Trends in the prevalence of grandparent households in selected European countries and the United States

Abstract

Our aim is to investigate trends in the prevalence of grandparent households over time (that is households including a grandparent-grandchild dyad) in selected European countries and the United States. We also identify the socio-economic and demographic characteristics associated with variations in such households. Given changes in family behaviour (for example, rises in divorce and step-families) and improvements in longevity, family ties among extended family members are likely to become more important, such as those between grandparents and grandchildren (Bengtson, 2001, Hagestad, 2006). Research from the U.S. has shown significant increases in the prevalence of multi-generational and grandparent-headed households. However, to date little is known in Europe about trends in grandparent households, the characteristics of these households, and how these characteristics vary across Europe. Given the important role that grandparents play in family life, a better understanding of grandparent households is likely to shed new light on a key aspect of grandparent care: those co-residing with grandchildren (Lewis et al., 2008). Thus using the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series International (IPUMS), theONS Longitudinal Study for England and Wales, and SOEP for Germany we will use multivariate techniques to investigate how grandparent households vary across selected European countries and the U.S. and changes in the prevalence of adults living in these households over time. In line with other studies, our results show increases in the proportion of those aged 40 and over living in grandparent households in the US since the 1980s. All the other European countries studied (that is England and Wales, France, and Germany) with the exception of Romania, and to a lesser extent Portugal, showed a decline in the percentage of people aged 40 and older residing in three-generation grandparent households. However England and Wales, like the U.S., showed an increase in the percentage of skipped-generation households.