Tangible and Intangible Alimony to Aging Parents among Adult Children: A Systematic Review

Abstract

The gradually increase of life expectation within ageing society will have an impact on the burden and dependent on children in terms of care, health needs, emotional and social support as well as finances from adult children is the most important factor in the survival of the elderly. This article aims to explore the tangible and intangible alimony to aging parents among adult children. Articles retrieved related to the concept of tangible and intangible alimony to the older person were identified through Scopus and Web of Science (WoS). The findings of this SLR found that 20 articles related to the theme of older person alimony could be extracted as the majority of the articles concentrated on tangible support. The main research gap that emerges is that the aging parents long for intangible support such as emotional support, social activities, biopsychosocial and health information, chit-chat and companionship to avoid loneliness. This phenomenon appeared post COVID-19 pandemic when most aging experience loneliness and depression. This article proposes that community-based intangible support can be utilized in urban and rural areas in an Asian setting. Further research is need to study how intangible support elements for older parents can be successfully implement through the family and community based social work approach.