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Intergenerational Normative Solidarity in Turkish Families: A Research on the Youth
JOURNAL OF YOUTH RESEARCHES
In intergenerational normative solidarity, in the relations between parents and children,
transfers are about social expectations rather than personal interests. These attitudes
and behaviors about parents show that family parents are not only seen as sacrifices in
the sense that children act for the benefit of their parents but at the same time they also
acknowledge that they are parts of a demanding relationship in the society (Ha, Carr, Utz,
and Nesse 2006).
Other intergenerational solidarity dimensions in families seem to be associated with
normative solidarity and many other factors (Bengtson and Roberts, 1991; Roberts and
Bengtson, 1990; Rossi and Rossi, 1990; Netzer, 1994; Ha et al., 2006). In this respect,
this research examines the relationship between the factors that affect intergenerational
normative solidarity in family and the dimensions of other intergenerational solidarity.
Method
Population and Sample
In the study, 1006 youths in different age groups (15-29 years) were asked questions
about intergenerational solidarity and participants answered these questions taking into
account one of their mother, father, grandmother or grandfather. The universe of the re-
search comprises of the individuals who reside in Ankara and whose socio-economic
levels differs. The 16 selected extreme data were removed from 1006 data and excluded
from the analysis. with the mahalanobis method. Therefore, the analyzes were performed
with the data set obtained from the remaining 990 participants.
Data Collection Tool
In the study, a question form to determine the socio-demographic factors regarding par-
ticipants and questions and scales regarding the dimensions of intergenerational solidar-
ity in the families were used. These question forms and scales can be ordered as follows:
Intergenerational structural solidarity in families is measured by questions such as the
number of people living in the family, the geographical distance to the parent/grandpar-
ent, the general health status of the parent/grandparent, and the general health status of
the participant (Bengtson, 1988; Netzer, 1994).
Four questions were used by Mangen and Miller (1988) to discuss the frequency of inter-
views with parents/grandparents of participants in order to determine intergenerational
solidarity in the families.
The questions to determine the intergenerational functional solidarity in the family were
used in the way that Netzer (1994) adopted from Lee (1994). In the last 6 months for each
of the 6 identified activities/subjects, the situation of the participant helping the parent/
grandparent and the participant getting help from the parent/grandparent were examined.
