What is it about?
Family ties, especially intergenerational relations, are important resources over the whole life course. Family members provide each other with more than only material support, but the non-material ways of exchange and solidarity are still under-researched. This is especially true for the dynamic phase of young adulthood, and for Switzerland as a context. The research article thus closes three important research gaps.
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Why is it important?
The article both confirms and strengthens existing findings as well as it generates new insights into the negotiation of intergenerational ties in a time characterised by life course changes and developments in multiple domains (e.g., education, work, partnership, parenthood). With its link beween family sociology on the one hand and a theoretical life course perspective on the other, the article is of interest for a broad audience, including family scholars, psychologists, sociologist, educational scientists.
Perspectives
Personally, I found it astonishing, that such a great majority of the young adults reports close or very close ties. There seem to be only few troubled relationships, despite the sometimes quite negative public rhetoric about the loosing significance of the family or an ego-centered "Generation Y". However, there are quite some events in the life course or in the family context that can severly and sustainably affect the emotional tie between parents and children. This may have longer-term implications for societal cohesion, elderly peoples and young parents's support networks. These implications are yet to be investigated.
Ariane Bertogg
Universitat Zurich
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The Closeness of Young Adults’ Relationships with Their Parents, Swiss Journal of Sociology, January 2016, De Gruyter,
DOI: 10.1515/sjs-2016-0003.
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