Migration, Location and Provision of Support to Older Parents: The Case of Romania

Abstract

Low fertility and rapid out-migration in Romania are consequential for the migrants that confront challenges of providing support to ageing parents. Systematic data allowing examination of intergenerational support are difficult to find for Eastern Europe, a region undergoing demographic and socio-economic transition. Using recently collected data from Romania this study models monetary and instrumental support from an adult child to an older parent as a function of location of residence and additional covariates that assume Romanian families operate following an integrative family framework wherein support obligations are considered to be shared across a family network and support probabilities depend upon characteristics of the provider and the older parent. Multilevel multinomial models with random intercepts indicate international migrants are likely to give money; within Romania migrants and those living in the same locality as parents are unlikely to give money but likely to provide instrumental support. But, specific probabilities vary depending having sibling and where siblings live. Support is more likely provided to rural parents and to parents with functional limitations. Results elucidate the degree to which and why support is being provided within a rapidly ageing environment.