Honor Your Father and Your Mother?
Adult children and elderly parents as
migration attractions in Sweden
Anna Pettersson
Gunnar Malmberg
Department of Social and
Economic Geography &
Centre for Population Studies:
Ageing and Living
Conditions Programme,
Umeå University, Sweden
The Swedish context
• Age of retirement : 65-67 years
• 17% of the population > 65 years (2002)
• Adult children has no statutory responsibility
for their elderly parents (since 1956)
• 8% of the population 65 years and older
received public home care
• 6% in assisted living
Source: 2005 The National Board of Health and Welfare
Percentage of old parents by distance to closest
adult children
100
Percent
80
60
40
20
0
<100 m
<1 km
< 5 km
<50 km
But, 20% of the population over 65 have
no adult children in the country
Source: Elaborated from the ASTRID-database
Theoretical approach
Elderly migration
• Life long migration
• In a ”mobile window”
• Adjustment migration
Theoretical approach
Why wanting to get closer?
• Assistance to the elderly
• Assistance to the younger
• Distance and cost – proximity as a way to
reduce costs for family members (Cox and Rank
1992)
• By “accident”
The study
• Cross sectional study: catch the moment and
observe a time- typical phenomena
• ”Adjustment migration”
• Moves made to within 100 meters distance of a
relative
Material
Cross sections from 1991-1992 and 2001-2002
• Two populations:
– All people over 65 with at least one adult child
living in Sweden
– All the adult children (over 20 years) of these
older parents
– Links between parents and siblings
– Data on residence, family, socio-economic
situation etc.
Research questions
• To what extent do adult children and elderly
parents move close to each other?
• What characterizes those who move within
100 meters of a relative?
• When convergence occurs, is it because the
elderly move or because the young move?
To move and move closer
Adult children population
1954976
Movers within the adult children
population
167598
8,6%
Movers that ended up closer to an
elderly parent
82594
49,3%
Elderly population
1178453
Movers within the elderly population
61483
5,2%
Movers that ended up closer to a child
43130
70,1%
Who are the movers?
Adult children
Elderly parents
Younger
Older
Woman
Man
Without children at home
With more children
High education level
High education level
Born outside Sweden
Born outside Sweden
Not married
Not married
35
Year 2001-2002
30
%
25
Year 1991-1992
20
15
10
5
68
64
60
56
52
48
44
40
36
32
28
24
20
0
Age
Age-specific migration rate, elderly parents
15
Year 1991-1992
Year 2001-2002
%
10
5
Age
93
90
87
84
81
78
75
72
69
0
66
Age is an important factor
Age-specific migration rate, adult children
Who had no parent within 100 m in 01, but in 02?
Adult children
Variables
B
S.E.
Exp(b)
Age
-0,007***
0,001
0,993
Woman
-0,282***
0,022
0,754
Children at home
1,056***
0,025
2,875
High education level
-0,138***
0,027
0,871
Born in Nordic countries
0,114
0,080
1,121
Born in Europe
0,856***
0,084
2,354
Born outside Europe
0,869***
0,070
2,385
Married
-0,810***
0,026
0,445
Have a sibling in same parish 02
0,838***
0,023
2,311
Sparsely populated municipality 02
0,151***
0,026
1,163
Moved 01-02
3,504***
0,026
33,259
Constant
-6,871
0,069
0,001
N
1954976
Nagelkerke R2
0,253
LL
84777
*** = significant on 99% level
Who had no child within 100 m in 01 but in 02?
Elderly parents
Variables
B
S.E.
Exp(b)
Age
-0,034***
0,002
0,967
Woman
-0,089***
0,023
0,915
Number of children
0,128***
0,009
1,136
High education level
0,107
0,041
1,113
Born in Nordic countries
0,202***
0,046
1,224
Born in Europe
0,484***
0,052
1,623
Born outside Europe
0,540***
0,078
1,717
Married
-0,110***
0,024
0,896
> one child in the same parish 02
0,943***
0,025
2,545
Sparsely populated municipality 02
-0,117***
0,025
0,890
Have moved 01-02
2,150***
0,024
8,586
Constant
-3,092
0,137
0,045
N
1178453
Nagelkerke R2
0,086
LL
94650
*** = Significant on 99% level
Conclusion
• In the elderly population an increased
migration rate is seen among the very old
• Grandchildren seems to have an important
impact on adjustment migration, as do
proximity to more than one relative
• The overshadowing pattern seen also in this
study is the higher migration propensity among
the young
Looking forward:
More research on similar material
• Include also the once that move further apart,
since that too effects distance
• Need to follow actors over time – longitudinal
approaches
Thank you!