Norms and Care Relationships in Transnational Families: The Case of Elderly Parents Left Behind in Lithuania

• Authors: Margarita Gedvilaitė-Kordušienė
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

In the context of high migration rates and limited formal care support for the elderly the paper deals with normative expectations and actual flows of support in Lithuanian transnational families. The study is based on a representative survey of elderly parents who have at least one migrant child (N=305). The data analysis revealed predominance of familistic attitudes towards filial responsibilities in transnational families. We did not find any significant differences in filial expectations between the two types of transnational families (elderly parents having only migrant children and those with both migrant and non-migrant children). High expectations of elderly parents are not being met in regards to face-to-face and virtual contacts with migrant adult children. The differences in provided/ received emotional support between migrant and non-migrant children were insignificant. However, the data revealed significant differences in provided/received financial support between migrant and non-migrant children.

Keywords

EN

care relationships; elderly parents; intergenerational solidarity; norms; transnational family

• Publisher: Sciendo
• Journal: Baltic Journal of European Studies
• Year: 2015
• Volume: 5
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 90-107

Dates

published

2015-10-01

online

2015-10-15

Contributors

author

Margarita Gedvilaitė-Kordušienė

• Lithuanian Social Research Centre A. Goštauto g. 11, Vilnius LT-01108, Lithuania

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Identifiers

DOI

10.1515/bjes-2015-0015