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This study examines the consequences of private intergenerational transfers from elderly parents to their middle-aged children with respect to social inequality within the children's generation.
With use of the nationally representative cross-sectional sample of the German Aging Survey, descriptive analyses as well as multivariate logistic regressi...
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... indicated above, many of these inter vivos transfers may be understood as early inheritances with distributive patterns similar to mortis causa transfers (as described, e.g., by McGarry, 1997, andSzydlik, 2000) and thus with comparable conse- quences for inequality. The results for bequests are clear (Table 4): Nearly two-thirds of the 40-54 year olds in the lowest quintile have not received a bequest, whereas more than half in the upper two quintiles have ( p , .01). Furthermore, although smaller bequests are distributed more or less equally, large bequests (i.e., amounts of .25,000 ...
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Citations
... In all societies such intergenerational transfers have major implications for individual, family, and societal wellbeing (Mason and Lee (2018)). Transfers between adult children and their parents are an important element of intergenerational linkages and a means of providing support to those in need (Künemund, Motel-Lingebiel and Kohli (2005)), especially in a context of shrinking social services (Pickard (2015)). Increases in life expectancy imply an increase in the volume of help needed by older people with age-related functional limitations. ...
... Family ties are thus likely to affect vulnerability processes differently from other close ties. First, the transmission of socioeconomic privileges (pensions, heritage, shared consumption, loans, investments) remains confined within families, especially well-endowed ones (Pitrou, 1992;Coenen-Huther et al., 1994;Künemund et al., 2005). Other close relations only occasionally provide useful information or bypasses. ...
While close relations include both intimate family members and close friends, the transmission of socioeconomic resource remains largely confined within families. Moreover, family-transmitted values and sociopsychological skills are incorporated during childhood, and emotional and instrumental support is still mainly assumed by family members. These overlapping exchanges mean that family ties constitute durable resource for individuals, but that families are (also) damaging in case of tie dissolution, poor relational quality or gendered family practices. In this chapter, we examine how family and friends affect vulnerability processes differently by using three longitudinal datasets on long-term couples, lone parents, and ageing individuals, as well cross-sectional data on adults’ personal networks, collected with support from LIVES. We found that ambivalent and sometimes negative (i.e., resource depletion) aspects of family relationships emerge, in particular, in situations in which other key resources (including friendship ties) are missing, typically with the occurrence of stressful life events. Conversely, negative family events are more quickly overcome when sufficient resources (including friends) are available. Interestingly, some negative life events, such as job loss, are better dealt with through sparser personal networks. By contrast, normative life events act as densifiers or enlargers of both elective and family networks.
... Furthermore, studies have shown that parents are more likely to give a financial gift to unemployed children (Deindl and Isengard, 2011;Albertini and Kohli, 2013;McGarry, 2016). For Germany, it has been argued that unemployment might signal need particularly if the child is young, because receiving public unemployment benefits depends on having participated in the labor market (Kü nemund et al., 2005). We expect the child that is in greater need, here operationalized as being unemployed, to receive more money. ...
Research has documented gender inequalities in parental financial gifts, but it is unclear under which conditions these inequalities are socially accepted. We combine distributive justice theory with sociological and economic perspectives on intergenerational transfers to examine perceptions of fair allocations of parental gifts. By manipulating children’s characteristics in a multifactorial vignette experiment, we conducted in Germany in 2020 (N = 4284 observations of 714 respondents), we test the prevalence and gendered application of four justice principles (equality, need, entitlement and equity). While the equality principle was widespread, unequal gifts were legitimized both by children’s financial needs (unemployment) and exchange services (helping in parents’ household). These results indicate that the family is perceived as an agency for economic redistribution, potentially affecting society’s socio-economic structure. Moreover, exchange services weighed more for sons while needs weighed more for daughters, suggesting that gendered fairness perceptions are one possible mechanism explaining gender inequalities in financial gifts.
