In this study, the predictive power of relationships with parents, peers, and romantic partners in adolescence on the marital quality in adulthood is examined. It is hypothesized that relationships in adolescence both inside and outside of the family of origin influence the development of romantic relations later in life. In addition, marital quality in early and middle adulthood is predicted from aspects of the adult life situation.

The study draws on German longitudinal data that covers more than 30 years of development. It was conducted first in the 1980ies with adolescents aged 12 to 16. In 2002 and 2012 the study was resumed, when participants were 35 and 45 years of age, respectively. The sample consists of nearly 700 participants. They reported on their relationships in adolescence as well as on their life situation and marital quality in adulthood. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted.

Results demonstrate that the quality of relationships with parents, peers, and romantic partners in adolescence contributes uniquely to the development of romantic relations later in life. For example, a conflict-ridden parent-child relation in adolescence proves to be associated with an elevated risk for conflict and dissatisfaction in the adult love relationship. However, the predictive power of adolescent variables is quite modest, being somewhat stronger for women than for men. Generally, aspects of the adult life situation (e.g. parenthood) have a greater impact on marital quality than early social experiences. Additional analyses will test if the influence of adolescent relationships decreases with increasing age of the participants.

Religious faith is often found to have a positive impact on relationships, in terms of commitment, coping and marital generosity, and to be particularly salient to older women. This study investigates whether, in a religiously homogenous yet secularising microstate, faith still matters to relationship satisfaction; what factors predict this; and whether faith influences couple agreement on various relationship aspects.

This study is based on the 2015 relationships survey by the National Centre for Family Research in Malta, based on a 33-item questionnaire administered to a random stratified sample of the population through telephone interviews. The subset of 1369 cases in this study includes all respondents in couple relationships.

Those for whom faith matters to their relationship reported significantly higher relationship satisfaction, though the effect was small (p = 0.03, r = -.05). Only three among numerous variables made a unique significant contribution to whether faith mattered - being married had the highest odds ratio (8.04, p =.03) followed by being older than 60 (2.78, p =.03) and being female (1.73, p =.03). Those for whom faith mattered had significantly higher mean levels of agreement on the demonstration of affection (z = -2.471, p = .13), children’s upbringing (z = -2.883, p =.004) and managing family finance (z = -2.990, p =.003) but did not differ in other examined areas.

This study sheds further light on age and gender differences in the salience of faith to relationships, and proposes further research on how faith affects couple agreement in key relational areas.

In Western societies, the borders of gender role related expectations have become vague, meaning that couples must negotiate, plan and personally carry out more and more aspects in their lives. These changes have made couples’ relationships and family life more diverse but also fragile. The changes have been especially precipitous in former socialist countries, like Estonia, which have witnessed dramatic and overwhelming changes in the political, economic and social environment while striving to adopt Western values. All this has also affected the family institution, e.g. since 1998 in Estonia more than half of children are born outside of marriage. In the current paper, we study how this complex situation has changed couples’ relationships and family related attitudes and how well people have adopted egalitarian values. Using qualitative methods, semi-structured interviews with married and cohabiting couples (N=13) were conducted. Our results show that the loss of traditional gender role related expectations has led to ambivalence in couples’ relationships. Although couples seemingly have embraced egalitarian values, traditional gender role related expectations are still deeply embedded. This also supports the idea of norms and counter-norms. For instance, it is considered appropriate for women to start a conversation about marriage, yet it is still believed that the marriage proposal itself should only be made by men. We conclude that family formation pathways are related to the gender role expectations, which in turn are highly ambivalent.

Despite longer life expectancy and thus an increasing extent of common time of living together, previous research has paid more attention on emotional closeness between couples in young adulthood than in old age. However, regarding the phenomenon of ageing societies, the paper focuses on elderly European partnerships and addresses the following questions: (1) How close are European couples in old age?, (2) Are there gender- and/or country-specific differences regarding emotional bonds within partnerships? and (3) Which circumstances concerning the individual, the partnership, the family and the context can explain a situation of closeness or distance? The analysis are based on the social network module as part of the 4th wave of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (2010/11) including 37,000 respondents from 16 countries. The results indicate that in general, almost 80 percent named the respective partner as an important member to discuss things that happen to them, bad or good. Besides, there are partially huge gender and country differences. While in all observed European countries, men report more often of such an emotional relationship to his partner/wife than women, the country-specific pattern is less clear or simple. Hereby, men and women especially in Austria and Hungary show the closest and particular French couples the lowest emotional closeness. Furthermore, multilevel logistic regressions provide relevant insights to understand such a situation, in general and especially for men and women.

