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Publikationer

I urval från Stockholms universitets publikationsdatabas

  • Blood thicker than water? Emotional closeness between older parents and adult children in stepfamilies

    2022. Torbjörn Bildtgård, Peter Öberg. Journal of Family Studies 28 (2), 493-510

    Artikel

    Increasing prevalence of ageing stepfamilies and stepchildren's potential to act as a source of support for older parents has prompted research about intergenerational cohesion in steprelationships. Our purpose is to investigate emotional closeness in biological and step-relationships in ageing stepfamilies, and the explanations older parents and adult children give to such differences. We study emotional closeness in parent-child relationships among Swedish older parents (aged 66-79) who have raised both biological and stepchildren, and adult children (aged 31-57) who were raised by both biological and stepparents. Qualitative family history interviews (n = 24) including hierarchical maps of long-term family relationships were collected and analyzed. Results show biological relationships to be rated as emotionally closer than step-relationships, by both parents and children. This gap in closeness is explained by the informants in terms of (a) personal characteristics, (b) social circumstances and (c) the importance of blood. Both children and parents use the first two explanations, but there is a clear generational difference concerning the perceived importance of blood. While older parents deemphasize the importance of blood for emotional closeness, adult children emphasize it. The study contributes to ageing stepfamily research by including stepfamily members' own perspectives on emotional closeness.

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  • The dyad is not enough: Third-party mediation as a precondition for cohesion in long-term step relationships

    2021. Torbjörn Bildtgård, Marianne Winqvist, Peter Öberg. Sociologisk forskning 58 (3), 217-242

    Artikel

    The increasing prevalence of ageing stepfamilies and the potential of stepchildren to act as a source of support for older parents have increased the interest in long-term intergenerational step relationships. Applying a life-course perspective combined with Simmel's theorizing on social dynamics, this exploratory study aims to investigate the preconditions for cohesion in long-term intergenerational step relationships. The study is based on interviews with 13 older parents, aged 66-79, who have raised both biological children and stepchildren. Retrospective life-course interviews were used to capture the development of step relationships over time. Interviews were analysed following the principles of analytical induction. The results reveal four central third-party relationships that are important for cohesion in intergenerational step relationships over time, involving: (1) the intimate partner; (2) the non-residential parent; (3) the bridge child; and (4) the stepchild-in-law. The findings have led to the conclusion that if we are to understand the unique conditions for cohesion in long-term intergenerational step relationships, we cannot simply compare biological parent-child dyads with step dyads, because the step relationship is essentially a mediated relationship.

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  • Ålderistisk erotofobi: ängslan inför att se äldre som sexuella varelser

    2021. Torbjörn Bildtgård, Peter Öberg. Perspektiv på ålderism

    Kapitel
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  • New Intimate Relationships in Later Life

    2017. Torbjörn Bildtgård, Peter Öberg. Journal of family issues 38 (3), 381-405

    Artikel

    The aim of this study is to investigate the consequences for linked lives ofentering into new intimate relationships in later life. The empirical data isbased on qualitative interviews with 28 Swedes aged 63 to 91 years, whohave established a new intimate relationship after the age of 60 years or arecurrently dating. Theories on linked lives and individualization are used. Theresults show that children were generally supportive of their older parents’unions and older individuals were often integrated into the new partner’snetwork. However, a new union also restructured the relationship chain sothat time and energy were redirected to the new partner. Older parentspreferred to be dependent on partners rather than children/others. A newpartner was described as a source for autonomy and a way of “unburdening”children. Results are discussed in light of Western individualism generallyand Swedish state supported individualism in particular.

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  • Förändrade intimitetsformer bland äldre i det senmoderna samhället

    2015. Torbjörn Bildtgård, Peter Öberg. Sociologisk forskning 52 (1), 5-31

    Artikel

    The purpose of this paper is to draw attention to a neglected reality in Swedish socialresearch: New romantic relationships in later life. Our theoretical points of departure arethe transformation of intimacy and the transition from a culture of marriage to a cultureof divorce. We ask if the transformation of intimacy has reached later life and investigatelate life divorce, attitudes to and choice of union form in late life heterosexual relationships,relationship history and the importance of a relationship for life satisfaction. Theresults, which are based both on demographic data and a survey to 60–90 year old Swedes(n=1225), show that changing relationship patterns in late modern Sweden have reachedolder people. In romantic relationships initiated in later life LAT is the preferred unionform, followed by cohabitation, while marriage is a rare choice. In some respects thismakes older people an avant-garde in the investigation of alternative union forms. Theresults also show the importance of romantic relationships for life satisfaction in later life – independentof union form. Finally we criticize Swedish census data, which is based on civil status, for giving a somewhat distorted image of older people’s family and romantic lives.

