perspective

ABSTRACT This article uses a comprehensive theoretical framework to explain why parents send money to particular children, and examines whether intergenerational solidarity is shaped by spending on various welfare domains or provisions as a percentage of gross domestic product. The theoretical model at the level of parents and children distinguishes parental resources and childrens needs as the factors most likely to influence intergenerational money transfers. Differences in state spending on various welfare domains are then used to hypothesise in which countries children with specific needs are most likely to receive a transfer. For parents we hypothesise in which countries parents with specific available resources are most likely to send a transfer. We use data from the first wave of the Survey of Health and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) to analyse the influence of welfare-state provisions on the likelihood of intergenerational transfers in ten European countries. The results indicate that, in line with our expectations, the likelihood of a transfer being made is the outcome of an intricate resolution of the resources (ability) of the parents and the needs of a child. Rather large differences between countries in money transfers were found. The results suggest that, at least with reference to cross-generational money transfers, no consistent differences by welfare state regime were found.

School sports and identity formation: Socialisation or selection?

Abstract It seems common knowledge that school sport participation leads to all kinds of social, educational and health outcomes. However, it may also be that students with a certain predisposition, sometimes referred to as sporting habitus, are more inclined to participate in school sports and that the ‘outcomes’ were already present before participation. Several studies indicated that identity formation mediates between sport participation and the outcomes described. Therefore, a longitudinal survey study was used to investigate whether participation in an elementary school sport competition brought about changes in the formation of sport identity and student identity of students. The results of the study showed that participation in the competition was not related to changes in the sport identity and student identity of the children. In contrast to commonplace assumptions about the socialising effects of school sport participation, the results indicate that participating in this school sport competition did not influence the student identity and sport identity of children. It may be that a selected, predisposed group of children with a strong sport identity participates in school sports, although future research is necessary to test this hypothesis.

Older adults’ networks and public care receipt. Do partners and adult children substitute for unskilled public care?

ABSTRACT This study investigates how (a) the reliance on public care and (b) the type of public care received by older people in the Netherlands depends on the availability of partners and adult children. Older people aged 65 years and older were surveyed in the Netherlands Kinship Panel Study at two time-points. Survey results were linked to registry data on public care receipt at the two time-points. Multilevel models revealed that receiving frequent help in the household from children was not associated with public care receipt. Only men having a partner were less likely to receive public care. Further analyses comparing the receipt of skilled and unskilled forms of public care revealed that female partners are especially important in rendering unskilled care unnecessary compared to skilled care. Two arguments may explain our findings. One is that a gender-bias exists in processing public care requests – men are perceived as less able to provide care to their female partners. Another is that men lack the skills, or perceive themselves as lacking the care skills that female partners have. Caution is advised against introducing policy measures that increase pressure on female partners.

De invloed van Europese verzorgingsstaten op financiële overdrachten binnen families: een benadering op microniveau

Summary The role of European welfare states in intergenerational monetary transfers: A micro-level perspective This article integrates sociological and economical theory to provide a comprehensive explanation for why parents send money to particular children, and tests more explicit hypotheses on how differences in welfare state provisions can explain divergent patterns between countries. The spending on various welfare domains as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product is used to determine whether intergenerational solidarity is shaped by welfare state provisions. We use data from the Survey of Health and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) to analyse the influence of welfare state provisions on the likelihood of intergenerational transfers in ten European countries. The results indicate that parental resources and reciprocity expectations as well as children’s needs are important determinants of monetary transfers. Although differences between countries are found, they do not seem to justify the distinct division between “the three worlds of welfare” often used in sociological work.

Stabiliteit en verandering in intergenerationele familierelaties : verschuivingen in relatietypen over een periode van drie jaar

textabstractThis paper focuses on shifts in adult child-parent relationship type using the first two waves of the Netherlands Kinship Panel Study (NKPS). The analyses are informed by both a life transitions perspective, and the negotiation of relationships perspective. The intergenerational relationships typology represents different combinations of solidaristic acts and conflict. We employed Latent Transition Analysis to determine the prevalence and predictors of shifts. Less than 5% of the dyads shifted to a different type. Insofar shifts took place, they were most likely from the ambivalent type, and particularly so for relationships with mothers and daughters. Offspring (re)partnering, offspring divorce, parental widowhood, parental health decline, offspring unemployment, birth of a grandchild, and moving nearer, did not predict typology shifts, whereas the number of parental divorces was too small for analyses of change. Parental repartnering prompted a shift towards the discordant type with its low probabilities of contact and support exchange, and the relatively high likelihood of conflict over personal issues. Moving away prompted a shift from the ambivalent type with its high probabilities of supportive exchanges and conflict over material and personal issues. Over a period of three years, there is considerably more continuity in adult child-parent relationships than change.