Intergenerational relationships in contemporary UK

长期以来，社会科学家一直对家庭和亲属关系感兴趣，这构成了许多政策设计的背景，包括社会保障、养老金、儿童护理和老年人个人护理。我们的重点是父母和他们成年子女之间的关系，代际接触和帮助如何回应两代人的需求和资源，以及联系和帮助如何影响人们的福祉。过去对代际关系的研究包括20世纪50年代和60年代社区研究的重要传统，一些基于当地或地区小样本的研究，以及最近对具有全国代表性的大样本的研究。但几乎所有这些研究都是横截面性质的，这限制了他们解决因果关系问题的能力。相比之下，我们的研究分析了纵向数据(即对同一人的重复观察)。特别是，它使用了英国家庭小组调查(BHPS)、理解社会和英国老龄化纵向研究(ELSA)。其中每一个都以不同的方式支持我们的调查。BHPS是一项成熟的小组研究，自1991年以来一直在访问人们，其样本现已纳入《理解社会》。它采访了两代人之间的交流(尽管父母和成年子女彼此不匹配)。《了解社会》有一个非常大的样本，每一波都有大约8万个人，但它在2009年才开始。它将使我们能够探索少数民族(过度抽样)和单亲父母等小社会群体在代际关系方面的差异。ELSA是一项始于2002年的关于50岁以上人群的小组研究。它目前提供了一个为期四年的调查小组，对健康、财富和收入进行了出色的衡量，但只采访了父母一代。所有三个小组研究都包含代际支持和联系的衡量标准，但程度不同。我们对父母和成年子女相互帮助感兴趣。因为他们之间的联系频率本身就很重要，特别是父母，这是我们研究的另一个重点。此外，帮助和联系都受到地理距离的限制。我们的研究将评估父母和他们的成年子女的需求和资源对以下方面的影响：(1)他们生活的距离有多远；(2)他们彼此联系的频率有多高；(3)他们相互给予了多少和什么样的帮助和支持。它还调查了接近、联系和帮助之间是如何相互联系的。我们研究的最后一个重要组成部分是衡量联系和帮助如何影响父母及其成年子女的幸福感。研究将使用一系列量化方法，旨在以最佳方式利用我们拥有的纵向数据。这些模型包括建立代际交流的基本结构的潜在类别模型；解决因果关系问题的工具变量；解释个体之间持续未观察到的差异的固定效应模型；以及探索接近、接触、帮助和幸福之间联系的结构方程模型。其中一些方法需要纵向数据，另一些方法在获得这些数据后可以更有信心地应用。我们预计将在领先的学术期刊上以4-5篇文章的形式发表研究结果。此外，这项研究将为与一家主要的大学出版社合作撰写一本研究专著奠定基础。同样重要的是，我们计划与AgeUK等关键利益相关者定期举行会议，以告知我们的研究设计和问题，设定研究优先事项，并讨论我们的发现。

Family and kinship have been of long-standing interest to social scientists and form the backdrop for the design of many policies, including social security, pensions, child care and personal care for the elderly. Our focus is on the relationships between parents and their adult children, how intergenerational contact and help respond to needs and resources of both generations, and how contact and help affect people's well being. The research would contribute to the ESRC's strategic priority of 'influencing behaviour and informing interventions'.Past research on intergenerational relationships includes the important tradition of the community studies of the 1950s and 1960s, a number of studies based on small local or regional samples and recent research on large nationally representative samples. But nearly all of these studies are cross-sectional in nature, which limits their ability to address issues of causality. In contrast, our research analyses longitudinal data (i.e. repeated observations of the same people). In particular, it uses the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS), Understanding Society and the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA). Each of these supports our investigation in different ways. The BHPS is a mature panel study, having interviewed people since 1991, and its sample is now incorporated in Understanding Society. It interviews people from both sides the intergenerational exchange (although parents and adult children are not matched to one another). Understanding Society has a very large sample, with about 80,000 individuals in each wave, but it only started in 2009. It will allow us to explore differences in intergenerational relationships for small social groups like ethnic minorities (who are over-sampled) and single parents. ELSA is a panel study of the over-50s which started in 2002. It currently offers a four-year panel and has excellent measures of health, wealth and income, but it interviews the parent generation only. All three panel studies contain measures of intergenerational support and contact, but to different degrees.We are interested in the help that parents and adult children give to one another. Because the frequency of contact between them is valued in itself, particularly by parents, it is another focus of our research. In addition, both help and contact are constrained by geographical distance. Our research would estimate the impacts of the needs and resources of parents and their adult children on: (1) how far apart they live from one another; (2) how often they are in contact with one another; (3) how much and what kinds of help and support they give each other. It also investigates how proximity, contact and help are related to each other. The important final component of our research gauges how contact and help affect the well-being of parents and their adult children.The research would use a range of quantitative methods which aim to exploit the longitudinal data that we have in the best ways. These include latent class models to establish the underlying structure of intergenerational exchange; instrumental variables to address issues of causality; fixed effects models to account for persistent unobserved differences between individuals; and structural equation models to explore the links between proximity, contact, help and well being. Some of these methods require longitudinal data, others can be applied with greater confidence when such data is available.We expect to publish the findings as 4-5 articles in leading academic journals. In addition, the research would form the foundation for a research monograph with a major University Press. Of equal importance, we plan to have regular meetings with key stakeholders such as AgeUK to inform our research design and questions, set research priorities, and to discuss our findings.