European baby boomer generation examines the behaviour, values and attitudes of European men and women born between 1944 and 1954 in the two key areas of family life and residential strategy. Using quantitative and qualitative data sources, this research seeks to address key questions comparing experiences across the baby-boomer generation.

Different forms of social and economic capital are spread unevenly across Europe, as for example in areas of diverse as fertility and life expectancy patterns, house and property ownership, and the quality of urban life. One of the major aims of this project is to chart these differences and to provide indicators of common experiences of European baby-boomers. In particular, the research will address the following key questions:

• Does the baby-boomer generation have weak or strong family ties?
• How does the quality of urban areas impact on the baby-boomer generation’s decisions concerning where to live?
• What type of relationships do baby-boomers have with their ageing parents and their children? Are there competing demands from these two generations? How much money and time transfers pass between these generations?
• What are the expectations of the baby-boomer generation concerning services and amenities needed to enhance the quality of life in old age?
• How does property ownership interact with family and residential decisions among the baby-boomers?
• What strategies do baby-boomers adopt towards reconciling choices concerning their family life, personal lifestyles and work?

Baby-boomers: a unique generation

The nearing of this cohort towards the age traditionally associated with retirement has profound economic, social and cultural consequences for Europe. Baby-boomers are in a unique position when compared with preceding (and possibly succeeding) generations. They are approaching later life having experienced an explosion in consumer culture and many would say, are more individualistic than their predecessors. Baby-boomers may have a very different approach to ageing and expectations about where and how to live than current generations of older people.

At the same time, it is clear that there are wide differences in the realities and expectations of the baby-boomers within and between countries. The historical and political legacies of European nation states influence the conditions under which the baby-boomers are experiencing their move into later life and, for most, the exiting of the labour market.

Research process

The research focuses on the main socio-demographic characteristics of the baby boomer generation in 12 European countries (Sweden, Denmark, Britain, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Greece). It examines living arrangements and housing characteristics, family configurations, social and financial support networks, and values and attitudes of the baby-boomer cohort in each of the 12 countries.

This stage uses data from the Survey of Health and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), the Social Support Systems module of the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP), the European Social Survey (ESS), and the English Logitudinal Study (ELSA).

The second stage of the project, from February 2006 to July 2007 involves 60 qualitative interviews in London and Paris that focus on lifestyle choices in the context of family relationships. These interviews will compare the experience of similar groups of the baby-boomer generation who are ageing in different contexts upon the prevailing behaviours and attitudes of the baby-boomer generation towards family life and residential strategies in the context of these two high density urban settings.

Funders

This research is funded separately by two French ministries, the Ministère de la Recherche (Ministry of Research) and the Plan Urbanisme, Construction, Architecture (PUCA), Ministère de l’Equipement, des Transports, de l’Aménagement du Territoire, du Tourisme et de la Mer (French Ministry of Equipment, Transport and Tourism).

While both funders are interested in the baby-boomer generation, the Ministry of Research is primarily interested in family life and the PUCA in residential strategies in urban contexts.

Research Team

The research team is led by Jim Ogg of the Young Foundation and Caisse Nationale d’Assurance Vieillesse (CNAV) and includes Catherine Bonvalet of the Institut Nationale d’Etudes Démographiques (INED) in Paris and Claudine Attias-Donfut, also of CNAV.


More info:

Jim gave a working paper during the ESRC Social Science Week in March 2006 which you can download.