Elderly couples have endured together the struggles, conflicts and decisions of a linked life (Elder 1987, Wiley 1988, Gottman 2000). With age they increasingly face health burdens, decrease in well-being and loss of abilities such as self-regulation (Vogel 2013, Gerstorf 2010). Couples cope with these age-related decrements by „compensation through collaboration“ (Dixon 2011, Landis 2013). This potentially creates dependence. Health strain might require couples to re-establish their dyadic “homeostasis”, roles and division of labor (Korpoolar 2013). As couples have been socialized more 'traditionally', this is highly relevant (Ferree 1990, Wilkie).

We used a parallel, convergent mixed-methods design with quantitative cross-sectional data (N=170, 76.91 years, marriage duration 46.48 years) and open-ended, qualitative interviews (N=11 couples, 1.5-2.5h) to examine couples' conflicts and roles in late life. Why do conflicts arise, how do they look and how are they resolved? How egalitarian are these couples, which role dynamics do they have and how gendered are they?

Conflicts are partly resolved functionally. However, the positivity of conflicts is mixed. It is still difficult to address conflicts. Gender makes surprisingly quantitatively no difference. Role patterns are egalitarian and beneficial for conflict dynamics, although past inequality still plays a role. Furthermore, qualitative interviews revealed retrospectively gendered dyadic life courses, but with a comparatively dyadic approach.

The question remains, what happens with conflicts and roles during Fourth Age, when couples have to adjust to further functional limitations and potential loss of autonomy?

In our paper we explore how people and families, faced with ascriptions to be the ‚migration other’, develop ways of dealing with social inequalities, asymmetrical gender relations and hegemonic racialised and gendered power structures. Our focus lies on how these ways of dealing are transmitted and/or transformed intergenerationally and within a family and how continuities, as well as modifications and disruptions in transmissions between mothers and daughters can be reconstructed.

The qualitative data for our paper – collected via group discussions with families and biographical interviews – is from a research project focusing on life strategies of families with a migration history in marginalized urban neighbourhoods in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. In our theoretical approach, family members are seen as actively dealing and negotiating with societal circumstances and social meanings (Wacquant 2006). Their strategies are analysed, with regard to enabling and hindering contexts, which shape each person’s scope of possibilities (Holzkamp 1983). Our research project aims to transcend beyond the deficit-oriented perspective without neglecting the social and societal challenges families have to deal with (Riegel/Yildiz 2011).

We ask in which ways life strategies of mothers and daughters are connected, in which way connections to the other generation are made and how gender and generation contexts are made relevant. The transmissions, transformations and disruptions in the intergenerational mother- daughter-relationship and strategies connected to dealing with gender and generation will be analysed in their societal intersections and interplay with racialised and gendered power and inequality conditions.

In this work, we contribute to research on the reproduction of social inequality by emphasizing the relevance of psyche in class-specific socialization. Applying a Bourdieusian framework, we want to show that the reproduction of class structure passes through the fundamental layers of habitus. We will argue that socialization is not restricted to the direct transmission of material goods or the impartation of cultural practices, but involves the habitus itself, including its conscious and unconscious as well as its cognitive and preattentive elements. Using representative survey data from the German National Education Panel Study (NEPS), we empirically address the psychic dimension of habitus formation in adolescents as well as the mechanisms of intergenerational transmission. We apply multiple correspondence analysis to construct a ‘social space’ of adolescents (14-17 years old) including latent indicators of personality types. In order to address the role of parents’ capital endowment and, consequently, social class position, for adolescents’ habitus formation in general and the involved personality dimension in particular, we project parents’ demographics as supplementary variables in the space of adolescents. Our analysis will establish that social class of parents is not only relevant for their children’s manifest economic and cultural resources or their practices, knowledge and skills, but plays an important part in the conditions of the development of habitus, thus affecting what psychologists conventionally label as ‘personality’.

Parents play an important role for the occupational orientation of adolescents. Previous research has shown that children with supportive parents develop higher career goals and achieve a higher socio-economic status during their early career.

But despite changing paternal and maternal role-models, it can be assumed that the father’s influence on the occupational goals and outputs might be stronger than the mother’s because the interaction between the father and the child is often focused on such instrumental topics while the interaction with the mother covers a broader range of topics. In addition, it remained unclear, if the support takes a stronger effect in same-sex parent-child-dyads or in opposite-sex-dyads. To get a sophisticated picture of supportive parenting’s influence on a successful career entry, it is necessary to take both of these dyad-types into account.

To illuminate these intrafamilial mechanisms, we ask - based on the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) –how supportive behavior of fathers and mothers affects the socio-economic status (ISEI) of boys’ and girls’ first job. We use structural equation modeling in order to take into account if this effect is mediated by the respondent’s educational level.

Our results reveal that especially fathers’ support leads to a higher ISEI during the early career. For sons, we found a direct effect on the first job’s ISEI as well as an indirect effect that is mediated by the educational level. However for daughters, the indirect effect comes to light. For the influence of mothers’ supportive behavior we found no significant effect.

