De l'aide au lien : des enfants adultes nous parlent de leurs parents âgés
This thesis studies elderly parents and the involvement of their adult children whenever help is needed. More precisely, the goal has been to understand the signification attributed, by the adult children, to what they consider to be a need of their parents. The study stands at the crossroads of three sociological fields: aging, family relationship and family solidarity, and care provided to the dependent elderly.   The process consisted in extracting from the children’s discourse, the diversity of significations attributed to the sense of need, on both parts. Also, the complex evolution of the bond between the elderly parents and their children will be questioned, for it is hard to clearly distinguish autonomy from dependence.   Three specific questions will be asked. Firstly, how do children perceive the autonomy of their parents? How do they express their point of view? Secondly, to what extent is the care brought to «autonomous» parents differing from that brought to parents with «decreasing autonomy»? Lastly, in what measure does residential proximity play a role; does it respond to a specific need and/or does it demonstrate a specific type of relationship?  The methodology employed in this study consisted in discourse analysis.  The results shed light on three elements. Firstly, the eminently subjective understandings of the notion of help/need, when having to care about elderly parents, especially when they are losing autonomy. Secondly, the great plasticity of the notion of parental autonomy, spoken or not, in the case that care need be offered to one's parents: more care is not necessarily brought to more dependent parents. Thirdly, the major implications of the double status of child and carer make it complicated to bring out the numerous motivations that intervene when a child decides to help.
relations familiales Aging family relationships care elderly parents discourse analysis