Pre-study 2020

Abstract

Most older people in Switzerland rely on day-to-day support as they become increasingly frail. They are primarily cared for by their family members, resulting in 37 million hours of unpaid care and nursing work every year. However, not everyone can rely on the sense of solidarity and obligation felt by their relatives, with over 8% of pensioners in Switzerland growing old without family members. Who are the people growing old without a family? Who do they receive support from when they need assistance in their day-to-day life in their old age? This exploratory study provides initial insights into these pressing sociopolitical questions.

Mangement Summary

More and more people are becoming older and older. While this demographic ageing on two fronts does not result in a longer period over which assistance and care are required, the process of becoming frail is becoming longer and longer, creating a growing need for help and care on an everyday basis (Gasser et al. 2015). This care work is predominantly carried out by family members, be it life partners or children. Other relatives, friends and neighbours may also be important sources of support, but this tends to be on a one-off rather than a regular basis. Support from family members is fundamentally important for older people and our society.

However, there are also older people in Switzerland reliant on support who do not have family members to help. These people are the focus of this exploratory study, which was carried out on behalf of Migros Culture Percentage. In this study, we ask ourselves the following questions:

• How can this group of older people without family members be delineated and typified?
• How can this group of older people without family members be described from a socioeconomic perspective?
• How can this group of older people without family members, given its magnitude, be evaluated today and in the coming years?

In the study, we lean towards a narrow definition of family members: Family members are people who belong to the nuclear family: partner and children. We separate this core family group from other relatives, friends and neighbours. Other concepts of relatives are more focused on who a person feels an affiliation to. Up to now, informal support for older people has mostly been provided by members of the nuclear family (Höpflinger 2013). This is one reason why we speak about family members in this study. The narrow definition of the term serves to provide clarity in the analysis.

It is the relationships between parents and children and couples that are or can be regulated by law in Switzerland. However, there is no obligation to take care of older relatives. Additionally, there is only a very limited right that acknowledges the care work provided by family members. Not surprisingly, care work also rarely receives government funding,  despite the fact that Switzerland's care system ultimately depends on family members to provide free support.

The biggest difference between older people with and without family members undoubtedly lies in their social network. Relationships with family members are unique, and those between children and parents are often ambivalent in nature, as they fluctuate between strong feelings of solidarity and long-borne conflicts. This ambivalence is characterised in particular by struggles with balancing independence and dependence between parents and children in different phases of their lives, but such struggles can also be seen among partners. As soon as an older person becomes reliant on support, there is a growing dependency between the recipient and provider. The extent to which different types of ambivalence are actually seen also depends on the resources the families have at their disposal, and how situations of care and assistance are supported institutionally and evaluated sociopolitically.

Growing old without family members means not being able to build on the sense of obligation or love and care of a partner or child when becoming more fragile; rather, this help has to be organised elsewhere. Like family members, other relatives as well as neighbours or friends can also provide valuable informal help. However, friendly relationships are based more heavily on the principle of reciprocity than relationships between family members. Within groups of friends and neighbours, one-sided help tends to be avoided. This raises the question as to which relationship patterns and strategies older people without family members develop when they know that they will grow old without family members. This topic has rarely been discussed in literature to date.

We assume that the potential for support on which people without family members can build is fundamentally smaller than that of people with family members. Nevertheless, the support that family members (can) provide depends on how close they live to the older person, how close their relationship is and whether they have sufficient economic, social and culture capital to be able to help. People without family members are dependent on professional care and assistance to a much larger extent than those who have family members providing support. That being said, whether they can actually access these care and assistance services is a question of their financial resources and knowledge of the social security system in old age. In this regard, vulnerable older people without family members start out in a worse position. Besides, women are affected on two counts. They have a higher risk of poverty in old age because they receive a smaller pension owing to care work they have provided. Moreover, our quantitative analysis has shown that, in comparison to men, they run a much higher risk of not receiving any support themselves in old age because they do not have any family members.

Growing old without family members is primarily a female phenomenon, as men can often rely on the support of their partner as they become frail. Women, meanwhile, tend to outlive their partner. This is linked to three different factors: Firstly, women have a higher life expectancy than men; secondly, women are often in relationships with older men, with the opposite scenario tending to be an exception to the rule; and thirdly, older men are more likely to find a new partner than older women.* If older women do not have any children, they are unlikely to have any family members in old age: Around 43 percent of women aged between 70 and 80 do not have a partner, and the older the women are the more frequently this living situation occurs.

In Switzerland, however, many people grow old without family members in general: Today, more than eight percent of the population of pension age do not have any family members. We looked at two different scenarios to consider the future development of the group of older people without family members: Eight percent of those aged between 70 and 80 are currently growing old without family members, and if statistical data were available on all people over the age of 70 (i.e. including those between 80 and 110), this figure would be much higher. The considerations in our scenarios indicate that considerably more people will grow old without family members in the future. This is mainly attributed to the fact that in the future more people will grow old in Switzerland who do not have children.

The exploratory study has shown that growing old without family members presents a sociopolitical challenge. A large number of older people are living without support from children who are not in a partnership, and this number will rise sharply in the next few years. Firstly, this raises questions for institutions who are there to provide care and assistance for older people. We do not yet know whether people who grow old without family members develop particular, sustainable strategies to organise their care. Clarification is needed on this subject before social planning in old age can be undertaken as an issue. In addition, the social phenomenon of ageing without family members raises questions regarding social law. This shows very clearly how important being entitled to good care would be – a requirement that belongs on the ageing policy agenda.

*The gender differences described here relate explicitly to differences in heterosexual partnerships. This issue of gender-specific differences does not apply to same-sex relationships.

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