Contact between Adult Children and Their Parents in Great Britain 1986–99

Three nationally representative British data sets have been used to analyse trends and differentials in contact between adult children aged 22–54 years and their non-coresident mothers and fathers. The results show that having at-least-weekly contact is positively associated with children being female, lower levels of education, and living in the North, and negatively associated with age, number of siblings, and being a tenant in the privately rented sector. Daughters had more contact with mothers than with fathers, and children were less likely to see their fathers at least weekly if their mother was no longer alive, indicating a strong gender dimension to intergenerational contact. These associations were observed whether or not proximity, which was very strongly associated with contact, was controlled for in the analysis. Odds of at-least-weekly contact with parents were significantly lower in 1995 than in 1986, but there was no significant difference between 1999 and 1986, and so no clear indication of a trend towards reduced contact.