Global Aging and Its Challenge to FamiliesVern L. Bengtson, Ariela Lowenstein The recent explosion in population aging across the globe represents one of the most remarkable demographic changes in human history. There is much concern about population aging and its consequences for nations, for governments, and for individuals. It has often been noted that population aging will inevitably affect the economic stability of most countries and the policies of most state governments. What is less obvious, but equally important, is that population aging will profoundly affect families. Who will care for the growing numbers of tomorrow's very old members of societies? Will it be state governments? The aged themselves? Their families? The purpose of this volume is to examine consequences of global aging for families and intergenerational support, and for nations as they plan for the future. Four remarkable social changes during the past fifty years are highlighted: (1) Extension of the life course: A generation has been added to the average span of life over the past century; (2) Changes in the age structures of nations: Most nations today have many more elders, and many fewer children, than fifty years ago; (3) Changes in family structures and relationships: Some of these differences are the result of trends in family structure, notably higher divorce rates and the higher incidence of childbearing to single parents; (4) Changes in governmental responsibilities: In the last decade, governmental responsibility appears to have slowed or reversed as states reduce welfare expenditures. How will families respond to twenty-first-century problems associated with population aging? Will families indeed be important in the twenty-first century, or will kinship and the obligations across generations become increasingly irrelevant, replaced by "personal communities"? This volume goes a considerable distance to answer these critical issues for the twenty-first century. Vern L. Bengtson is an AARP/University Chair in Gerontology and Professor of Sociology, University of Southern California. Ariela Lowenstein is associate professor and head, Department of Aging Studies, University of Haifa, Israel. |
Contents
| 1 | |
Theories about Families Organizations and Social Supports | 27 |
From Family Groups to Personal Communities Social Capital and Social Change in the Family Life of Older Adults | 54 |
Grandparents and Grandchildren in Family Systems A SocialDevelopmental Perspective | 75 |
Older People and Family in Social Policy | 103 |
Intergenerational Transfers in the Family What Motivates Giving? | 123 |
Family Characteristics and Loneliness among Older Parents | 143 |
Disposable Children On the Role of Offspring in the Construction of Conjugal Support in Later Life | 159 |
Family Transfers and Cultural Transmissions Between Three Generations in France | 214 |
Changing Roles of the Family and State for Elderly Care A Confucian Perspective | 253 |
Intergenerational Relationships of Japanese Seniors Changing Patterns | 272 |
Modernization and Economic Strain The Impact of Social Change on Material Family Support for Older People in Ghana | 284 |
Family Norms and Preferences in Intergenerational Relations A Comparative Perspective | 305 |
The Role of Family for Quality of Life in Old Age A Comparative Perspective | 327 |
Ethnic and Cultural Differences in Intergenerational Social Support | 355 |
Challenges of Global Aging to Families in the TwentyFirst Century | 371 |
Common terms and phrases
adult children age groups altruism analysis Attias-Donfut attitudes behavior Bengtson caregiving cohorts conflict Confucian context coresidence countries cultural decline divorce economic effect elderly care elderly parents elders ethnic exchange expected extended family factors family ambience family members family relations family structure family support filial obligations filial piety focal parents formal organizations gender Gerontology Ghana global grandchildren grandparents HelpAge International home care household impact important increased individuals intergenerational relationships intergenerational transfers Israel Korean Künemund Litwak living loneliness Lowenstein marriage modern motives network type norms Norway nuclear family number of children OASIS old age older parents partner patterns percent persons perspective pivots primary groups received reciprocity responsibility role Silverstein social capital social change social networks social support society Sociology Spain status tion tional traditional United Kingdom variables welfare women young younger
Popular passages
Page 5 - aged" countries (Caselli and Vallin, 1990), and are discussed further in the next chapter. "Elderly Populations Themselves Often Are Aging: An increasingly important feature of societal aging is the progressive aging of the elderly population itself. Over time, a nation's elderly population may grow older on average as a larger proportion survives to 80 years and beyond. In many countries, the 'oldest old' (people aged 80 and over) are now the fastest growing portion of the total population. In the...
Page 7 - By 1990, the baby-boom cohorts were aged 25 to 44, and younger cohorts were becoming successively smaller. If fertility rates continue as projected through 2030, the aggregate pyramid will start to invert, with more weight on the top than on the bottom. The size of the oldest-old population (especially women) will increase, and people aged 80 and over may eventually outnumber any younger 5year group.
Page 7 - ... which loses its strictly triangular shape as the elderly portion of the total population increases. The picture in developed countries has been and will be quite different. In 1950, there was relatively little variation in the size of 5-year groups between the ages of 5 and 24. The beginnings of the post-World War II baby boom can be seen in the O-to-4-year age group.