Older parents and adult children: traditional relationship or closeness throug or at distance?
Abstract
A good relationship between older parents and adult children is an important part of active aging. This relationship is being transformed in different ways through all stages of life. Closeness, support and care of elderly parents by children and the other way around of descendants, both children and grandchildren by their parents and grandparents definitely facilitates and reduces the amount of care to be delivered from the community and wider society as such. However, the state often conveys its own part of responsibility to the elderly or the children, whereas the traditional culture presupposes a reciprocal care to be a moral norm, hence we get the so called "nonsense" situation i.e., overloaded and exhausted adult children or burdened parents on the one side and preserved "state" of well-being, on the other. In this work, we will consider the relationship between older parents and adult children using the collected data from 52 interviews (with content analysis method applied) con...ducted with people over 65, from Belgrade. It becomes clear that this relationship marks the everyday life - work, reproductive activities, leisure, health, i.e., the most relevant aspects of our respondents ' lives. The so called "distant closeness" proved to be efficient in Western societies and referring to our research, it is described as desirable but not always feasible.. It is also more preferable for female than for male respondents. The male respondents have higher expectations from their children when it comes to care and help. Sharing of more responsibility over needs of elderly and their children by society, could significantly enable the realization of what we here labelled, distant closeness".
Keywords:
reproductive activities / older parents / adult children / "closeness by distance"Source:
Sociologija, 2016, 58, 287-305Publisher:
- Sociološko udruženje Srbije i Crne Gore, Beograd i Univerzitet u Beogradu - Filozofski fakultet - Institut za sociološka istraživanja, Beograd
Funding / projects:
- Challenges of New Social Integration in Serbia: Concepts and Actors (RS-MESTD-Basic Research (BR or ON)-179035)
DOI: 10.2298/SOC16S1287D
ISSN: 0038-0318
WoS: 000416987300006
Scopus: 2-s2.0-84965017144
Institution/Community
Sociologija / SociologyTY - JOUR AU - Dragišić-Labaš, Slađana PY - 2016 UR - http://reff.f.bg.ac.rs/handle/123456789/2166 AB - A good relationship between older parents and adult children is an important part of active aging. This relationship is being transformed in different ways through all stages of life. Closeness, support and care of elderly parents by children and the other way around of descendants, both children and grandchildren by their parents and grandparents definitely facilitates and reduces the amount of care to be delivered from the community and wider society as such. However, the state often conveys its own part of responsibility to the elderly or the children, whereas the traditional culture presupposes a reciprocal care to be a moral norm, hence we get the so called "nonsense" situation i.e., overloaded and exhausted adult children or burdened parents on the one side and preserved "state" of well-being, on the other. In this work, we will consider the relationship between older parents and adult children using the collected data from 52 interviews (with content analysis method applied) conducted with people over 65, from Belgrade. It becomes clear that this relationship marks the everyday life - work, reproductive activities, leisure, health, i.e., the most relevant aspects of our respondents ' lives. The so called "distant closeness" proved to be efficient in Western societies and referring to our research, it is described as desirable but not always feasible.. It is also more preferable for female than for male respondents. The male respondents have higher expectations from their children when it comes to care and help. Sharing of more responsibility over needs of elderly and their children by society, could significantly enable the realization of what we here labelled, distant closeness". PB - Sociološko udruženje Srbije i Crne Gore, Beograd i Univerzitet u Beogradu - Filozofski fakultet - Institut za sociološka istraživanja, Beograd T2 - Sociologija T1 - Older parents and adult children: traditional relationship or closeness throug or at distance? EP - 305 SP - 287 VL - 58 DO - 10.2298/SOC16S1287D ER -
@article{ author = "Dragišić-Labaš, Slađana", year = "2016", abstract = "A good relationship between older parents and adult children is an important part of active aging. This relationship is being transformed in different ways through all stages of life. Closeness, support and care of elderly parents by children and the other way around of descendants, both children and grandchildren by their parents and grandparents definitely facilitates and reduces the amount of care to be delivered from the community and wider society as such. However, the state often conveys its own part of responsibility to the elderly or the children, whereas the traditional culture presupposes a reciprocal care to be a moral norm, hence we get the so called "nonsense" situation i.e., overloaded and exhausted adult children or burdened parents on the one side and preserved "state" of well-being, on the other. In this work, we will consider the relationship between older parents and adult children using the collected data from 52 interviews (with content analysis method applied) conducted with people over 65, from Belgrade. It becomes clear that this relationship marks the everyday life - work, reproductive activities, leisure, health, i.e., the most relevant aspects of our respondents ' lives. The so called "distant closeness" proved to be efficient in Western societies and referring to our research, it is described as desirable but not always feasible.. It is also more preferable for female than for male respondents. The male respondents have higher expectations from their children when it comes to care and help. Sharing of more responsibility over needs of elderly and their children by society, could significantly enable the realization of what we here labelled, distant closeness".", publisher = "Sociološko udruženje Srbije i Crne Gore, Beograd i Univerzitet u Beogradu - Filozofski fakultet - Institut za sociološka istraživanja, Beograd", journal = "Sociologija", title = "Older parents and adult children: traditional relationship or closeness throug or at distance?", pages = "305-287", volume = "58", doi = "10.2298/SOC16S1287D" }
Dragišić-Labaš, S.. (2016). Older parents and adult children: traditional relationship or closeness throug or at distance?. in Sociologija Sociološko udruženje Srbije i Crne Gore, Beograd i Univerzitet u Beogradu - Filozofski fakultet - Institut za sociološka istraživanja, Beograd., 58, 287-305. https://doi.org/10.2298/SOC16S1287D
Dragišić-Labaš S. Older parents and adult children: traditional relationship or closeness throug or at distance?. in Sociologija. 2016;58:287-305. doi:10.2298/SOC16S1287D .
Dragišić-Labaš, Slađana, "Older parents and adult children: traditional relationship or closeness throug or at distance?" in Sociologija, 58 (2016):287-305, https://doi.org/10.2298/SOC16S1287D . .