STABILITY AND CHANGE IN INTERGENERATIONAL RELATIONS

This paper deals with stability and change in East and West German int ergenerational relations since reunification The main focus of the pap er is on adult children and parents who no longer live in the same hou sehold. The great majority of adult children live close by their paren ts, and they also speak of close intergenerational relations. Furtherm ore, many parents and children are (potentially) available for interge nerational assistance. Cross-section analyses indicate that parent-chi ld relations are very stable. In contrast, the panel analyses show a h igher degree of individual changes. In general, they show that more in tergenerational relations are being evaluated as weaker than as closer ; this applies especially to West German adult children. In contrast t o West Germans East Germans not only report having had closer intergen erational relations shortly after the fall of the wall; they also spea k less often about weaker and more often about closer relations over t ime.