Family Relationships in Late Adulthood

Demographic and Societal Shifts Shaping Aging Families

More persons are living to older ages than ever before because of advances in medical care and technology, improvements in nutrition and sanitation, and decreases in infectious disease. Thus, many older adults will be members of three-, four-, and even five-generation families. This means that family members have the opportunity to experience a variety of roles and relationships for a longer time than ever before. For example, more than 60 percent of all older adults are married and approximately 90 percent have living children; of those with adult children, about 94 percent have grandchildren and 60 percent have great-grandchildren. These percentages vary according to age, gender, race, and ethnicity.

Because of increases in the number of years people live and declines in the number of births per year, a change is occurring in the age structure of the population. Through most of the 19th century, the shape of the population structure by age in most industrialized nations, including the United States, was that of a pyramid, with a large base of children tapering to a small group of persons aged 65 and older. Families typically had many small children, fewer middle-aged adults, and no or only one or two older members. By 1990, the age pyramid began shifting to more of a rectangular shape, reflecting “beanpole” families with more generations alive concurrently within families, but with fewer children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, siblings, and other extended kin in each generation than in previous times. By 2030, the population age structure will be rectangular, with similar numbers across all ages from bottom (young children) to top (older adults).

The progression from pyramid families to beanpole families has important implications for family functions and relationships in late life. The increased life span of older family members in recent decades results in more years of shared lives across generations. That is, although the number of kin within families is declining, the likelihood that families have members from multiple generations is increasing. For example, less than one-fourth of persons born in 1900 had a living grandparent when they turned 30; for individuals born in 2000, more than three-fourths will have at least one living grandparent with whom to celebrate their 30th birthday. Thus, the availability of aging members brings greater opportunity for greater family continuity, stability, and support across generations. At the same time, younger family members may face extended years of caregiving for dependent older adults.

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