We study the influence of parents’ participation in active labour market programmes, such as training, job subsidies, or workfare, on their children’s successful entry into vocational training and employment at a later point in time. In this way, we hope to gain an understanding of whether parents’ programme participation contributes to avoiding an intergenerational transmission of unemployment. The focus is on recipients of means-tested unemployment benefits in Germany. We expect parents’ employment chances and economic situation to improve as a consequence of programme participation and therefore their ability to invest in their children’s education. Parents’ employment may also have a positive effect on children’s self-esteem and can improve their scholastic achievements in this manner as well. Parents’ participation particularly in longer-term programmes that involve a regular daily schedule might also contribute to improving children’s success in school, as well as in entering vocational training or employment, in as far as parents’ function as a role model is a factor. We use administrative data and focus on teenagers who were 14-17 years old when their parents participated in a programme. We draw comparable families from participant and non-participant groups using matching methods. Preliminary findings indicate significantly positive effects of parents’ participation in further vocational training on children’s apprenticeship chances in their early twenties, and negative effects on children’s unemployment and means-tested benefit receipt. Our analyses can contribute to understanding whether and which types of active labour market programmes have particularly long-term effects, improving the situation of the next generation as well.

Empirical research comparing life satisfaction among both couples and singles is sparse. This study investigates the life satisfaction of couples and singles in diverse life situations in Malta.

A net sample of 2,469 adults was recruited through quota sampling, stratifying by sex, residing with partner or not, and whether one had dependent children. A semi-structured questionnaire was employed to collect data through computer assisted telephone interviews (CATI).

No significant differences were found between life satisfaction scores for men and women (p > .05); whether one has children or not (p > .05); and one’s region of residence (p > .05). Those with tertiary education reported higher life satisfaction than those with primary level (p = 0.011). Significant differences also existed by civil status (p <0.001) where the married reported highest levels of satisfaction, followed by single, separated, widowed and divorced persons.

Income adequacy predicted life satisfaction for both those in relationship (p <0.001) and those who were single (p<0.001). Satisfaction for those in relationship was also predicted by relationship quality (p < 0.001) and being married (p = 0.008). Satisfaction for singles was also predicted by ‘everything is going well for me and my family’ (p < 0.001) and type of lifestyle.

Dissatisfaction with life was predicted for both groups by conflict in personal relationships, problems at work, and facing big problems at present (all p <0.001). Insufficient financial resources, problems with health and mental health also predicted dissatisfaction for those in relationships (all p <0.001).

Financial hardship is a well known stressor for relationship harmony. This study explored the link between perceived income adequacy, demographic factors, and lifestyle and relationship satisfaction and management of couples and singles resident in Malta. It was part of a larger 2015 relationships study, conducted by the National Centre for Family Research, where a random stratified sample of 2469 adults aged 18 to 81 completed a 33-item questionnaire using computer-assisted telephone interviews. Descriptive and relational analyses revealed that 46% of the respondents claimed to have adequate or more than adequate income to cover daily expenses, with older adults (p<0.001), men (p=0.001), and those who were married (p<0.001), in a relationship (p<0.001), childless (p<0.001) and from the Northern region (p<0.001) declaring higher adequacy levels. Perceived income adequacy predicted life satisfaction among both singles and those in a relationship (p<0.001). Specifically, 25.8% of couples where both partners were on unemployment benefits reported being dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with their life. Significant differences also emerged for relationship satisfaction. 28.4% of those reporting serious financial difficulties rated their relationship as negative or very negative, compared to 3.4% of those reporting minor financial difficulties (p<0.001). Indeed, financial insecurity was among the top five features considered by couples as detrimental to their relationship. Perceived income adequacy was also positively related to level of agreement between couples on family finances, recreation and child-rearing practices (all p<0.001), as well as the extent to which the couple felt they neglected their relationship due to heavy work pressures (p=0.015).

In this research, we hope to gain valuable information on identifying the phenomenon of men suffering unwanted singleness. The effects of couple relationships on health are widely acknowledged. Eija-Maarit Ojala's and Osmo Kontula's (2002, 99) research on Finns living alone states that specially women have difficulties in finding an appropriate partner and establishing a relationship. Pakarinkangas (2004;2007) states that men find partners more easily and are more willing to establish new relationships. For men, living alone is more challenging than it is for women. This leaves men without relationship as the odd ones breaking the norm. This can further worsen the experience of unwanted singleness. Especially for men, a relationship predicts enhanced physical health and prolonged lifetime. Earlier studies have often focused on individual differences and qualities. In this study, the viewpoint is sociological; we focus on identifying both the structures and attitudes supporting and possibly preventing the forming of relationships. We ask who is suffering from unwanted singleness, what are the relationship expectations and how loneliness and unwanted singleness are interconnected. We also investigate the trends in the past 25 years. The sample for this study consists of representative 2500 Finnish men who took part in The National Study of Human Relations, Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles in Finland (FINSEX). The respondents are asked a wide range of subjects including their relationship status, experiences of loneliness, ideal relationship type and difficulties in finding a partner. The analysis is restricted to men between the ages of 25 and 64.

