Intergenerational Support Exchange Research Articles

Middle-Aged Couples’ Exchanges of Support with Aging Parents: Patterns and Association with Marital Satisfaction

We examined the context of intergenerational support exchanges with aging parents and its association with middle-aged couples’ marital satisfaction. A sample of 197 middle-aged couples reported support they gave to and received from their parents (n = 440). Results indicated that couples provided more total support to and received more from their parents as a function of number of living parents, but the amount of support each parent received (‘parent-adjusted support’) was lower when there were more living parents. The amount of support given to and received from parents had no association with the couple’s marital satisfaction, but discrepancies in support given to and received from parents did have a significant association with marital satisfaction. Husbands who gave more support to their living parent(s) than their wives reported lower marital satisfaction. A similar effect on marital satisfaction was found for wives who gave more support to their living parents than their husbands. These findings contrast with caregiving studies where amount of support affected marital satisfaction and suggest that inequalities in involvement with parents may be a critical dimension in marriages of midlife adults.

Effects of the Intergenerational Support Exchange on the Successful Aging

Effects of the Intergenerational Support Exchange on the Successful Aging

Intergenerational Relations Across 4 Years: Well-being Is Affected by Quality, Not by Support Exchange

Providing support to an aging parent may pose challenges to adult children but also provide an opportunity to "give back" to loved ones. The current study investigated changes in emotional and instrumental support and quality across a period of 4 years. Additionally, associations between intergenerational support and well-being in adult children over time were investigated. Data from the first and second waves of the Netherlands Kinship Panel Study (N = 6,062) were analyzed to investigate the relative importance of relationship quality and support exchange and to test the potential buffering role of relationship quality for effects of the changing balance of support on well-being. It was found that provision of instrumental and emotional support to parents increased during a period of 4 years. At the same time, instrumental support children received from parents decreased, whereas emotional support from parents increased. Intergenerational support exchange between children and parents was not associated with well-being in children, whereas the quality of the intergenerational relationship strongly predicted their well-being. Decreasing relationship quality seems a greater threat to the well-being of caregiving children than increased support and care tasks. Family counseling and public awareness to address this decline in intergenerational relationship quality may be important for well-being of families.

Reciprocity Revisited: Give and Take in Dutch and Immigrant Families

Classical theory suggests that “generalized reciprocity,” giving without clear expectations of returns, is characteristic for exchange within the family. Modern theory assumes differences between Western, “individualistic” cultures, and non-Western, more “collectivistic” cultures, presumably leading to ethnic variation in the nature of reciprocity within the family. These assumptions are examined by using data from the Netherlands Kinship Panel Study (NKPS; 2004). Patterns of reciprocity in intergenerational support exchange among three ethnic groups, “Mediterraneans,” “Caribbeans,” and native Dutch, (N= 3,520) are analyzed. Four varieties of reciprocity are distinguished: high exchangers (giving and receiving much), receivers (giving little, receiving much), givers (giving much, receiving little), and low exchangers (giving and receiving little). “Generalized reciprocity” proved not to be the prototype of support exchange; in fact, low exchange was the most common pattern. The similarities in reciprocity patterns between the three ethnic groups were greater than the differences; the Dutch were more often low exchangers than the other ethnic groups but after introducing the other independent variables this difference was no longer significant. Patterns of reciprocity were found to be affected by a combination of socio-structural, cultural and relational factors.

Crowding out or crowding in? Public and private transfers in Germany

Intergenerational support exchanges are of particular interest in Europe's ageing populations. This paper focuses on the relationship between private and public financial transfers to and from the elderly. Based on German data we find that the giving of private transfers is influenced by public transfers. The close link between public transfers to the elderly and the financial support they give to others represents an inefficient backflow of pay-as-you-go financed pensions to the young generation. This mechanism can be interpreted as a private compensation device for the generations. We can also show that at the same time the receipt of public transfers by the elderly crowd-out private financial support they would have received otherwise in the German welfare state.

Does the Completeness of a Household-Based Convoy Matter in Intergenerational Support Exchanges?

Based on the closeness of kinship relationships, a 4-layer household-based convoy is proposed for the study of intergenerational support exchanges. It first separates co-residing family members from non-coresiding family members with whom they have frequent contact and places them in the innermost and next-innermost circles of an individual’s convoy structure, respectively. Relatives and friends with whom there is frequent contact are then added as the third and outer-most circles. In principle, it is ideal to have a full four layers. However, in reality, most people miss one or more layers during the different stages of the life cycle. A probability sample with 1979 cases is used to investigate the effect of convoy incompleteness on intergenerational support exchanges. The research findings show that missing any one layer and missing both the third and fourth layers do not result in a significantly negative effect on the mean types of support exchanged. When individual types of support are examined one by one, the convoy structure works similarly but selectively. It works best for types of support involving more labor costs, less for those involving financial support, and least for those involving advice. In addition, it is noted that a multiple exchange strategy is used in intergenerational support exchanges.

