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Honor Your Father and Your Mother? Adult
children and elderly parents as migration
attractions in Sweden
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The Swedish context

• Age of retirement 65-67 years
• 17 of the population gt 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
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But, 20 of the population over 65 have no adult
children in the country
Source Elaborated from the ASTRID-database
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Theoretical approachElderly migration

• Life long migration
• In a mobile window
• Adjustment migration

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Theoretical approachWhy 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

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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

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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.

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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?

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To move and move closer
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Who are the movers?
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Age is an important factor
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Who had no parent within 100 m in 01, but in 02?
Adult children
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Who had no child within 100 m in 01 but in 02?
Elderly parents
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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

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Looking forwardMore 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!