Research project SS/D5/02 (Research action SS)
Many observers consider the increase in the number of very old people to be the most important new factor of our time. Increased life expectancy poses a definite challenge to social policy. It is, however, just as much of a challenge for relationships between the generations.
Extreme age is a family issue - its consequences extend to partners and children, and to their children too. These consequences are not necessarily problematical. Nevertheless, demographic and sociological developments in the family in recent decades suggest that the present "child generation" is facing a great many problems.
A structural source of difficulty - perhaps only temporary in character - might lie in the succession of generations. How old are the members of the "child generation" with at least one parent aged 80 or over, and above all, what is their family situation? How does the extreme age of their parent impact on their living situation, that of their partner and of their children? Does it give rise to conflicts of role on the part of women? What are the financial consequences of extreme age?
