Yes / As the population ages, a key question is to how support older people who are in need of some form of care. This article highlights how older people may be embedded in multigenerational familial care networks. It explores the ways in which care and support for great-grandparents are worked out in multigenerational families, as well as between informal and formal sources of support. Methods involve qualitative life history interviews with five four-generation families. Findings suggest that care is worked out through a balance of care, need and support across generations. Depending on available resources, this produces a variety of support outcomes including: home based family care with and without supplemented professional help, sheltered accommodation with family care, institutional care as well as fluctuations between different support patterns. Supporting informal care networks through professional support can help multiple generations balance intergenerational relationships across the shifts between greater dependency and independence. / PhD Scholarship attached to the ESRC funded Timescapes study within the School of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Leeds

<p>This study deals with the intergenerational coresidence during the nineteenth century. The main focus is placed on the possible differences in the coresidences among parents and children and whether demographic transition and industrialization changed this relation. Were parents and children living in the same household? It was also important to study the children network; if the children did not live with their parents, where did they live? In the neighbourhoods, in the parish or in another area? Two perspectives were mainly considered, industrialization and demographic transition. On one hand industrialization gave children the opportunity to work outside the parental household and consequently the relationship between parents and children probably became weaker. On the other hand the fall of infant mortality would have facilitated the creation of a new complex household. Did industrialization with a new labour market change in decline the coresidence among parents and children? Or did the fall of mortality increase the number of coresidences? Two more factors influenced the coresidences, social status of the first generation and number of children born. The area of study is the region of Sundsvall, situated in middle Sweden. During the nineteenth century this region experienced a fall of infant mortality and in the middle of the century the introduction of steam-sawmills started and it arrived to be one of the largest sawmill districts at the world in the end of the century. The cohort chosen regarded people born between 1770 and 1820 and they lived their old age in the Sundsvall district. The first methodological approach is cross-sectional and analyses the entire cohort. The second method is a longitudinal analysis of a micro study of 135 people. The results show the decrease of the coresidences between the two generations when parents were 80 years old. In the previous years no difference has been found between the preindustrial and industrial period, thus the decline of mortality did not help the increase of coresidences. Social status was the most determinant factor for the creation of coresidence. People employed in agriculture, peasants and crofters were more likely to coreside with married children compared to the workers’ groups. Social difference increases with the industrialization, workers experienced the decline of coresidence in a stronger way compared to the others groups. The number of children born from the first generation helps in a marginal way the creation of coresidences. The main difference was between one or more children born, but no differences were found among those people who had two children or more. The micro study put in evidence the life cycle of the family. Peasants and crofters were the most likely to experience the cycle of the stem family. However the coresidence could be interrupted by the death or the migration of the family members. Other alternatives as the presences of children in the neighbourhoods or the coresidence with unmarried children were noticed. Finally, the study showed that sons were more likely to live with their parents compared to daughters but in one third of the cases the first generation constituted the stem family with a daughter.</p>

This study deals with the intergenerational coresidence during the nineteenth century. The main focus is placed on the possible differences in the coresidences among parents and children and whether demographic transition and industrialization changed this relation. Were parents and children living in the same household? It was also important to study the children network; if the children did not live with their parents, where did they live? In the neighbourhoods, in the parish or in another area? Two perspectives were mainly considered, industrialization and demographic transition. On one hand industrialization gave children the opportunity to work outside the parental household and consequently the relationship between parents and children probably became weaker. On the other hand the fall of infant mortality would have facilitated the creation of a new complex household. Did industrialization with a new labour market change in decline the coresidence among parents and children? Or did the fall of mortality increase the number of coresidences? Two more factors influenced the coresidences, social status of the first generation and number of children born. The area of study is the region of Sundsvall, situated in middle Sweden. During the nineteenth century this region experienced a fall of infant mortality and in the middle of the century the introduction of steam-sawmills started and it arrived to be one of the largest sawmill districts at the world in the end of the century. The cohort chosen regarded people born between 1770 and 1820 and they lived their old age in the Sundsvall district. The first methodological approach is cross-sectional and analyses the entire cohort. The second method is a longitudinal analysis of a micro study of 135 people. The results show the decrease of the coresidences between the two generations when parents were 80 years old. In the previous years no difference has been found between the preindustrial and industrial period, thus the decline of mortality did not help the increase of coresidences. Social status was the most determinant factor for the creation of coresidence. People employed in agriculture, peasants and crofters were more likely to coreside with married children compared to the workers’ groups. Social difference increases with the industrialization, workers experienced the decline of coresidence in a stronger way compared to the others groups. The number of children born from the first generation helps in a marginal way the creation of coresidences. The main difference was between one or more children born, but no differences were found among those people who had two children or more. The micro study put in evidence the life cycle of the family. Peasants and crofters were the most likely to experience the cycle of the stem family. However the coresidence could be interrupted by the death or the migration of the family members. Other alternatives as the presences of children in the neighbourhoods or the coresidence with unmarried children were noticed. Finally, the study showed that sons were more likely to live with their parents compared to daughters but in one third of the cases the first generation constituted the stem family with a daughter.

