Financial reciprocity and elder care: understanding multiple, interdependent resource transfers

Abstract

The main purpose of this study is to examine the influence of parent-to-child financial transfers and economic resources on financial transfers, coresidence. caregiving. and timehelp as multiple, interdependent transfers from middle-aged adult children to their elderly parefcts. Analyzing data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, which provides long-term observations of financial reciprocity and recent reports about elder care, the current study finds strong positive effects of prior parent-to-child financial transfers in the models of caregiving and time-help, which indicates the importance of reciprocity. Coresidence is positively related to past parent-to-child financial transfers; however, the effect becomes weak when other control variables are added. In terms of determinants of resource transfers, the results of multivariate logistic regression analyses suggest that the economic resources of parents and adult children are strong determinants of child-to-parent financial resource transfer when parent-to-child financial transfers and the sociodemographic characteristics of parents and adult children are controlled for. In addition, the education, employment status, health, and marital status of middle-aged adult children are statistically significant determinants of child-to-parent financial transfers. Controlling for child-to-parent financial transfers, economic resources of the parents and adult children, and other characteristics of the parents and children, adult children's decisions of coresidence are responsive to the parents' needs (surviving status, age, and health) and several characteristics of adult children (marital status, employment status, and the number of living siblings).