Intergenerational Programs and Practices in China: Results Based on a Web Search Method

ABSTRACT

In the midst of an aging population trend and increased concerns about elder care, the Chinese government has developed policies that aim to strengthen family support systems and ensure older adult engagement in community life. One domain of related intervention that has received relatively little attention and systematic study in China is in the area of intergenerational programming. To gain a sense of the breadth and types of intergenerational programs emerging in China, the authors employed a web search method utilizing Google and Baidu search engines. Findings indicate a fair amount of program innovation and diversity as well as a need for additional programmatic and policy measures to strengthen and support intergenerational relationships in family and community contexts.     

Beyond the Nuclear Family: The Increasing Importance of Multigenerational Bonds

Family relationships across several generations are becoming increasingly important in American society. They are also increasingly diverse in structure and in functions. In reply to the widely debated “family decline” hypothesis, which assumes a nuclear family model of 2 biological parents and children, I suggest that family multigenerational relations will be more important in the 21st century for 3 reasons: (a) the demographic changes of population aging, resulting in “longer years of shared lives” between generations; (b) the increasing importance of grandparents and other kin in fulfilling family functions; (c) the strength and resilience of intergenerational solidarity over time. I also indicate that family multigenerational relations are increasingly diverse because of (a) changes in family structure, involving divorce and stepfamily relationships; (b) the increased longevity of kin; (c) the diversity of intergenerational relationship “types.” Drawing on the family research legacy of Ernest W. Burgess, I frame my arguments in terms of historical family transitions and hypotheses. Research from the Longitudinal Study of Generations is presented to demonstrate the strengths of multigenerational ties over time and why it is necessary to look beyond the nuclear family when asking whether families are still functional.     

Are Baby Boomers Richer Than Their Parents? Intergenerational Patterns of Wealth Ownership in the United States

This study compares wealth ownership and mobility patterns among baby boomers and their parents to explore whether the baby boomers have fared as well during their working years and whether they will be as secure in retirement as their parents. Cohort comparisons using survey data indicate that baby boomers had accumulated more wealth as young adults than their parents had at a similar age. Estimates from a simulation model reveal that baby boomers had more wealth than their actual same‐sex parents at every stage of the life course. The simulation model also reveals that baby boomers were considerably more likely than their actual same‐sex parents to experience upward wealth mobility at each point in the life course. These results suggest that speculations that baby boomers may be the first generation to do worse than their parents are misleading.     

Parent–Child Coresidence: Who Moves in With Whom and for Whose Needs?

Using administrative data on all adult children living in The Netherlands age 30–40 and their parents (N = 1,999,700), we investigated the extent to which situations and events associated with the support needs and privacy needs of either generation determine intergenerational coresidence and the transition to coresidence. Logistic and multinomial logistic regression analyses showed that both generations' support needs increased the likelihood of coresidence and of a move of the generation in need into the other's home. Turning to privacy needs, we found that coresidence and the transition to coresidence was less likely when a partner or stepparent was present and more likely when the adult child was a never‐married single parent.     

The Impact of Living with an Elder Parent on Adult Daughter's Labor Supply and Hours of Work

A pooled cross-sectional sample compiled from eleven years of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics is used to compare the impact of individual and household characteristics on labor supply probabilities and work hours of adult daughters in two types of households: (a) households in which adult daughters co-reside with elder parents; and (b) households in which adult daughters have living elder parents, but they do not co-reside with elder parents. Labor market entry and market work hours of co-residing daughters are impacted by both the presence and the characteristics of their elder parent. The daughter's age, race, and work experience have differential impacts on labor supply probabilities for co-residing daughters compared to those not co-residing. The daughters' work experience, non-wage income, family composition, and local unemployment rates have differential impacts on the number of hours of work in the two types of households.     

The Intergenerational Transmission of Spouse Abuse: A Meta‐Analysis

This study uses meta‐analytic procedures to examine the relationship between growing up in a violent home and subsequently becoming part of a violent marital relationship. Our meta‐analysis examines published and unpublished research studies that investigate the relationship between witnessing or experiencing family violence in childhood and receiving or perpetrating violence in an adult heterosexual cohabiting or marital relationship. The findings of this meta‐analysis suggest there is a weak‐to‐moderate relationship between growing up in an abusive family and becoming involved in a violent marital relationship. Differential effects of gender and sample type are also discussed.     

中国农村网络家庭中养老支持的趋势与变迁------来自七省调查的发现

本文利用中国社会科学院人口与劳动经济研究所2010年七省区城乡家庭结构与代际关系调查数据,揭示了农村网络家庭中养老支持的现状、发展趋势,及其影响因素。研究发现,当前农村网络家庭中子女家庭给予父母的养老支持水平较低,且重视经济支持,日常事务性支持与情感支持欠缺。因子女外出就业、结婚而形成的网络家庭中的亲代得到的养老支持显著高于因儿子分家而形成的网络家庭中的老年人;亲代与子代配偶相处得越好,亲代得到的养老支持越多。当前农村网络家庭中亲代家庭与子代家庭在代际支持上“分而不离”,但受居住距离的影响,加之家庭子女数减少,未来网络家庭的养老功能将趋于弱化。在居家养老仍为农村主要养老方式的现实下,为提高农村老年人养老水平,改变农村地区的养老模式,发展农村养老产业,实现农村养老资源多元化的同时,重视农村现代养老文化建设已成为必然。     

论代际伦理、代际公平与生态文明建设的关系

代际伦理重要性的显现与生态文明建设和可持续发展议题的出现相伴随,生态文明建设意味着整个社会的全面发展,代际公平是建设生态文明,实现可持续发展的一个基本社会条件;在生态文明建设中实现代际公平,主要内容包括实现代际之间劳动付出和成果获得的对等性,实现经济社会发展进程中人类活动对于自然影响的可控性在代际之间的延续,实现文化的多样性延续;从人类社会发展的视角来说,资源、环境与发展的矛盾对于实现生态文明代际公平则具有更加一般性的意义;绿色消费方式的确立对于建设生态文明,构建社会主义和谐社会具有基本的价值导向作用。     

代际关系与跨文化冲突——以美国华人移民家庭为例

在美国,许多华人移民的家长对子女的教育和品行要求很严,期望他们日后事业有成,帮助家庭发财致富,并为父母养老送终。然而,在华人移民家庭中维护中华传统规范和行为准则以及执行此类家教并非易事。原因是父母为外来移民,而子女则在美国本土生长,两代人同化的取向和速度都不同。家中不仅充满任何家庭中常见的父子两代的代际冲突,也充满移民家庭特有的跨文化冲突。本文研究了美国移民家庭的代际关系与跨文化冲突问题,着重探讨矛盾重重的华人移民家庭中父母与子女如何处理复杂的、不断变动的家庭关系以及移民父母如何选择轻重缓急的策略,依靠社区的力量来确保下一代的健康成长。     

代际交往的现代发展及其文化模式的重构

随着现代社会的发展,代际交往方式发生了现代性的转变。从交往内容上看,现代社会长辈的知识经验传喻与年轻人的“文化反哺”并存;从交往形式上看,现代社会代际交往是一种双向交流;从交往主体地位上看,现代社会代际交往正在向平等的方向发展。代际差异的存在可能导致代际文化冲突：文化思维方式上的差异和冲突、文化传递方式上的冲突,以及在文化模式上即经典文化与流行文化的冲突。要促进代际和谐交往,必须在理解和平等交流基础上重构代际间的文化交往模式。