Abstract
The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between adult children's education attainment and their parents' cognitive health, and to further explore the mechanism of intergenerational support. Based on empirical analysis of data from China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Survey, our study finds a positive association between children's educational attainment and parents' cognitive health. This correlation is provided for by emotional communication of informal caregiving, financial support, and healthy behaviors shaped in the parents by adult children. The strength of the effect varied by the adult child's gender. While sons' education attainment significantly improves parental cognitive parameters through informal caregiving, financial support, and development of healthy behaviors, the effect of daughters' education derives from financial support and healthy behaviors, not being related to informal caregiving. The study enriches the evidence on the mobility of children's human capital toward their parents and provides practical insights for advancing children's participation in family caregiving.
Highlights
Research on intergenerational mobility of human capital emphasizes the impact of parents on their children
The results showed no marked difference from the benchmark regression, further validating the positive correlation between adult children’s educational attainment and parents’ cognitive health
The results show that the average frequency of contact will increase by 5.1% for each tier of children’s education level
Summary
Research on intergenerational mobility of human capital emphasizes the impact of parents on their children. Studies from both developed and developing countries have consistently confirmed that parents’ education promotes human capital accumulation in children [1–4]. The impact of adult children’s education attainment on their parents’ health has so far remained a blind spot in researches. Studies in the United States, Germany, and other Western countries do not conclusively show that adult children’s education predicts parents’ health patterns [5–7]. Studies from developing countries such as Mexico and South Africa provide opposite evidence suggesting that adult children’s education is beneficial to their parents’ health [8, 9]. Several articles have explored the relationship between adult children’s education and the health of Chinese parents, but mainly focused the assessment on depression, general health parameters, and parental
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