Married Daughters’ Contributions to Elderly Parents’ Well-Being: A Review and Evidence from Haryana, India

Abstract

This chapter reviews the literature and evidence on financial and non-financial support that elderly parents receive from their sons and daughters in contexts of limited institutional support either through government or through private systems. The review reveals a paucity of literature, and hence the review is supplemented by examining financial and non-financial support for the elderly using recently collected data from Haryana, India. Elderly parents expect and favor non-financial support from daughters but tend to expect and rely comparatively more on sons for financial support. A notable aspect is that a substantial proportion of the elderly expect to rely neither on their sons nor on their daughters for financial support but on their own means. Given the higher prevalence of poverty and illness, especially among elderly women, and among the elderly with only daughters, there is a need to recognize and further strengthen health coverage and pension support for such elderly families.