Relatore
Valeria Bordone - University of Munich (LMU)
Abstract
In ageing societies, where the overlapping lives of grandparents and grandchildren are longer than ever before, grandparenthood is a central stage in later life. Grandparents’ role is beneficial for the society in terms of integrating or substituting (costly) services offered by the market and (scarce) public provision. But to what extent does grandparenthood affect older people’s health and well-being? The growing number of studies on this topic often provide contradicting results, depending on whether they focus on custodial or non-custodial grandparents and on methodological approach used. This seminar will discuss the relevance of grandparenthood from an individual- as well as a policy-oriented perspective within the active ageing framework, considering grandparenthood as multidimensional and therefore accounting for grandparenthood per se and the informal roles of caregiving directly linked to it. Results from recent research using cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses in a cross-country comparative perspective will be presented and their implications will be discussed. It is foreseen a discussion also in terms of the methodological challenges of research on intergenerational relationships.
Organizzatori
Rosella Rettaroli, Livia Elisa Ortensi