Contact between parents and adult children: The role of time constraints, commuting and automobility

Recent developments suggest that the need for contact between parents and adult children is expected to grow, while paid labour is re-organized to include more flexible work schedules and locations. In parallel we view a pressure to increase sustainable mobility through reducing car driving. Against this background, this paper addresses the question: to what extent the frequency of contact between parents and their adult children living out of home is associated with time allocated to work, including commuting time, and with automobility? Face-to-face and telecommunication based contact is considered. Regression analysis of survey data collected in the Netherlands was performed and results suggest that face-to-face contact was significantly associated with work and commute duration, car ownership, car commuting and distance. Telecommunication based contact was mainly associated with work duration, degree of urbanization and distance. Automobility seemed to be more important for women than for men. The policy implication is a potential trade-off between policies that aim at strengthening sustainable mobility behaviour and policies that lead to an increase in the reliance on informal care.