Expectations from partner is one of the factors plays an important role in the quality of the couples’ relations and their satisfaction of marital lives. This study aimed to understand the Iranian women’s expectations from their husbands and discover generational differences. Using grounded theory method and qualitative deep semi-structured interviews, we investigated the differences between 9 mothers and 9 girls. The sample, that at least one year of their marriages has passed, was selected from one of the areas of Tehran, Iran.

The phase analysis of the respondents indicated that their expectations were based on underlying and intervention conditions, such as individualism, family circumstances, the way of their marriage and normative-structural pressures, employment condition, group relations and social-cultural capitals. Finally, after comparing the actions and coping strategies, theoretical paradigms were obtained separately for mothers (first generation) and daughters (second generation), for mothers the concept of "trying to survive" and for girls “transition from a lower social status to the superior one" were important.

Results showed that mothers, due to the minimal available resources, have adopted a passive approach to preserve their lives. While girls with a pronounced generational transition, due to changes in methods of accessing to sources of power, have thought about higher levels for their personal lives and planed for social status transition. This means that new generation’s expectations can be specified in a tangible shift and is due to broader social changes.

The emotions that intimate partners’ feel and express have a profound impact on relationship quality and stability. Emotions influence the course of an interaction, by shaping one’s behavior and therefore the course of an interaction (Niedenthal & Brauer, 2012). To respond appropriately to an interaction partner's emotional signals and needs, emotions need to be reactive to significant interpersonal experiences. Interpersonal adaptation may be compromised if individuals emotional states are little susceptible to interpersonal events and also if emotions are highly reactive, but in an unpredictable manner. To date, both dynamic patterns have been related to affect-related pathology or maladjustment (e.g., Kuppens, Allen & Sheeber, 2010; Ebner-Priemer et al., 2007), whereby the latter has even been associated with interpersonal maladjustment (Tolpin, Gunthert, Cohen & O’Neill, 2004).

81 university students recorded their emotions and their interpersonal experiences 4 times a day over the course of 1 month with an electronic ambulatory assessment procedure. Following this, a subsample took part in a laboratory interaction with their intimate partners. Using a multilevel analysis we examined how individual emotional dynamics are linked to event-related emotional responses and interpersonal adaptation. We aimed to map individual differences in emotion dynamics onto emotional responses to interpersonal events. We report about associations between interindividual differences in emotion dynamics and reactivity to interpersonal events based on our repeated measurements and our laboratory data.

Introduction: The Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome (MRKHS) is a congenital malformation characterized by aplasia or hypoplasia of the uterus and vagina that occurs in a phenotypically normal female with normal ovaries and with a normal female karyotype 46XX.

Objectives: The aim of the study was to explore whether MRKHS women differ from control group when characteristics of dyadic intimate relationship are taken into account.

Material and methods: 32 women with MRKHS (M age=22.9) and 32 matched healthy controls (M age=24.75) were examined. Psychosexual biography by M. Beisert was used to gain information on: dyadic sexual behaviors, number of sexual partners, type of a relationship and age of the first relationship. Statistical differences between two groups were examined with the U Mann-Whitney test.

Selected results: Women with MRKHS initiated dyadic sexual activity at higher age than the controls (petting U=182.00; p<0.01; req=0.41; vaginal intercourse (U=64.00; 0<0.001; req=0.59; oral contact (U=91.50; p<0.05; req=0.56) with exception of anal intercourse, where the age of initiation was the same in both groups (U=30.50; ns). Gynecological patients had less sexual partners than their peers (U=267.00; p<0.01).

Conclusions: Differences in characteristics of intimate relationships constituted by MRKHS patients create complex image. Intrestingly, differences in dyadic sexual activity are not limited to vaginal intercourse as would be suggested by the description of MRKHS Syndrom. Thus, they are probably determined both by biological conditions and their psychological implications.

The paper explores marital partners’ personal conceptions of family and investigates the extent to which husbands and wives living in an in-tact family include same people in their family. The study draws from the configurational approach to family relations and discusses the multifaceted nature of contemporary kinship. We ask whether subjective understandings of men and women, collected in individual interviews, confine to the immediate nuclear family, and if not, who are those included: members of woman’s or man’s family of origin, her or his friends, or someone else? The data includes 32 qualitative interviews with women and men from 16 married couples, aged 25–41, living in Finland. The information on partners’ views on family was collected with Family Network Method (FNM) questionnaire. The results show that in all couples the woman’s and the man’s understanding of who belongs to the family differs. In the analysis we investigate the emerging patterns of convergence and divergence co-existing in a first-time family and discuss the contemporary family as constituted by interplay between emotional closeness and structural hierarchies of kinship.

Associations and organizations supporting parents during and after separation are an emerging phenomenon in Italy. They aim at helping separated parents to be effective in their parental tasks.

