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VOLUME 9,
NUMBER 2, 2006
Geographical Proximity and Contact Frequency between Older
Parents and their Adult Children in Germany - Cross-cohort
and Longitudinal Perspectives
Andreas Hoff
This article aims to explore change and continuity of two
structural aspects of the parent-child-relationship in Germany
- geographical proximity and contact frequency - that have
a significant impact on the relationship quality as well
as the mutual support provision between adult children and
their parents. This research makes use of a nationally representative
survey of the German population aged 40-85 years - the German
Ageing Survey. The paper presents findings from both a cross-cohort
and a longitudinal perspective. The vast majority of Germans
aged 40 years and older lives in geographical proximity to
at least one of their children and to their parents. However,
the geographical distance between parents and their adult
children increased between 1996-2002. Accordingly, the contact
frequency between parents and children decreased - daily
interactions became less prevalent. Moreover, a particular
birth cohort was found to be characterised by less frequent
parent-child-interactions than the neighbouring cohorts -
the ‘war time cohort’ of those born between 1939-1944.
Key words: intergenerational
relationships, Germany, parent-child-relationship, family
relations, demographic change.
Between wisdom and vulnerability: images of the elders
on the World Wide Web
Lavra Kreačič
This article analyses the representation of elders on the
internet and compares it with the representations of aged
people in other types of media (magazines, television, film,
etc.). The study depicts the ambivalence within the display
of representations of the elderly who are portrayed in terms
of wisdom on the one hand and in the terms of vulnerability
on the other. Mass media has the authority to construct images
of the elderly according to the interest of dominant social
groups in our society and present them to general audience
as natural representations which are valid per se. However,
in view of the fact that Internet as a form of new technology
should be more democratic and accessible to all, it should
also offer alternative representations of the elderly. The
first part of the text observes problems that we come across
when we try to define the term ‘age’, it shows the perception
of age, it stresses the stereotyping of the elderly and seeks
the origin of the ambivalent representation of elders. Furthermore,
it also mentiones the question of non-use of the Internet
among the aged. The second part of the study analyses a selected
set of the practical examples from different media and it
concludes with a finding that Internet representations reinforce
the pre-existing representations of elders in the society
despite the common belief that Internet (as a relatively
new technology) should guarantee greater diversity of representations
of the elderly on the World Wide Web.
Key words: age, the
elderly, images of the elderly, mass media
Socializing as a component of social integration
Urąka Vidovič, Valentina Hlebec
This paper examines socializing as a component in the social
integration of the elderly in Slovenia. Two studies, dated
1987 and 2002, were compared using statistical analysis,
to reveal the characteristics of companions in both years.
In 1987, participation in leisure activities decreased with
age. The most frequent obstacles responsible for the decreased
participation of the elderly in leisure activities were poor
health and illness. Data from 2002 shows that socializing
with friends decreases with age; however socializing with
children and neighbours increases with age.
Key words: socializing, social
integration, social ties, elderly
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