[5-generation families: some data on great-great-grandparents in West Germany]

From data of 400 five-generation families living in the Federal Republic of Germany different ways of interaction between the generations are demonstrated. These data point to a very high degree of integration of the very old family members and reject the thesis of a more or less disintegration of the older generation. The interaction between the 5th and the 4th generation is closer than these between the 5th and and the 3rd or 2nd generation; this may be explained by the different cohort-specific socialization-histories and by factors of secular change.