Studies on the role played by such associations for separated parents’ well-being and parental abilities are still lacking. The goal of the present study is to investigate whether and how the perception of being supported by the association together with the different level of engagement in the life of the association impact parents’ well-being and co-parenting abilities.

Three-hundred eighteen parents belonging to different Italian associations of separated parents participated in a web survey. They completed a self-report questionnaire containing several measures tapping different aspects of well-being and parental abilities. Data were preliminarily explored through analyses of variance comparing three groups of parents (based on the level of perceived support by the association and on the level of engagement in the association). First results showed differences among the groups in terms of well-being and co-parenting, indicating that associations may play a protective role during the separation. Further analyses are in progress.

Altruism is a voluntary action aiming to help others without reward expectation. In this type of action, the individual cares for others’ interests rather than those of his own. This type of behaviour goes beyond social norms and social relations which are in the area of social responsibility and falls into the sphere of morality. In other words, a person behaving in altruistic manner puts himself in another person’s shoes. The frequency of such actions in the society promises ethical behaviour and the lack of it is a threat to social order. In this regard the role of the family as one of the most important agent of socialization is highlighted. Children mimic many right and wrong behaviours of their parents in observational learning. Therefore parents with altruism among the Iranian families and show its process of change over a decade (from 2005 to 2015). The findings of a longitudinal study were used to achieve this objective. That is a survey done in 2005 for the first time and 2015 for the second time in two developed and less developed regions of Tehran by using multi-stage cluster sampling the size of sample in 2005 was 419 and in 2015 was 400 and descriptive- explanatory approach was used .

Key words:altruism,socialization,ethical behaviour,voluntary action,family relation.

Despite the pressure on work-family polices arising from the increase in nonstandard working times in various sectors, only a few studies have addressed managerial practices in relation to nonstandard working hours. This paper investigates the challenges managers face in meeting the various tensions stemming from nonstandard working hours. We were especially interested in possible challenges relating to work shift planning and informal work-family practices. We focus on two typical 24/7 work contexts: hospitality and retail industries and day and night childcare. The data comprise focus group interviews with managers (N=20) working in hotels, stores and service stations with restaurants and shopping facilities and survey data on directors (N=34) of day- and night-care centers. While in both contexts work takes place around the clock, day and night care center management is further complicated by the fact that the clients (parents, children) also have nonstandard work and care schedules. The results show that managers in both sectors are faced with unpredictability in employee working times and variation in service demand. However, whereas in the hospitality and retail industries the tension is between the cost-effectiveness of services and employee wellbeing, the day and night care center director has to take into account the viewpoints of not only the service provider and employees, but also parents and children. Successful management thus requires understanding of multiple perspectives and family diversity as well as the ability to cope with constant change.

Gender inequality in many societies is driven by the unequal distribution of paid work between men and women, in particular after the birth of a child. The majority of research on women’s return to the labour market post childbearing, however, has exclusively examined the characteristics of the women themselves. We argue that labour market decisions are taken with regard to the situation of the couple, and the characteristics of the male partner also need to be taken into account. Using the German Socio-Economic Panel and employing discrete event-history analysis, we examine how quickly women return to the labour market and their subsequent hours of employment using two indicators of the male partner’s employment flexibility as central predictors. We find that after experiencing the transition to parenthood, a father’s employment situation influences a mother’s employment behaviour, specifically, that lower working hours and higher levels of flexibility in a father’s employment schedule facilitates a mother’s return to the labour market. We propose that more employment flexibility allows him to share childcare responsibilities, which give her the opportunity to be employed. This association, however, is found to be mediated by household income, reflecting the traditional gender division of paid work and family responsibilities in Germany.

Background: It is relatively common in Western Australia for men to commute long distances and work away from home for extended periods of time in the mining industry. These fly-in-fly-out (FIFO) workers are thought to be especially vulnerable to psychological disturbances and relationship problems that affect them and their partners. To date there is little research on the health and wellbeing of FIFO workers and their families. This study aimed to compare the psychological and social characteristics of pregnant women and their FIFO partners with pregnant women and their partners who were not FIFO workers.

Methods: Data from a pregnancy cohort study conducted in a single region of Western Australia were analysed (n = 394 families). Married couples completed questionnaires about quality of life, anxiety, depression, stress, couple adjustment, family functioning, job satisfaction, financial crisis, and problematic use of drugs or alcohol. Comparisons were made between three groups for both women and their partner: FIFO workers, non-FIFO regular schedule workers, and non-FIFO irregular schedule workers.

Results and Conclusions: While the differences in levels of mental health and relationship difficulties between FIFO couples and non-FIFO couples were not statistically significant, these differences show a trend of pregnant women whose partners were FIFO workers experiencing increased levels of stress and decreased satisfaction with family functioning compared to their non-FIFO counterparts. Although FIFO workers accepted the benefits of higher financial rewards, they were more likely to be dissatisfied with work schedule flexibility than non-FIFO workers were.

