Intergenerational care in corona times: Practices of care in Swedish families during the pandemic

Abstract

Objective: This paper analyses intergenerational relationships in Sweden during the corona pandemic, with a special focus on practices of care. The research question is: How is care between generations – between grandparents, adult children and grandchildren – done during pandemic conditions?
 Background: In Sweden, where an extensive welfare state provides affordable child- and eldercare, the corona strategy of generational separation has still affected family practices of care between generations. In this article we analyse narratives of intergenerational care, taking our point of departure in theories of personal life (Smart 2007), relationality (Mason 2004), and care as sentient activity (Mason 1996).
 Method: The paper draws on a qualitative interview study with grandparents (n=30), adult children (n=12) and grandchildren (n=12), with data collection taking place shortly before and during the coronavirus pandemic.
 Results: The study detects the reciprocal and complex ways in which care between generations takes place. When people relate their experiences, strategies for new ways of doing care are at the centre, involving creative ways of negotiating distance and risk, all marked by both worry and relief.
 Conclusion: The pandemic condition becomes a "filter" affecting and leading to a reformulation of practices of care, from taken-for-granted co-presence narratives, into narratives of relational participation resulting in an overall heightened awareness of the importance and difficulties of intergenerational care practices. The study concludes that a strong welfare state does not translate into complete autonomy or independence; rather, people continue to live "linked lives".

Grandchildhood: Care and relationality in narratives of three generations in Sweden

“…However, this study did not capture the nuances in the character of the care engagements of the genders. Our interviews with grandchildren, and also with adult children and grandparents (Eldén et al, 2021), describe grandmothers as more often having an overarching responsibility for organising care situations, doing more of the encompassing and often invisible sentient activities of care (Mason, 1996), while grandfathers are more often described as ‘fun playmates’. In the light of the general increased importance of grandparents in creating work-family balance for their adult children’s families, more studies paying attention to gendered differences in grandparental care practices are needed, as otherwise, the invisibility of gendered care work, in this case grandmother care, risks to be obscured.…”

Extended family collaboration in childcare during the coronavirus disease-19 pandemic

“…Grandparents' support and extended family collaboration took on increased importance in critical situations during the pandemic (Eldén et al, 2022). The Hong couple recounted how they relied on both sets of grandparents to get through the health and childcare crisis.…”

“…by limiting physical contact) (Del Boca et al, 2020; Stokes and Patterson, 2020). Only a few studies (Cantillon et al, 2021; Eldén et al, 2022; Lee et al, 2020; Mazzucchelli et al, 2020; Salin et al, 2020) have noted that grandparents provided childcare assistance or financial support for parents in emergency situations. For example, Cantillon et al (2021) found that grandparents in South Africa cared for children who were not living with their parents or whose parents had returned to work.…”

“…For example, Cantillon et al (2021) found that grandparents in South Africa cared for children who were not living with their parents or whose parents had returned to work. Eldén et al (2022) reported that grandparents in Sweden maintained online communication with their adult children during the pandemic, and some provided childcare support in urgent situations. Xu et al (2022) investigated American grandparents who assumed sole childcare responsibilities for grandchildren separated from their parents and revealed that ageing grandparents faced material hardship, mental health issues and significant childcare pressure during the pandemic.…”

“…Xu et al (2022) investigated American grandparents who assumed sole childcare responsibilities for grandchildren separated from their parents and revealed that ageing grandparents faced material hardship, mental health issues and significant childcare pressure during the pandemic. These studies (Cantillon et al, 2021; Eldén et al, 2022; Xu et al, 2022) have either investigated grandparents’ support for children without parental care or in family crises or focused on grandparents’ mental health and care difficulties in vulnerable families. Little research has examined how parents collaborated with extended family, especially grandparents, on a regular basis to cope with childcare challenges during the pandemic.…”