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  • Time as a structuring condition behind new intimate relationships in later life

    2015. Torbjörn Bildtgård, Peter Öberg. Ageing & Society 35 (7), 1505-1528

    Artikel

    Although mobility in and out of intimate relationships has become more common in later life, it has been a neglected issue in social gerontology. In this article, we ask what characterises the formation of new intimate relationships in later life, and whether there are any specific conditions that separate these from relationships in earlier stages of the lifecourse. On the basis of qualitative interviews with 28 persons aged 63-91 who have established a new intimate heterosexual relationship after the age of 60 or who are dating singles, we argue that time constitutes such a central structuring condition. We discuss and theorise two aspects of time - post-(re) productive free time and remaining time - which have an important formative power on new late-in-life relationships. We argue that together these aspects form a central existential structure of ageing in many Western societies - the paradoxical condition of having lots of available free time but little time left in life - which, besides influencing new late-in-life relationships, might also be relevant to other aspects of and choices in later life.

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  • Attitudes, experiences and expectations on new intimate relationships in later life: Results from a Swedish national survey

    2013. Torbjörn Bildtgård, Peter Öberg.

    Konferens

    Introduction : More than a million, or almost half, of the 60+ population (46%) in Sweden today are singles (never married, divorced, widows/widowers), a majority are women and the actual number as well as the proportion of divorcees is increasing. Still, we know very little about the intimate lives of non-married elderly people or about re-partnering in later life. This presentation focuses attitudes to, expectations on, and experiences of new intimate relations in later life. Method : It is based on results from a new representative survey of 3 000 Swedes, 60-90 years old (boosted with regards to non-married people), that was developed from questions generated by a recent qualitative interview study with 28 Swedes who had established a new relationship after the age of 60. Results : We describe attitudes, expectations and experiences in the older population generally, but also in different groups defined on the basis of gender, class, life-course phase, sexual orientation, degree of urbanization and intimacy career. We also focus the importance of intimate relationships for older people’s quality of life, and reason about how structures of informal support may look for older people who enter new intimate relationships. Conclusion : As of november 2012 we are still in an early phase of the survey work, thus conclusions are pending.

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  • New Intimate Relationships and Informal Care Obligations in Later Life

    2013. Torbjörn Bildtgård, Peter Öberg.

    Konferens

    Much social gerontological research has focused on the impact of widowhood on social relationships in later life, and access to informal care resources. In this paper we instead ask how a new intimate relationship in later life effect social and filial relationships as well as care obligations. In an initial qualitative study, interviews were conducted with a strategical sample of 28 Swedes, 63–91 years, who had established a new intimate relationship after the age of 60 (or who are dating). We found that the respondents described changes in what we conceptualize as the ‘relationship chain’ – a hierarchy in social and care responsibilities – where the new partner stepped in at the very front of the chain. This is positively perceived by the informants, who recurrently describe their partners as a resource for their own autonomy as well as that of their children, relatives and friends. In the presentation these finding will be further critically examined in relation to results from a new representative study of 3.000 60-90 years old Swedes (data collection just finished).

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  • New sexual relationships in later life: The case of late modern Sweden

    2013. Peter Öberg, Torbjörn Bildtgård. 66th Annual Scientific Meeting “Optimal Aging Through Research”, 61-61

    Konferens

    It is often argued that in late modernity sex has escaped its reproductive cage and people form pure relationships, based on mutual satisfaction. Ironically, although older people are per definition non-reproductive, and thus in a position to form pure relationships, they have often been neglected in studies on sexuality. In this paper we present results from a qualitative interview study with a strategic sample of 28 63–91 year old Swedes currently dating or in a heterosexual relationship (married, cohabiting, LAT) initiated 60+. The interviews revealed a clear normative change: The majority reported a definite ban on pre-marital sex when growing up. All had experienced the 1960s sexual liberation, either directly or from the inside of a marriage. Today, these liberal attitudes seem to encompass later life. None of our respondents reported negative reactions from family or friends for initializing new sexual relationships. With two exceptions all informants in new relationships were sexually active, and sexual attraction had been a precondition for the relationship. Sexuality had changed focus: from intercourse to other forms of intimacy, partly aided by a change in sexual functionality. Many informants had interpreted sexual decline as “natural” and age-related in former relationships, but re-discovered sexuality with their new partner. Some female informants had been worried about their body’s beauty or functionality which had led them to re-initiate relationships with former “safe” partners. The qualitative results will be critically discussed in the light of a representative survey of 3000 Swedes, 60– 90 year old (data just collected).

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  • Where is food 'good to think'?

