Throughout the years, the structure and dynamic of families have changed in significant ways. The pyramid family structure is considered the most traditional. Usually this includes two or three living generations including siblings and relatives. If there is a couple with four children, those children likely each got married and have their own children, too. The first generation includes the parents; the second generation may consist of four people. The third generation likely has sixteen or more people including the grandchildren. This creates the pyramid shape because each generation is continually adding to the family.
As people are living longer and deciding to have fewer children, the family structure is changing from the traditional Pyramid to a Beanpole structure. The beanpole structure consists of four to five generations but only having a few siblings and relatives within each generation. For example, a couple may have two children including a daughter and son. The daughter may have two children while the son has no children. The daughter’s children may then have one child each. The first generation is the mother and father, the second generation includes the daughter and son, and the third generation consists of the grandchildren. The fourth generation is the great- grandchildren. Each generation has almost the same amount of people.
When it comes to caring for aging parents, the pyramid family structure allows for siblings to share the responsibility and support since they might have three to five siblings to rely on. With the beanpole family structure, this shared responsibility is less common because there are fewer family members. Since there will be fewer siblings to help care for aging parents, this could lead to intergenerational support to become more common. Intergenerational support would mean that the aging parents would receive support from not only their children, but also their grandchildren and even their great-grandchildren.
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By: Cindy Birrueta
Office Support Specialist at WellPath Partners
B.S. in Healthcare Administration at California State University, Long Beach