Family daycare, as to be understood as paid care for children within the care provider’s household, represents a specific interconnection between work and family, which hasn’t been closely focused on yet. In this setting the cared for children participate in the normal daily routine of the care provider’s family. Therefore the care provider is not only working at home, but the content of work is family life.

Compatibility of family and work has been widely debated in several sociological sub-disciplines. One central aspect is the increasing dissolution of traditional boundaries between these domains. Consequently, families are confronted with the challenge to actively draw up new borders themselves to create the family sphere.

In my presentation I focus on the group of family daycare providers. From a perspective of family sociology I will address the following questions: In which respect becomes managing boundaries between family and work important in the context of family daycare? How do family daycare providers cope with doing care as an activity of work and family at the same time?

In my dissertation project I explore these questions through semistructured transcribed interviews and by participant observation. The sample contains 10 interviews with family daycare providers and 10 with parents of the cared for children. At current stage of research 5 interviews with daycare providers have been realised. Following the analytical approach of objective hermeneutics, I use sequence analysis for interpretation. As preliminary results strategies of boundary management on spatial, temporal, emotional and social level could be identified.

Old age comes with health deterioration and limitations in everyday activities, as well as feelings of loneliness and depression. When there is a shortfall between the care and support a person needs and what they actually receive, we are in the presence of unmet needs for support. We investigate the degree of unmet needs for support, as well as the risk factors for such a situation, using Generation and Gender Survey data for Romania (wave 1). We found that the absence of close family members increases the chances for the person to experience feelings of loneliness and not receiving emotional support. Elderly living in urban settlements display lower chances of having unmet needs than their rural counterparts. Similar results were found when analysing feelings of depression and the emotional support received. Persons without a partner are several times more likely to be in a situation of unmet emotional needs than those with a living partner. It appears that difficulties in making ends meet increase the feelings of depression, as well as the probability of not receiving emotional support in this situation. Age is the most important factor when it comes to persons that need regular help in care and do not receive it. The older the person is, the higher the chances are to be in a situation of unmet needs for care. The role of a living partner becomes insignificant this time, as they would have been equally old and not able to provide personal care.

We applied V. L. Bengtson’s six-dimensional model of intergenerational solidarity to a population of Czech families providing care for elderly family members. We found that the complexity of the issue could be summarized into a single one-dimensional construct (Family Cohesion Index). We used a sample of 413 Czech families caring for a senior family member over the age of 75 who is need of personal care. Our research question was: Why is family solidarity a multidimensional construct for the United States and a one-dimensional construct for Czech families? We considered the importance of socio-psychological assumptions for intergenerational family cohesion: family members a) have strong emotional bonds with each other; b) are in frequent contact; c) provide each other with mutual assistance; d) share similar values and opinions; e) feel obliged and responsible for the family as a whole; f) are committed to the family even at personal cost. Bengtson et al. studied the entire U.S. population and found that the strength of ties between family members varies across a person’s lifetime. Therefore, in their sample such unifying conditions did not appear. By contrast, we tested only the families that actually provided care for their elderly members. The Family Cohesion Index (FCI) was constructed as the sum of five indexes, i.e. indexes of emotional solidarity, former associational solidarity, present associational solidarity, consensual solidarity and functional solidarity. Our conclusion is that a one-dimensional construct is feasible and appropiate for Czech families caring for elderly members.

In times of population aging and its pressure on social security programmes it is particularly important to understand the determinants of intergenerational family transfers. Here we study exchanges of support between elderly parents and their children in Hungary, which is a rapidly ageing country with relatively low state involvement in elderly care. We describe patterns of time transfers (personal care and household help) received from children using data from the Survey of Health Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) wave 4. Our aim is to situate Hungary among the transfer regimes typical in European countries and to describe the main determinants of upward time transfers in a comparative context. Following Brandt et al. (2012) we differentiate between occasional and intensive time transfers and construct multivariate models of the probability of transfers with both parental and child characteristics as explanatory variables. Results showed that intensive time transfers were received by the more „needy” parents: those of higher age, living alone, having health problems and having lower income. Gender and proximity also play a role: intensive transfers were most often received by parents from daughters and children living close. In case of occasional transfers we find evidence of short-term reciprocity: non-intensive support was more often received by parents who gave transfers to children. Eastern European countries have generally high level of intensive support, but are heterogeneous in terms of non-intensive support. Hungary occupies a middle position among Eastern European countries.

