Marital disruption and intergenerational relations among older Finns

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we investigate whether the investments of divorced, re-married or widowed grandparents differ from those of never-divorced grandparents and whether the effect of marital status is different between grandfathers and grandmothers. Grandparental investment is measured by childcare, contact frequencies, practical help and the financial support grandparents give to their offspring. The investigation is based on the Generational Transmissions in Finland 2012 survey, which includes 1441 grandparents aged between 62 and 67 years. We found that among married (never-divorced), divorced and re-married grandparents, the grandmothers were significantly more involved than grandfathers, except in the case of practical help provided to children, which married (never-divorced) grandfathers provided more than grandmothers. Both divorce and remarriage were associated with reduced child care help and reduced contacts between grandfathers and their grandchildren. In addition, re-married and widowed grandfathers provided significantly less practical and financial help to their offspring compared to their never-divorced counterparts. Among grandmothers, remarriage was associated with reduced child care help and contact, and divorce with reduced financial help when compared to never-divorced grandmothers. Finally, the timing of divorce had a very limited effect on grandparental investments.

KEYWORDS:

• Divorce
• Finland
• grandparental investment
• remarriage
• widowhood

Acknowledgements

This study was funded by the Kone Foundation. The data collection was funded by the Academy of Finland (Grant nr. 250620).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Mirkka Danielsbacka is a senior researcher at the University of Turku, Finland. Her recent topics have included family relations, grandparental investments and welfare state research.

Antti O. Tanskanen is a senior researcher at the University of Turku, Finland. His main research topics include intergenerational transmissions, family life, working life, and social stratification.