Intergenerational ties across borders: a typology of the relationships between Polish migrants in the Netherlands and their ageing parents

Figures & data

Table 1. Descriptive characteristics of adult children and parents (N = 970).

	Range	Mean	Std. dev.
Dyads
Mother–daughter	0–1	0.35
Mother–son	0–1	0.23
Father–daughter	0–1	0.24
Father–son	0–1	0.18
Child’s characteristics
Age migrant child	21–57	32.8	6.71
Education child
High	0–1	0.28
Intermediate	0–1	0.48
Low	0–1	0.23
No. of brothers	0–7	1.04	1.10
No. of sisters	0–7	1.00	1.10
Length of stay in the Netherlands (in years)	1–18	6.37	3.19
Partnership status
Polish partner living in the Netherlands	0–1	0.65
Non-Polish partner living in the Netherlands	0–1	0.16
Polish partner living in Poland	0–1	0.04
Single	0–1	0.14
Has own child(ren)	0–1	0.53
Parent’s characteristics
Frail health	0–1	0.10
Partnership status
Married/living with a partner	0–1	0.56
Separated	0–1	0.24
Widowed	0–1	0.20
Indicators
Emotional support offered to parent	0–1	0.37
Emotional support received from parent	0–1	0.32
Financial support offered to parent	0–1	0.06
Face-to-face contact (at least a few times a year)	0–1	0.77
Contact via communication technologies (at least weekly)	0–1	0.57
Practical support offered to parent	0–1	0.01
Weak norm of filial obligation	0–1	0.19

Table 2. Results of LCA of solidarity between migrant children and their parents living in Poland.

	Harmonious	Detached	Obligatory
Manifest variables (mean values on 0–1 scale)
Emotional support offered to parent	0.96	0.08	0.23
Emotional support received from parent	0.95	0.01	0.17
Financial support offered to parent	0.11	0.01	0.06
Contact face-to-face (at least few times a year)	0.84	0.51	0.94
Contact via communication technologies (at least weekly)	0.80	0.02	0.89
Practical support (in the past 12 months)	0.04	0.01	0.00
Weak norm of filial obligation	0.14	0.30	0.13
Frequency (percentage values)	25	34	41

Table 3. Marginal effects of multinomial logit regression predicting three types of relationships of migrant children and their parents (reference categories in parentheses; N = 970).

	Harmonious	Detached	Obligatory
Characteristics of migrant child
Daughter	+0.08**	–0.04	–0.04
Age	+0.00	+0.00	–0.00
Educational attainment (Low)
Intermediate	+0.05	–0.06	+0.01
High	+0.13**	–0.12**	–0.01
No. of brothers	–0.00	+0.00	+0.00
No. of sisters	–0.02	+0.03*	–0.00
Length of stay in the Netherlands (In years)	–0.00	–0.00	+0.00
Partner (No partner)
Polish partner living in the Netherlands	–0.11**	+0.01	0.10*
Non-Polish partner living in the Netherlands	–0.06	+0.05	+0.01
Polish partner living in Poland	–0.13	+0.10	+0.02
At least one child (No children)	–0.03	–0.00	+0.04
Characteristics of parents
Mother	+0.17***	–0.19***	+0.02
Frail health	+0.09*	–0.06	–0.02
Relationship status (Married/living with a partner)
Separated	–0.02	+0.12**	–0.10*
Widowed	+0.01	+0.00	–0.02
Separated × father	–0.05	+0.23**	–0.19

Note: Cox-Snell R² = 0.192. Significance levels: * p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001.