Faculty Collaboration Database

Parental marital disruption, family type, and transfers to disabled elderly parents. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 2008 Nov;63(6):S349-58

Date

12/19/2008

Pubmed ID

19092044

DOI

10.1093/geronb/63.6.s349

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-57749207501 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   57 Citations

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of parental marital status, marital history, and family type on intergenerational living arrangements and adult children's time and cash transfers to their unpartnered disabled elderly parents.

METHODS: We used data from the Asset and Health Dynamics Among the Oldest Old survey to estimate the joint probabilities that an adult child provides time and/or cash transfers to a parent and to analyze a five-level categorical variable capturing parent-child living arrangements.

RESULT: The estimates suggest significant detrimental effects of parental divorce and step relationship on time transfers and on the probability of coresidence with the index child. Family type, as captured by the composition of the index child's sibling network according to kin relationship to the parent, also affected transfers and living arrangement choices of adult children.

DISCUSSION: The findings that transfers from adult children to their unpartnered disabled elderly parents depend on parental marital status and kin relationship suggest that changing family patterns are altering the traditional role of the family as a support network. These findings raise concerns about the care likely to be available to future cohorts of elderly persons who will have experienced substantially higher rates of divorce, remarriage, and step parenthood than the cohort considered in this study.

Author List

Pezzin LE, Pollak RA, Schone BS

Author

Liliana Pezzin PhD, JD Professor in the Institute for Health and Equity department at Medical College of Wisconsin

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Adult
Aged
Altruism
Divorce
Family Characteristics
Female
Frail Elderly
Gift Giving
Humans
Likelihood Functions
Longitudinal Studies
Male
Multivariate Analysis
Parent-Child Relations
Residence Characteristics
Siblings
United States