The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA) is a large-scale,
nationally representative study of people aged 50 and over in Ireland.
It is the most ambitious study of ageing ever carried out in Ireland and
represents a step-change in terms of data/ knowledge/ understanding of
ageing with which to inform policy and novel research.More than 8,000
people aged 50 and over accepted the invitation to participate in the
first wave of TILDA, and the majority of these also agreed to undertake
a comprehensive health assessment.The role of the family is often
emphasised in Ireland, but to date there is little evidence on what
families provide to older adults, what older adults give to their
families. TILDA enables a detailed analysis of the relationship of older
adults to their families/ communities in terms of the contact that older
people have with family members, the exchanges that take place within
families and the broader networks of help/ support among friends and
neighbours. The findings support an optimistic view that the majority of
older people live relatively near to their children/ surviving parents,
have frequent contact with them, and inter-generational transfers are
common.
