Event

Part of the BCTR’s Talks at Twelve series.

When relationships between parents and adult children break down, it leaves parents with a sense of helplessness. It is often adult children who initiate cut-offs, without parents fully understanding the reasons. Communication shutdowns block any attempts of reconciliation and parents are left with an ambiguous loss of what could have been the most loving and intimate relationships in their lives. This presentation will discuss the changing power dynamics between parents and children from adulthood to later life in the light of intergenerational estrangement, and present findings from a new study on the effects of estrangement on the lives of older parents.

Andreas Nikolajsen is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Psychology and Behavioural Sciences at Aarhus University, Denmark. He is also on the staff of the EGV-foundation Social Inclusion of Older Adults, a private philanthropic foundation that is collaborating on the research. His work focuses on the social and psychological dimensions of older age. His doctoral research addresses how intergenerational estrangement is associated with mental health among older parents. Prior to his current work, Nikolajsen has done research on loneliness and the benefits of life story work for older adults.