Abstract
Recent commentators have distinguished ‘weak’ from ‘strong’ family societies, arguing that older people in less family-oriented societies receive less support from family members than those in countries with strong family ties (e.g. Southern Europe). This study explored the north-south divide in various dimensions associated with support for older people among selected European countries participating in a European Scientific Foundation network, ‘Family Support for Older People: Determinants and Consequences’ (FAMSUP). Employing data from a wide variety of sources (e.g. nationally representative surveys, censuses, and official publications) we used principal components and cluster analysis to investigate patterns across countries in four dimensions designed to be indicative of the balance between family and formally provided resources for older people and the socio-economic, demographic and policy contexts in which these are provided. Rather than a clear-cut north-south division European countries reflect a more complex classification in terms of support for older individuals when a wide range of measures associated with different dimensions of support for older people are used. Future research requires comparable cross-national data on key indicators of family support.
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Acknowledgements
The analyses reported here were made possible by the generous support of the European Science Foundation which funded the FAMSUP network between January 2002 and December 2004. The other members of the project team are Marjolein I. Broese van Groenou (Vrije Universiteit Amserdam, The Netherlands), Douglas A. Wolf (Syracuse University, New York, USA), Ulrike Schneider (Department of Social Policy, Faculty of Economics, Vienna University of Economics and Public Administration, Austria), Katharina Spiess (German Institute for Economic Research, DIW, Berlin, Germany), Martin Spielauer and Norbert Neuwirth (Department for Socio-Economic Analysis, Österreichisches Institut für Familienforschung, Vienna, Austria), Cristina Gonçalves (Portuguese National Statistics Institute, Department of Census and Population Studies, Portugal), Gerdt Sündstrom (Institute of Gerontology, Jönköping University, Sweden), and Thérèse Jacobs (Population and Family Study Centre, Brussels, Belgium). They have provided data and advice with regard to the interpretation of the results. We are particularly grateful to Prof. Douglas Wolf for his many comments and suggestions.
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Glaser, K., Tomassini, C. & Grundy, E. Revisiting convergence and divergence: support for older people in Europe. Eur J Ageing 1, 64–72 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10433-004-0006-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10433-004-0006-1