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Des enfants pour la vieillesse: Forme de la Fratrie et soutien aux parents âgés dans le sud-ouest rural français

The support of the dependent elderly is conditioned by the availability of the family, particularly of children, even when assistance services help the elderly stay at home. But it is difficult to tell if the elderly will have descendants capable of providing for them. A survey carried out in the rural South-Western area of France shows the importance of taking into account sibling configuration when seeking support for the old and disabled. The analyses presented here result from the joint utilization of an epidemiological study based on a questionnaire (N = 405) and a sociological survey on family history: 74 elderly people from the initial sample as well as several of their relatives and friends were interviewed at length on the conditions of support at home. Three main sibling configurations have been established: the only child, several children of the same gender, several children of different genders. They were related to three types of distances between parents and children: co-habitation, vicinity, remoteness. If one finds as many children co-habitating with at least one parent in one-child families as in the whole sample (33%), it means that family support mostly depends on the transfer of property for farmers and tradesmen: in this area, the heir must provide for his ageing parents. But there are marked differences according to the gender of the children: a boy is only likely to stay with his parents if he inherits their professional activity. On a qualitative level, the question dealt with in this article is the following: how can one plan for ones old age according to the rigidity of the number, the order and the gender of the children?