Will Downward Intergenerational Housing Support Increase Parents’ Expectations for Old-Age Care from Adult Children? Evidence from China

Abstract

Toward a background of young people’s decreasing housing affordability and parents’ increasing involvement in intergenerational housing support, this study investigates how such support influences parents’ expectation of future care from adult children. Using data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, we found that, in general, middle-aged/older adults who provided adult children financial housing support were more likely to expect old-age care from them. The help-receiving child was more likely to be an expected caregiver than the other children in multi-children families. Moreover, the reciprocal relationship was most prominent among the 1950s cohort, compared with the pre-1950s and the post-1950s cohorts. Our study broadly contributes to understanding how modernization reshapes intergenerational relationships and family members’ expectations of commitments toward each other. It also informs the design of a comprehensive multi-level care system for older adults in China.

Expectations Regarding Reciprocity of Flows of Intergenerational Support in China: Does Gender or Birth Order Matter?

“…Results show that overall, in multi-child families with downward intergenerational housing support, those adult children who received parent’s housing support are more likely to be named by their parents as expected caregivers than those who did not. It echoes previous findings that highlight fairness-based “one-on-one” reciprocity in intergenerational transfers (Bui et al, 2022; Tang & Wang, 2022). Moreover, providing housing support to more than one adult child raises the likelihood of expecting old-age care from each of the recipients even more than providing it to one child only, reflecting the joint effects of equity-based exchange as well as potentially increased future need arising from a drain on financial resources.…”

“…The feeling of "fair" is vital for sustaining transfers (Cao, 2018). Recent evidence from China supports the notion equity-based reciprocal relationships by showing a concordance between the past support-receiver and future caregiver (Bui et al, 2022;Tang & Wang, 2022). However, further scrutiny of the motives of transfers within multi-child families needs to consider support to siblings.…”

“…To the best of our knowledge, only one recent study has examined the relationship between intergenerational housing support and parental future care expectations, finding support for both traditional norms and reciprocity (Tang & Wang, 2022). However, that study failed to consider the complexity of reciprocity of flows of intergenerational support within multi-child families.…”

Typologies of Intergenerational Relations in Urban and Rural China: A Latent Class Analysis

“…The findings indicate that current patterns of intergenerational relationship are widely shaped by social modernization (Djundeva et al, 2019). Although evidence suggests traditional norms of intergenerational support remain widespread in China, the results also highlight new patterns of intergenerational relations shaped by internal migration and increased geographic distance, and the emerging trend of autonomy and independence among some urban Chinese older adults, who have higher socioeconomic status, better education and self-supported adult children, and who are not expecting to rely on children for future care (Cheung, 2019;Qin et al, 2020;Tang & Wang, 2022).…”

“…Comparatively, urban older adults have better pensions and higher economic independence in later life. Their relatively higher economic autonomy and fewer numbers of children might in turn influence urban elders’ care expectations and their intergenerational practices (Tang & Wang, 2022). In contrast, expectations around older age care in rural areas remain more traditional reflecting a considerable cultural lag (Hu, 2017; Qin et al, 2020).…”