Intergenerational flows of support between parents and adult children in Britain

Understanding patterns of intergenerational support is critical within the context of demographic change, such as changing family structures and population ageing. Existing research has focused on intergenerational support at a given time in the individuals’ lifecourse, e.g. from adult children towa...

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Authors: Evandrou, Maria, Falkingham, Jane, Gómez-León, Madelín, Vlachantoni, Athina
Format: article
Status:Published version
Publication Date:2018
Country:España
Institution:Universitat Pompeu Fabra
Repository:Repositorio Digital de la UPF
OAI Identifier:oai:repositori.upf.edu:10230/54456
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10230/54456
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0144686x16001057
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Informal care
Older adults
Support exchange
Intergenerational transfers
National Child Development Study
Lifecourse
Altruism
Reciprocity
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spelling Intergenerational flows of support between parents and adult children in BritainEvandrou, MariaFalkingham, JaneGómez-León, MadelínVlachantoni, AthinaInformal careOlder adultsSupport exchangeIntergenerational transfersNational Child Development StudyLifecourseAltruismReciprocityUnderstanding patterns of intergenerational support is critical within the context of demographic change, such as changing family structures and population ageing. Existing research has focused on intergenerational support at a given time in the individuals’ lifecourse, e.g. from adult children towards older parents and vice versa; however, few studies have focused on the dynamic nature of such support. Analysing data from the 1958 National Child Development Study, this paper investigates the extent to which the receipt of parental help earlier in the lifecourse affects the chances of adult children reciprocating with support towards their parents later in life. The findings show that three-quarters of mid-life adults had received some support from their parents earlier in life, and at age  more than half were providing care to their parents. Patterns of support received and provided across the lifecourse differ markedly by gender, with sons being more likely to have received help with finances earlier in the lifecourse, and daughters with child care. The results highlight that care provision towards parents was associated with support receipt earlier in life. However, the degree of reciprocity varies according to the type of care provided by children. Such findings have implications for informal care provision by adult children towards future cohorts of older people, and by extension, the organisation of social care.Cambridge University Press202220222018info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionapplication/pdfapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/10230/54456http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0144686x16001057reponame:Repositorio Digital de la UPFinstname:Universitat Pompeu FabraInglésAgeing & Society. 2018 Feb;38(2):321-51© Cambridge University Press 2016. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:repositori.upf.edu:10230/544562026-06-12T07:21:37Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Intergenerational flows of support between parents and adult children in Britain
title Intergenerational flows of support between parents and adult children in Britain
spellingShingle Intergenerational flows of support between parents and adult children in Britain
Evandrou, Maria
Informal care
Older adults
Support exchange
Intergenerational transfers
National Child Development Study
Lifecourse
Altruism
Reciprocity
title_short Intergenerational flows of support between parents and adult children in Britain
title_full Intergenerational flows of support between parents and adult children in Britain
title_fullStr Intergenerational flows of support between parents and adult children in Britain
title_full_unstemmed Intergenerational flows of support between parents and adult children in Britain
title_sort Intergenerational flows of support between parents and adult children in Britain
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Evandrou, Maria
Falkingham, Jane
Gómez-León, Madelín
Vlachantoni, Athina
author Evandrou, Maria
author_facet Evandrou, Maria
Falkingham, Jane
Gómez-León, Madelín
Vlachantoni, Athina
author_role author
author2 Falkingham, Jane
Gómez-León, Madelín
Vlachantoni, Athina
author2_role author
author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Informal care
Older adults
Support exchange
Intergenerational transfers
National Child Development Study
Lifecourse
Altruism
Reciprocity
topic Informal care
Older adults
Support exchange
Intergenerational transfers
National Child Development Study
Lifecourse
Altruism
Reciprocity
description Understanding patterns of intergenerational support is critical within the context of demographic change, such as changing family structures and population ageing. Existing research has focused on intergenerational support at a given time in the individuals’ lifecourse, e.g. from adult children towards older parents and vice versa; however, few studies have focused on the dynamic nature of such support. Analysing data from the 1958 National Child Development Study, this paper investigates the extent to which the receipt of parental help earlier in the lifecourse affects the chances of adult children reciprocating with support towards their parents later in life. The findings show that three-quarters of mid-life adults had received some support from their parents earlier in life, and at age  more than half were providing care to their parents. Patterns of support received and provided across the lifecourse differ markedly by gender, with sons being more likely to have received help with finances earlier in the lifecourse, and daughters with child care. The results highlight that care provision towards parents was associated with support receipt earlier in life. However, the degree of reciprocity varies according to the type of care provided by children. Such findings have implications for informal care provision by adult children towards future cohorts of older people, and by extension, the organisation of social care.
publishDate 2018
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2018
2022
2022
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/10230/54456
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0144686x16001057
url http://hdl.handle.net/10230/54456
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0144686x16001057
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv Ageing & Society. 2018 Feb;38(2):321-51
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Cambridge University Press
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Cambridge University Press
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:Repositorio Digital de la UPF
instname:Universitat Pompeu Fabra
instname_str Universitat Pompeu Fabra
reponame_str Repositorio Digital de la UPF
collection Repositorio Digital de la UPF
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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score 15,811543

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