Intergenerational relationships and the ageing population

As the population ages, public care and support for older people has been seen as a significant challenge. This thesis highlights the importance of considering private family intergenerational exchanges, their continuities and changes over time. It seeks to understand from the perspective of families, how care, need and support works out across generations, and why it is practised in this way.
The key research question is:
In the context of an ageing population, what can be understood by examining the connection between family multigenerational care, need and support networks and intergenerational relationships?
Drawing on recent innovative methodologies, this study explores temporalities and uses this framework to gain insights into understanding family practices. I look through time to see how past, present and future contexts play a part in the way that intergenerational support is worked out. I consider the ways family members support one another, and how and why it alters between family generations, across the life course and through historical time.
In order to gain in-depth knowledge about intergenerational support across time, the research employed qualitative life history interviews with four-generation families, i.e. a child, parent, grandparent and great-grandparent generation.
The thesis finds new patterns of care emerging under different social, cultural and policy contexts across time. However, some practices flow down generations as part of the meanings and relationships between generations. Moreover, a life-course analysis reveals cyclical patterns of support. Complex pictures of continuity and changes in family life emerge and reveal the diverse ways that support plays out.