Intergenerational Family Relations over the Life Course

The present course will focus on intergenerational family relations over the life-span from the perspective of developmental psychology. In the first section, we will have a closer look at central definitions, models and concepts from life-span developmental psychology–for instance, life-span models of development, structuring the life course, developmental tasks, normative and non-normative life events, and the concept of generation.
In the second part, we will focus on key concepts in the study of intergenerational family relations, such as intergenerational solidarity, conflict and ambivalence. Further, specific research evidence regarding intergenerational relations over the life span (including adolescent-parent, adult child-parent as well as grandchild-grandparent relations) will be presented and discussed, also taking into account cross-cultural aspects and intergenerational relations in the context of migration.