Ageing without family - who cares?

The immediate family – partner and children – is a central resource for emotional and practical support to older adults, and its members often act as advocates for older adults in relation to public authorities. Older adults without immediate family are at high risk of missing such support.

The purpose of this project is to study the consequences of growing old without immediate family, with a particular focus on wellbeing and support network.The research questions are based on three themes: 1) Health and wellbeing among older adults without immediate family, 2) The support networks of the group and the forms of support that these networks provide, 3) The older adults´ own experiences of ageing and wellbeing, and how these are shaped by support networks and earlier life experiences.

In the project we will use two data sets to study these themes: 1) A nationally representative set of survey data (SWEOLD) in which the living conditions of older (75+) Swedes have been followed in six waves since 1992. 2) A set of qualitative and biographical interviews with older adults 75+ with no immediate family.

These two data sets will complement each other by combining representative data about the studied group with knowledge based on the group’s own narratives and experiences.The project will produce new knowledge about a group of older people that is of special importance for the planning and realization of support to older adults living in the community – a group on which there has been little research done both nationally and internationally.

Demographics shows that tor future generations of older adults it will become increasingly common to grow old without immediate family.

At the same time the current staying-in-place policy combined with demands for rationalization of elder care has placed higher demands on the immediate family to provide support for older family members. This actualizes the need for more knowledge about older adults without immediate family.

The project will also contribute to making the group visible and challenge established and possibly dated assumptions about older people’s family lives.