No description available.

La recherche des facteurs de longévité gagne en intérêt dans le contexte actuel du vieillissement de la population. De la littérature portant sur la longévité et la mortalité aux grands âges, un constat émerge : bien que les déterminants associés à la survie humaine soient multiples, l'environnement familial aurait un rôle déterminant sur la mortalité et sur l'atteinte des âges avancés. Dès lors, l'objectif de cette thèse est d'évaluer les déterminants de la survie exceptionnelle et d'examiner le rôle des aspects familiaux, en début de vie et à l'âge adulte, dans les différentiels de durée de vie. Plus spécifiquement, elle vise à : (1) examiner la similarité des âges au décès entre frères, soeurs et conjoints afin d'apprécier l'ampleur de la composante familiale de la longévité; (2) explorer, d'un point de vue intrafamilial, les conséquences à long terme sur la survie des variables non partagées issues de la petite enfance tels l'âge maternel à la reproduction, le rang de naissance et la saison de naissance; et (3) s'interroger sur le rôle protecteur ou délétère de l’environnement et du milieu familial d'origine dans l’enfance sur l'atteinte des grands âges et dans quelle mesure le statut socioéconomique parvient à médiatiser la relation. Cette analyse s'appuie sur le jumelage des recensements canadiens et des actes de décès de l’état civil québécois et emploie des données québécoises du 20e siècle issues de deux échantillons distincts : un échantillon aléatoire représentatif de la population provenant du recensement canadien de 1901 ainsi qu’un échantillon de frères et soeurs de centenaires québécois appartenant à la même cohorte. Les résultats, présentés sous forme d'articles scientifiques, ont montré, en outre, que les frères et soeurs de centenaires vivent plus longtemps que les individus appartenant aux mêmes cohortes de naissance, reflétant la contribution d'une robustesse commune, mais également celle de l'environnement partagé durant la petite enfance. Ces analyses ont également témoigné d'un avantage de survie des conjoints des centenaires, soulignant l'importance d'un même environnement à l'âge adulte (1er article). De plus, nos travaux ont mis de l'avant la contribution aux inégalités de longévité des variables biodémographiques issues de l'environnement non partagé telles que l'âge maternel à la reproduction, le rang de naissance et la saison de naissance, qui agissent et interagissent entre elles pour créer des vulnérabilités et influer sur l'atteinte des âges exceptionnels (2e article). Enfin, une approche longitudinale a permis de souligner la contribution du milieu social d'origine sur la longévité, alors que les individus issus d’un milieu socioéconomique défavorisé pour l'époque (milieu urbain, père ouvrier) vivent moins longtemps que ceux ayant vécu dans un environnement socioéconomique favorable (milieu rural, fermier), résultat d'une potentielle accumulation des avantages liée à la reproduction du statut social ou d'une programmation précoce des trajectoires de santé. L’influence est toutefois moindre pour les femmes et pour les frères de centenaires et s'exprime, dans ce cas, en partie par l'effet de la profession à l'âge adulte (3e article). / A growing body of literature has documented the multiple and complex factors and pathways through which longevity and mortality in old age may be shaped. It appears indeed that surviving to a very old age is modulated by a familial component, whether it arises from environmental or genetic confounds. The scientific debate on longevity and its determinants has put considerable interest in studying the centenarians and the role of shared early life conditions have been addressed extensively in the literature, but those two elements have rarely been mixed together. The main objective of my research thesis is to discuss some of the key factors involved in aging and longevity with a focus on the role of family determinants and shared frailty. More specifically, it aims to (1) highlight the central importance of family on exceptional longevity by examining similarity in age at death among siblings and between spouses; (2) examine whether there is a persisting effect of maternal age and birth order on exceptional survival when both variables are considered and adjusted for season of birth; and (3) investigate whether early life factors, such as the socioeconomic background, shape the course of aging and longevity and whether this association is mediated by the socioeconomic status in adulthood. Our analysis rest upon family-based samples of siblings of centenarians and controls born in Québec at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century which compile information from the Canadian Census and Quebec vital statistics registers. The results, in the form of scientific articles, have shown that siblings of centenarians lived longer compared to members of their birth cohort suggesting the existence of a genetic component to longevity. However, there is also a survival benefit for spouses of centenarians compared to the general population which implies that longevity is also modulated by the shared environment in adulthood (1st article). Furthermore, the within-family analysis has shown that elements of the unshared early life environment, such as maternal age at reproduction, birth order and season of birth, not only have an independent impact on exceptional survival but also interact with one another to create vulnerabilities for later-life mortality (2nd article). Finally, the use of a longitudinal framework engaging both biodemographic and socioeconomic factors emphasize the contribution of early life conditions in longevity inequalities both directly and indirectly through adult profession. The influence of socioeconomic conditions in childhood were stronger for men of the general population compared to brothers of centenarians and early life origin showed almost no effect for women (3rd article).