    2013. Torbjörn Bildtgård. Social Science Information 52 (1), 159-178

    Artikel

    Where is food 'good to think'? This comparative study describes the mental foodscapes of Swedish and French people by asking them to say where, in time and space, they would go to in order to eat well. Both the Swedish and French respondents say they would avoid the US and fast-food establishments in order to eat well, but while the French in general point inward, toward the countryside of their region a couple of decades ago, the Swedes, in their choices, want to go far away, to the Mediterranean region, South-east Asia or an abstract wilderness. The article argues that the reason for these differences is that consumers in these two countries use different dominant rationalities to judge the food of different places - a nutritional rationality in Sweden and a rationality of origin in France - and it proceeds to identify the politico-historical roots of these rationalities. Finally, it argues that while each rationality makes a certain set of food and place qualities cognizable and judgeable, others, such as exotic foods in France and conviviality in Sweden, are left non-cognizable and difficult to judge.

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  • The impact of new intimate relationships in later life on social and filial relationships

    2012. Torbjörn Bildtgård. Book of Abstracts, 65-65

    Konferens

    Lots of prior social gerontological research has focused on filial relations in informal care as well as the impact of widowhood on social relationships in later life. In this paper we instead ask how a new intimate relationship in later life effect relationships with children, relatives and friends. In particular we focus on the effects that a new intimate partner in later life has on filial, social and care obligations. To answer these questions, qualitative interviews were conducted with a strategical sample of 28 Swedes, 63–91 years, who had established a new intimate relationship after the age of 60 (or who are dating). We found that the respondents describe changes over their life-time in what we conceptualize as the ‘relationship chain’ – a hierarchy in social and care responsibilities – where the new partner in established relations steps in at the very front of the chain. This is positively perceived by the informants, who recurrently describe their partners as a resource for their own autonomy as well as that of their children, relatives and friends.

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  • Time as a structuring condition behind new intimate relationships in later life

    2012. Torbjörn Bildtgård, Peter Öberg. Social justice and democratization

    Konferens

    Mobility in and out of intimate relationships has become more common in late modern societies also in later life. However, it has been a neglected issue in social gerontology and sociological studies on ageing. In this paper the research questions are: What characterizes the formation of new inti-mate relationships in later life? Are there any specific, more or less univer-sal, conditions that separate them from relationships in earlier life phases? Qualitative interviews was used with a strategical sampel,consisting of 28 Swedes, 63–91 years, who have established a new intimate heterosexual relationship after the age of 60 or who are dating. The results showed Time constituting a central structuring condition for new intimate relsionships in later life. In the results three aspects of time – Available free time, Lived time and Remaining time – which all have a constituting and an important formative power on new late in life relationships are discussed in relation to theories of late modernity and the Third Age and in relation to changing demographical conditions

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  • What it Means to "Eat Well" in France and Sweden

    2010. Torbjörn Bildtgård. Food and Foodways 18 (4), 209-232

    Artikel

    Which collective ideas do consumers in France and Sweden use to think about what it means to eat well? What are the most important differences between the countries and how can they be understood? To answer the above questions, this study uses open-ended survey questions from Sweden and France together with in-depth qualitative focus group interviews from both countries. The five most common ideas from each country were identified, resulting in a list of six central ideas: a balanced diet; pleasure from taste; pleasure from conviviality; regular meals; cooked food; and natural and pure products. Two of these ideas are more or less unique to only one culture—conviviality to the French and regular meals to the Swedes—but differences are also notable within each idea. Finally, the author argues that the question of what it means to eat well belongs to two different “worlds” in the two countries—a domestic world in France and an industrial world in Sweden. This belonging explains most of the differences found in the data.

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  • Mental foodscapes

    2009. Torbjörn Bildtgård. Food, Culture and Society 12 (4), 497-523

    Artikel

    Where is food good to think from a Swedish cultural perspective? In the following article the author asks 480 Swedish respondents where they would go to eat well, and which places they would avoid in the same pursuit. The results reveal a Swedish mental foodscape, a sort of collective imaginary geography of food which is shared by the respondents. The Mediterranean region together with South-east Asia and Japan appear as favourite destinations for the respondents, while the US stands out as a destination that Swedes would avoid to eat well. Finally the author argues that the way that the Swedish respondents make sense of food and place can be reduced to a small number of binary opposites, most importantly that between culture and nature.

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  • Trust in food in modern and late-modern societies

    2008. Torbjörn Bildtgård. Social Science Information 47 (1), 99-128

    Artikel

    This article investigates how mainstream social theories of trust can help us understand how trust in food is produced and maintained in modern and late or postmodern societies. In the first part of the article three theoretical bases for trust in food are identified and discussed – emotional, habitual and reflexive trust. Special focus is given to habitual trust and four different bases for habitual trust – community, rational organisation, policy and systems of knowledge – are explored and their importance for trust in food is discussed. In the second part of the article the author discusses how these bases come together in producing trust in food in traditional, modern and late or postmodern societies respectively. Finally he argues that certification schemes can be perceived of as a technique for producing trust in food particularly well suited for late modern or postmodern societies.

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