Intergenerational Financial Transfers Across Seven Cities in Latin America and the Caribbean: The Intersection of Gender and Proximity

Abstract

This study extends recent research on the relationship between residential proximity and the support older adults receive from their children, by providing a comparative assessment of the association between the location of the nearest child and older adults’ receipt of financial transfers in seven different cities across Latin America and the Caribbean. The paper further examines the extent to which financial transfers are contingent on the gender of the parent and their economic needs. Data (N=9,063) are drawn from the 2000 Survey of Health, Well-Being and Ageing in Latin America and the Caribbean (SABE) collected in seven major cities. The results highlight the importance of co-residence for parents’ receipt of financial transfers. Although increasing distance was negatively associated with receiving support, the city of residence moderated the association between further distance and the receipt of financial support. Older adults in contexts with weak social welfare systems, Mexico City and Havana, were more likely to receive financial support from children far away relative to those residing in stronger welfare contexts such as Montevideo, Buenos Aires, São Paulo, and Bridgetown. Children do respond positively to their parents’ economic vulnerability but this relationship is also contingent on parents’ proximity to their children, city of residence, and gender. Overall, geographic distance appears to be more, or less, important to financial support depending on the strength of social welfare systems that characterize parents’ city of residence.