Abstract

This article presents a typology of relationship structures of elderly people with an income level below the at-risk-of-poverty threshold and examines the determinants of these relationships. The presented results are based on an empirical, qualitative study on the relationship structures including biographical contexts such as critical life events, having children, family dynamics, membership of social milieus, personality structures, and the state of health. The study did not focus on stereotypical cause and effect relations, but on interlocking factors in lifeworld contexts that determine the variety of relationship structures.