Dormant Parent-Child Relationships in Swiss Older Adults’ Family Networks

Juul Spaan , Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute
Myriam Girardin, University of Geneva
Eric Widmer, University of Geneva

This study investigates the prevalence, sociological predictors and some relational consequences of having dormant parent-child relationships. It extends current research on parent-child relationships by adopting a personal network approach. While most studies focus on either the parent or the child, it includes structural characteristics of both. It investigates how dormant parent-child relationships influence the cohesion in parent’s family network. The results show that developing dormant ties with children relate for parents with sociodemographic predictors, such as gender, level of education income and household structures. Dormant ties with children also relate with some socio-demographic characteristics of children, such as the fact they live abroad or their position in the sibship. In terms of consequences, having a dormant tie with a child makes one’s network of significant family members less dense, both for support and conflict. Results are discussed in the light of several processes linking resources and constraints in the family.

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 Presented in Session P3. Families, Fertility, and the Life Course 3