Generational (dis)agreements – family support, national law and older immigrants in extended households

Abstract

As detailed knowledge on multigenerational migrant families is sparse, this paper draws on quantitative and qualitative data to investigate intergenerational co-residence for older Turkish immigrants in Denmark. Registry data show that 23 per cent of Turkish immigrants in the 65–74 years age group live in intergenerational households – a level halfway between levels in Denmark and Turkey. These extended households are predominantly of the ‘culturally ideal’ type – formed by sons, sons’ wives and often the couple's children. One in five extended households, however, includes unwed sons and hence do not provide access to the labour power of daughters-in-law. Many factors seem to contribute to the observed pattern, including variable meanings of intergenerational co-habitation, high levels of poverty and limited housing options for extended families. Interviews with older Turkish immigrants point to another contributing factor, namely men's difficulties finding wives willing to live with parents-in-law. The sons’ hardships in this regard can be tied to a Danish immigration regime that bars marriage migrants from entering into extended households. While Turkish women raised in Denmark do not face such legal restrictions, such young women may reject marriage proposals entailing in-law co-habitation. The study thus adds new nuances to our understanding of how the dynamics of age, gender and immigration experience may shape the ways in which older immigrants live in Europe today.

A challenging responsibility - care for older parents in Turkish immigrant families

“…married son (Aytaç, 1998). Eight per cent of the 65-to-74-year-old immigrants from Turkey live in such family arrangements, which are almost non-existent in the Danish majority (Liversage, 2019). When Sevgi moved, however, the new municipality re-evaluated the Section-94 arrangement, and reduced Damla's weekly working hours from 25 hours to just 10 hours.…”

Spotting good ageing: using welfare theory of health to frame the agency of older adults with immigrant backgrounds to attain good ageing

“…The authors point especially towards a life course perspective to understand the inequality, urging states to consider bolstering integration policies to increase opportunities for immigrants to integrate into host-societies. Later research draws the life-course perspective further, claiming that such economic vulnerability along with nostalgic feelings towards Turkish culture later enforces the pattern of cohabitancy and intergenerational living arrangements that are more common within the group (Liversage 2019). Using Bourdieu's terms (Bourdieu and Thompson 1991), differences in immaterial (e.g.…”

Social Support and Health Services Use in People Aged over 65 Years Migrating within China: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…Migrating for offspring refers to some seniors for whom the main reason for migration was for caring for the younger generations, indicating the intergenerational relationship [ 4 ]. Evidence showed that the seniors that migrated for offspring have more intergenerational interactions than those separated from their children, giving more advice to their children and also receiving the support and comfort from the family in return [ 17 , 18 ]. Thus, we propose the hypothesis:…”