Support from Parents over the Life Course: The Adult Child's Perspective

Abstract

While previous research has established that parents in the contemporary U.S. often provide support to their adult children, little is known about how that support changes as both parents and children age over the life course. Using data from the National Survey of Families and Households, we examine how support received from parents changes as the child moves from young adulthood through middle age. Attention is given to several different dimensions of support and to life-course factors of the parent and the child that are related to receipt of support. In general, there is no change or a slight increase in support receivedfrom parents when children are in their 20s. Decline in all forms of support occurs after age 30. However, the pattern of decline varies by type of support, and in no case is the decline linear. We conclude by discussing the family roles played by parents in later life. Throughout childhood and adolescence, almost all children in the U.S. look to their parents for support. By the time individuals are old, e.g., age 70, few receive assistance from their parents. (This is true, of course, because few at this stage of life have living parents.) But, what is the trajectory of the flow of support from parents to children as children age from adolescence to old age? Does parental support only exhibit patterns of decline across the child's adulthood? Or, is the pattern of change bidirectional, for example increasing when a child marries and/or has children, and then declining gradually thereafter? Furthermore, does age-variation in receipt of parental support depend primarily on the child's life situation or that of the parents? Finally, does the age pattern of support differ for various types of assistance? Such questions about age patterns of parental support after childhood have received limited research attention.