A lifecourse perspective on parental marital disruption and the obligations mid-life ‘adult children’ feel to care for their parents

Sage, Joanna, Evandrou, Maria and Falkingham, Jane (2012) A lifecourse perspective on parental marital disruption and the obligations mid-life ‘adult children’ feel to care for their parents. Third Biennial British-Irish Population Conference, Belfast, United Kingdom. 17 - 18 Apr 2012.

Abstract

This paper challenges the dominant thesis that parental divorce occurring during childhood has a greater detrimental effect on the obligations (adult) children feel to provide care for their parents in later life, than parental divorce which occurs later in the lifecourse during the child’s own adulthood. Drawing upon interviews with mid-life participants who have experienced disruption in their parent’s marriage at different stages of the lifecourse (either during childhood, adolescence/young adulthood, or during mid-life), our findings illuminate the effects of the timing of parental marital disharmony on the obligations ‘adult children’ feel to provide care for their parents in later life. In particular, we show how the deterioration of marital relations in post-retirement couples has resulted in weakened relationships with their mid-life (adult) children, who have expressed diluted obligations to care for their parents as a result – underlining retirement as a key lifecourse event, which can unsettle marital dynamics, family relations and intergenerational exchange frameworks. We present these findings within the context of an increasing informal care-gap in the UK, and the complex intergenerational exchange frameworks of our ‘sandwich generation’ participants, outlining a clear critique of family-centric social care policy in the UK

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Contributors

Author: Maria Evandrou

Author: Jane Falkingham

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