1. Honor Your Father and Your Mother? Adult children and elderly parents as migration attractions in Sweden Department of Social and Economic Geography & Centre for Population Studies: Ageing and Living Conditions Programme, Umeå University, Sweden Anna Pettersson Gunnar Malmberg

2. The Swedish context Age of retirement : 65-67 years 17% of the population > 65 years (2002) Adult children has no statutory responsibility for their elderly parents (since 1956) 8% of the population 65 years and older received public home care 6% in assisted living Source: 2005 The National Board of Health and Welfare

3. Source: Elaborated from the ASTRID-database But, 20% of the population over 65 have no adult children in the country

4. Theoretical approach Elderly migration Life long migration In a ”mobile window” Adjustment migration

5. Theoretical approach Why wanting to get closer? Assistance to the elderly Assistance to the younger Distance and cost – proximity as a way to reduce costs for family members (Cox and Rank 1992) By “accident”

6. The study Cross sectional study: catch the moment and observe a time- typical phenomena ”Adjustment migration” Moves made to within 100 meters distance of a relative

7. Material Cross sections from 1991-1992 and 2001-2002 Two populations: –All people over 65 with at least one adult child living in Sweden –All the adult children (over 20 years) of these older parents –Links between parents and siblings –Data on residence, family, socio-economic situation etc.

8. Research questions To what extent do adult children and elderly parents move close to each other? What characterizes those who move within 100 meters of a relative? When convergence occurs, is it because the elderly move or because the young move?

9. To move and move closer Elderly population1178453 Movers within the elderly population614835,2% Movers that ended up closer to a child4313070,1% Adult children population1954976 Movers within the adult children population 1675988,6% Movers that ended up closer to an elderly parent 8259449,3%

10. Adult childrenElderly parents YoungerOlder WomanMan Without children at homeWith more children High education level Born outside Sweden Not married Who are the movers?

11. Age is an important factor

12. VariablesBS.E.Exp(b) Age-0,007***0,0010,993 Woman-0,282***0,0220,754 Children at home1,056***0,0252,875 High education level-0,138***0,0270,871 Born in Nordic countries0,1140,0801,121 Born in Europe0,856***0,0842,354 Born outside Europe0,869***0,070 2,385 Married-0,810***0,0260,445 Have a sibling in same parish 020,838***0,0232,311 Sparsely populated municipality 020,151***0,0261,163 Moved 01-023,504***0,02633,259 Constant-6,8710,0690,001 N1954976 Nagelkerke R20,253 LL84777 *** = significant on 99% level Who had no parent within 100 m in 01, but in 02? Adult children

13. VariablesBS.E.Exp(b) Age-0,034***0,0020,967 Woman-0,089***0,0230,915 Number of children0,128***0,0091,136 High education level0,1070,0411,113 Born in Nordic countries0,202***0,0461,224 Born in Europe0,484***0,0521,623 Born outside Europe0,540***0,0781,717 Married-0,110***0,0240,896 > one child in the same parish 020,943***0,0252,545 Sparsely populated municipality 02-0,117***0,0250,890 Have moved 01-022,150***0,0248,586 Constant-3,0920,1370,045 N1178453 Nagelkerke R20,086 LL94650 *** = Significant on 99% level Who had no child within 100 m in 01 but in 02? Elderly parents

14. Conclusion In the elderly population an increased migration rate is seen among the very old Grandchildren seems to have an important impact on adjustment migration, as do proximity to more than one relative The overshadowing pattern seen also in this study is the higher migration propensity among the young

15. Looking forward: More research on similar material Include also the once that move further apart, since that too effects distance Need to follow actors over time – longitudinal approaches Thank you!