INTRODUCTION

Due to the ageing of the population, European countries are seeking adequate solutions to meet the care needs of the growing population of dependent older adults. Informal care is stimulated as older people tend to prefer ageing in their home. Informal care is expected to postpone the transition towards residential care. In addition, if informal care can diminish the necessity of professional care (i.e. the subsidiarity principle), it is therefore hypothesised that it will reduce the expected public costs of the ageing population.

Family members, and more specifically adult children, are important informal care providers. However, intergenerational family relationships have seen some major changes over the past decades. Overall, intergenerational family structures became significantly more complex due to socio-demographic and cultural changes (i.e. increased longevity, declining fertility rate, increased divorce rate, the individualisation of European societies and increased geographical mobility).

The main goal of this contribution is to give an overview of the recent research literature on how changing intergenerational family structures affect upwards intergenerational solidarity within Europe. Insights into the relationship between intergenerational family structures and actual upwards support are of specific importance with the ageing of the population in mind. They add to our understanding of the potential, as well as the boundaries, of informal care from family members in the near future. Who are the older adults at risk of weak intergenerational ties for example? Raising this question is of specific relevance. The increasing focus on informal care and the current regulations risk disadvantaging vulnerable older adults even more, since this kind of policy is based on the principle of individual reciprocity. These policies ‘favour those most able to give and disadvantage those most in need of support’.

To answer the question of how changing family structures affect the upwards intergenerational solidarity, this contribution builds on recent insights within Europe. It starts with a theoretical framework on intergenerational solidarity from Bengtson and Roberts (Section 2).