Introduction: Transnational Caregiving

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The above comments are typical examples of concern about ageing parents that were expressed by the women and men we interviewed. They reflect a sense of responsibility and commitment that many people the world over feel towards their parents as they age. There is in fact a considerable amount of research on aged care and intergenerational relations with conclusions that are similar to ours. For example, we agree with other researchers that intergenerational care does not simply go in one direction. Rather, parents provide their adult children with extensive financial, emotional and other support across the life course, and adult children usually begin to reciprocate as their parents get older.1 Our study also supports previous findings that while both women and men care for and support their ageing parents, there are considerable differences in the extent and type of care that women and men provide (see, for example, Doty, 1995; Joseph & Hallman, 1998). The usual argument is that caregiving is primarily the responsibility of women.2 Because we interviewed people from a range of cultural backgrounds, we can begin to reassess this claim by acknowledging the obligations that are placed on males to provide care, particularly (but not solely) in non-Western families.3 The statements about parental expectations of ‘filial piety’4 from the Singaporean and Afghan sons cited above are just two examples.KeywordsAdult ChildFamily CaregivingAged CareAgeing ParentNational BorderThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.