Generational squeezes under different life courses and the structural and cultural contexts

Anita Abramowska-Kmon, Warsaw School of Economics
Irena E. Kotowska, Warsaw School of Economics

The aim of the paper is to analyse care provision between generations in selected European countries representing different levels of intergenerational solidarity, structural and cultural contexts and care regimes. The main focus will be on so called “sandwich generations”, i.e. people aged 45-64. The data used come from the Generations and Gender Survey, the panel survey carried out in selected European countries. We hypothesize that more familialistic countries and weak formal care provision tend to assist more both generations, whereas those with high level of de-familialisation of care and welfare are less likely to provide care to both generations, prioritizing the young ones. The countries selected represent different welfare settings, care regimes and living arrangements (i.e. Poland, France, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Romania, Germany, Estonia). The logistic regression will be applied. The dependent binary variable describes a fact of giving care support both up and down generations. Two models will be estimated: one with focus on care provided to younger generations (grandchildren) and the second one – on care provided to older generations (parents/ parents in low/ grandparents). Other kinds of care (towards partner, siblings, friends etc.) are excluded from our analysis. The models will include individual characteristics of care givers (age, sex, education, employment, living arrangements, disability), variables regarding attitudes towards care (people’s opinions towards care responsibilities) and also a variable ‘country’ representing the socio-economic-cultural context. The preliminary results suggest that three dimensions of care provision (family ties, institutional settings, attitudes towards care) are important in care provisions both up and down generations.