Adult Parent–Child Relationships: Relationship Quality, Support, and Reciprocity

A partir du modèle de la solidarité intergénérationnelle de Bengston (Bengston & Roberts, 1991), on a étudié, chez 265 femmes entre deux âges vivant en Allemagne, les interrelations entre leurs valeurs familiales, leur perception de qualité de la relation avec leurs parents, le soutien qu’elles disent leur apporter et recevoir de leur part, ainsi que leur appréhension de l’entraide entre les générations. On s’est aussi demandé si l’aide apporté aux parents et la réciprocité perçu étaient en rapport avec la charge que les filles ressentaient suite au soutien accordé. Les données des diverses rubriques, fournies par les sujets, ont été traitées avec des analyses de régression logistiques multiple et multinomiale. Les analyses ont débouché sur des liaisons positives entre les valeurs familiales, la qualité des relations et le soutien aux parents. La réciprocité perçue était reliée aux aides mutuelles entre les générations et un soutien déséquilibré avait des effets négatifs sur la qualité de la relation. La charge ressentie pouvait ­être prédite à partir de la réciprocité perçue et de l’importance de l’aide. Cependant, sont apparus des modèles corrélationnels spécifiques dépendant à la fois du type d’aide et du niveau d’importance relatif du père et de la mère. Les résultats sont discutés dans le contexte du sens de la réciprocité et des obligations familiales dans une culture occidentale.In accordance with Bengtson's model of intergenerational solidarity (e.g. Bengtson & Roberts, 1991), the interrelations between adult daughters’ family values, their perception of the relationship quality with their parents, the support they reported to give to and to receive from their parents, and their perception of reciprocity in intergenerational support exchange were investigated for N= 265 middle‐aged women in Germany. It was also asked whether the support given to parents and perceived reciprocity are related to daughters’ felt burden as a result of their support. Cross‐sectional, self‐report data were examined with multiple and multinomial logistic regression analyses. The analyses revealed positive relations between family values, relationship quality, and support to parents. Perceived reciprocity was associated with the exchange of intergenerational support, and imbalance in support had negative effects on the relationship quality. Felt burden was predicted by the extent of support and the perceived reciprocity. However, specific correlational patterns depending on the kind of support as well as differences in the importance of mother and father occurred. The findings are discussed against the background of the meaning of family obligations and reciprocity in a Western culture.

Intergenerational Social Support and the Psychological Well-Being of Older Parents in China

This study explores the relationship between intergenerational social support and the psychological well-being of older Chinese parents. Effects of structural, functional, emotional, and appraisal social support on older Chinese parents’ well-being were tested by analyzing data collected from a random sample of 3,039 persons aged 55 and over who participated in the 1992 baseline survey of the Beijing Multidimensional Longitudinal Study on Aging (BMLSOA). Multiple regression is used to determine whether intergenerational exchanges of social support influence older parents’ morale. Findings reveal that providing instrumental support to children and satisfaction with children directly improve parents’well-being. The benefits of receiving support from children are fully mediated by parents’satisfaction with their children. The positive effects of providing functional support are magnified among parents who adhere to more traditional norms regarding family support. The results suggest that the psychological benefits of intergenerational support exchanges should not be ignored when developing elder care policy in China.

Studying living arrangements of the elderly: lessons from a quasi-qualitative case study approach in Thailand.

The present study explores aspects of living arrangements of the elderly in Thailand and how they relate to intergenerational support exchanges as revealed by a quasi-qualitative case study approach. The study describes some of the challenges this topic poses for measurement if surveys are used. These include difficulties in appropriately defining a household and identifying its members, treating coresidence as a continuum, taking account of the complex links to non-coresident children and kin, recognizing that similar living arrangements can have different meanings, viewing living arrangements as part of an evolving process, and recognizing the potential sensitivity of the topic to respondents. Careful and informed design of survey questionnaires can increase their ability to accurately reflect the underlying complex reality. However, there are also relevant critical issues for which surveys are not well suited. Although the study is specific to Thailand, many of the same issues are likely to arise in the research on elderly elsewhere as well.

Migration, Remittances, and the Family

Remittances by migrants along with migration itself are elements in a migrant familys intertemporal contractual arrangement. The reasons why the migrant and his family voluntarily enter into a mutually beneficial contractual arrangement with each other rather than with a 3rd party--are discussed and the conditions under which the contractual arrangement is self-enforcing are identified. Both parties can usually benefit from a number of Pareto-efficient mutual contractual arrangements. This gives rise to an indeterminacy problem solved through a bargaining process between the parties who consequently converge to a contractual arrangement implying a specific flow of migrant-to-family remittances. The chosen contractual arrangement reflects the relative bargaining powers of the parties and variables impinging upon these powers thus bear upon remittances. In the light of these arguments tests are conducted on observed remittance behavior across individual migrants in Botswana. (authors)