The proportions of adults living in the same house as their parents are higher in eastern Europe than in western or northern Europe. We attempt to identify how different characteristics of both parents and adult children are associated with the likelihood of living together in the same house. We adopt a theoretical model that considers that opportunity and needs, as well as family structures, are important in this process. We use data from the first wave of the Generations and Gender Survey for seven Eastern European countries (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Georgia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia) and we address the issue from the adult child's perspective. We distinguish three situations of intergenerational co-residence: people who have never left the parental home, people who left and later returned to the parental home and people who took their parents to live with them. For a multivariate analysis, we use multinomial logistic regression. We found a connection between the needs and opportunities of children and parents, and the different situations of co-residence. Weaker opportunities for children, as well as parents' needs, characterize co-residence in the parental home. Meanwhile, better children’s opportunities and parents' needs increase the likelihood of co-residence in the child's home. Acquiring an independent dwelling is strongly connected with marriage and any other situation strongly increases co-residence, especially if the child has never been married.

Objectives. In our paper, we analyze the association between couples’ relative education and their respective working arrangements in Germany. Theoretically, we draw on two competing perspectives of the effects of education.

On the one hand, education indicates one’s level of resources on the labor market. Thus, the partner with the higher earnings potential is expected to spend more time on the labor market than his partner. Couples with equal educational achievements are expected to share their weekly working hours equally.

On the other hand, education represents the extent of approval to gender egalitarianism. Hence, we hypothesize that higher educated couples show a higher propensity and potential of equality.

Recent research has provided clues for the latter model in other spheres of daily life, questioning the symmetrical approach of the resource perspective.

Method. We use data from the German Microcensus of 2013 to test both models for the case of couples’ employment patterns. Our population of interest contains approximately 70,000 heterosexual German couples (unweighted). We map women's and men's total working hours for each educational constellation.

Results. First regression analyses yield evidence for both theoretical perspectives. The analyses indicate that homogamous couples on a high educational level are more likely to tend to an egalitarian division of paid work than homogamous couples with lower educational attainments (preliminary results).

Conclusions. The paper concludes with discussing the results in the light of changing inequalities in society and sheds a light on possible policy conclusions.

When analyzing the evolution of gender inequalities in household labor division two conflicting approaches are often evidenced: on the one hand, the reduction of the gender gap ("gender convergence" view); on the other, the persistence of inequality ("stalled revolution" view). Currently, most analyses accept the progression towards equality but highlight its limits. In what sense and why gender inequalities in household labor division are decreasing? In order to answer this question, we will present a regression analysis of data on time-distribution of daily activities. This data has been produced through Time-Use Surveys carried out by the Basque Statistics Institute-Eustat every five years (1993-2013) in the region of the Basque Country (Spain) to a sample of 5,000 individuals. The main results show the following trends: 1) it is greater the decrease on time spent by women than the increase of time devoted by men; 2) women are still responsible for most of the core housework; 3) inequalities on care work persist since women and men dedicate more time to these activities nowadays than twenty years ago; and 4) the variables that better explain the dedication to unpaid work are participation in the labor market, educational level and marital status, although their influences are not equivalent on domestic work and care, either for men or women. The results are interpreted under the aegis of three theories that explain the dedication to household labor: time availability, relative resources and gender effect (doing gender).

The engineering profession in Germany is suspected to be traditional, especially with regards to the attribution of gender roles and constructions of career, family and parenthood. Hence the author asks about the processes of construction of parenthood using the example of engineers and explains the effects of their traditional bourgeois professional culture and habitus on the roles and ideas of family and their expectations concerning parenting.

These research questions were investigated by a method mix of qualitative content analysis, biographical method and discourse in a Grounded Theory framework with narrative interviews conducted with engineers in Germany. Main findings are how the professional culture and habitus of engineering structure models of family and parenthood. The results show the choice of career and study subject can be considered a key-factor in biographies to the construction of their professional identity. Based on these decision processes they construct parenting in the context of their employment history, which they maintained the separation of work and family life in a private and public sphere because of their professional habitus and therefore perpetuated the bourgeois gender order. Going on from these findings, the question of generalisation has to be proposed and how these particular experiences can be seen in a wider social context. Furthermore, the repelling or moderating function of families (among German engineers) in regards of societal change processes is in the focus of the presentation.

For Germany, more than 40 percent of all first-time employees enter the labor market based on a fixed-term contract. Although chances for transition into an open end contract during later career-stages are good it is reasonable to assume that working under a fixed-term contract during these formative years severely affects young adults’ life-plans and may delay the consolidation of intimate relationships.

Previous research on the impact of fixed-term employment on intimate relationships is largely limited to family formation. This presentation addresses the question to what extent different degrees of labor market inclusion – being still in education, working under fixed-term contract, working with permanent contract or being unemployed – during young adults’ life courses affect consolidation of intimate relationships. We are looking at four transitions: into cohabitation, into marriage, into parenthood and into home ownership. In contrast to previous research on family formation, we take into account that individuals may perceive fixed-term employment in different ways.

Our results are based on a representative sample of 1,083 German adults aged between 20 and 35 years. As a key-result, our analyses showed that working under a fixed-term contract prolonged time till purchasing a real estate when compared to working under a permanent contract. Furthermore, we found significant interaction effects for time till marriage and time till transitioning into parenthood: the more precarious the perceptions of fixed-term employment, the more the transitions into marriage and into parenthood were delayed.

This paper addresses the shift in practices as well as attitudes, towards a dual earner model in most OECD countries. We study families’ everyday practices and parents’ negotiations and scope of action within a particular welfare state regime, using Norway as a case, Norway has undergone a particularly rapid change in terms of entitlements for working parents. We study how two groups of parents, parents of Norwegian origin and immigrant parents of Polish origin, make use of and make sense of the structures available to working parents in Norway. The study draws on qualitative interviews with Norwegian and Polish parents of children below school age.

We find that both groups embrace and make use of the available entitlements, but their scope of action seems to differ. For the Norwegian parents, the dual earne – dual carer model has become internalized as a moral obligation and part of identity, which is related to a particular work–family arrangement. Even minor deviations from the ideal of sharing equally led to ambivalence and feelings of (mild) shame. For the Polish parents, the Norwegian entitlements for working parents is basically seen as an enabling structure, which can be actively used to shape their new lives in Norway, including renegotiating gender relations in the family. They take a more pragmatic view on which kind of work–family arrangement is suitable in a given situation, and they do not seem to share the moral obligation to live up to a particular model of the gender equal couple.

Young adulthood is a time of important transitions, e.g., leaving the parental home, entering into the labour market, engaging in a stable partnership and eventually becoming a parent. Success in mastering these transitions both affects and depends on the relationship with parents as they serve as a „safety net”, providing financial and emotional support. On the other hand, the broader societal context plays a role, too: welfare states, labour markets and cultural norms shape opportunities, constraints and frames of reference for both the life course and family relationships. Comparative research points at european differences in the transition to adulthood as well as intergenerational solidarity. Especially for Italy, pronounced levels of intergenerational cohesion are reported. Nevertheless, regional disparities within one country should not be underestimated. The „special case“ of Switzerland with its language and cultural diversity and 26 autonomous cantons is a well-suited example for adapting cross-national analysis to a sub-national level.

This contribution analyses intergenerational ties of young adults with a special focus on the regional context. Several questions are addressed. Firstly, are there regional differences in transitioning to adulthood and can one find disparities in intergenerational cohesion? Secondly, which regional characteristics account for such regional differences? The multivariate analyses draw on the TREE panel (“Transitions from Education to Employment”). The results show marked disparities between Italian speaking and the rest of Switzerland, both in terms of transitioning into adulthood and intergenerational cohesion. The multilevel analyses confirm the significance of welfare policy and labour market.

The central question of this paper is to what extent the history of affection and support in adolescence determines the future of the mother-child relationship in adulthood. Do early family interactions shape adult intergenerational relationships? How do life course transitions, critical life events, and opportunity structures predict different types of relationships in adulthood?

The paper draws on data from a German longitudinal study that covers several decades of family development. It was first conducted in the 1980ies with adolescents aged 12 to 16. In 2002, it was resumed, when participants were 35 years of age. The sample consists of 858 participants. They reported on parenting practices, relationship quality, critical life events, and on role transitions in adolescence and adulthood.

To identify different types of mother-adult child relationships, a cluster analysis was conducted. The procedure yielded five categories that were consistent with previous research. A multinomial logistic regression was performed to estimate the probability of belonging to one type of relationship.

Results demonstrate that early family interactions predict relationship quality and relationship structure in later life. Harmonious mother-child relations in adolescence are less likely to become “distant” and “detached” when children are grown up, for example. However, the predictive power of early relationship experiences is only moderate. Analyses reveal that intergenerational relations are subject to constant change due to critical life events, changing life situations, and the needs of both generations. In general, women’s intergenerational relations seem to be characterized more frequently by closeness and ambivalence than men’s relations.

Intergenerational Solidarity and Parenting styles are both models which have a long and strong theoretical and empirical tradition in Sociology and Psychology. Nevertheless, the contributions of both are rarely considered together in order to clarify the relationship between parents and adult children. The empirical study of the relationship between them becomes increasingly relevant given the social and demographic changes associated with population aging, the postponement and evolution of the meaning of the transition to adulthood and the role of parenting. This study aims to observe the extent to which the perception of parenting styles prevailing in the family of origin, as well as the age and parental status, influence intergenerational exchanges of support and the current and anticipated educational styles adopted by adult children. Data was collected online through the Parenting Styles Questionnaire (Robinson, Mandleco, Olsen and Hart, 1995; Santos & Cruz, 2008) and Intergenerational Solidarity Scale (Bengtson and Roberts, 1991; Monteiro, 2010). The sample comprised 701 participants of both genders, ages from 18 to 69 years (M = 37, SD = 11), with (48.9%) and without children (51.1%). Different clusters of parenting styles were identified. Differences were observed according to those clusters and to the age and parental status of adult children on intergenerational solidarity and adopted parenting styles. Parenting styles of the family of origin are significant predictors, although low, of adopted parenting styles by adult children.