... Unlike inheritance, inter vivos financial transfers are not equally distributed within the family: They are most likely to be given by the older parents to the family member that needs it the most. In this context, they tend to level inequalities within the family [Kohli and Künemund (2003); Kohli (2004); Künemund et al. (2005)]. ...
... Adult children who are relatively advanced in age are more likely to have a professional position, a stable family and be able to rely on their savings and money. Therefore, they need less financial support from their parents than younger children that are transiting to adulthood [Künemund et al. (2005)]. ...
... More specifically in social gerontology, family is considered as a major source of support, providing emotional and practical help to older parents with declining health [Armi Cholley et al. (2008); Girardin (2017)]. Conversely, older members can be a valuable support to the younger ones who face critical events in their life course and need various resources [Künemund et al. (2005)]. Family additionally raises ambivalence and conflict [Lüscher and Pillemer (1998); Connidis (2015); Girardin et al. (2018)]. ...
Most research on financial inter vivos transfers from older parents to their family members is focused on the giver–receiver dyad, usually between an older parent and an adult child. This study aimed to investigate older adults' financial support beyond this level of intergenerational dyads using an egocentric network perspective (i.e., the configurational approach). Data were from a sample of 2,991 older adults (aged 65 and older) from the Vivre/Leben/Vivere study, a large survey addressing family life and health conditions of older people in Switzerland. We used Wald tests and regression analyses to identify how financial transfers are related to family network properties in later life. Findings showed that older parents' propensity to provide financial support is associated with the density of practical help exchanges within the family (mainly for men) and with the position (mainly for women) and the role they play within their family configuration.
... In all societies such intergenerational transfers have major implications for individual, family, and societal wellbeing (Mason and Lee, 2018). Transfers between adult children and their parents are an important element of intergenerational linkages and a means of providing support to those in need (Künemund et al., 2005), especially in a context of shrinking social services (Pickard, 2015). Increases in life expectancy imply an increase in the volume of help needed by older people with age-related functional limitations. ...
Understanding the help and support that is exchanged between family members of different generations is of increasing importance, with research questions in sociology and social policy focusing on both predictors of the levels of help given and received, and on reciprocity between them. We propose general latent variable models for analysing such data, when helping tendencies in each direction are measured by multiple binary indicators of specific types of help. The model combines two continuous latent variables, which represent the helping tendencies, with two binary latent class variables which allow for high proportions of responses where no help of any kind is given or received. This defines a multivariate version of a zero inflation model. The main part of the models is estimated using MCMC methods, with a bespoke data augmentation algorithm. We apply the models to analyse exchanges of help between adult individuals and their non-coresident parents, using survey data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study.
... Comparative studies across European countries (Albertini et al. 2007;Albertini and Radl 2012;Attias-Donfut et al. 2005;Kohli 2004;Mathä et al. 2017;Villanueva 2005), as well as country-specific surveys in Austria (Deutsch 1997), Germany (Künemund et al. 2005;Kurz 2004;Vogt and Kluge 2015), Denmark (Boserup et al. 2014), and France (Spilerman and Wolff 2012) show the compensatory nature of inter vivo transfer as the EM predicts. These studies reveal no gender difference of wealth receivers. ...
With substantial parental support, China’s 1980–1996 birth cohorts, termed “the millennials” in this paper, have achieved an extremely high homeownership rate. This study is an attempt to explain the strength and timing of intergenerational transfer of housing-related wealth in China. The 2011–2013 China Household Finance Survey shows three dominant types of housing-related wealth transfer with increasing strengths overtime: no substantial help from parents, partial help from parents to cover down payment for housing mortgage, and full help from parents in the form of homeownership transfer. Chinese parents are found to be impurely altruistic, son-preference oriented, and risk-avoiding in their decisions of transferring wealth to married children. Consequently, wealth transfers tend to benefit the less accomplished sons who have better parent–child relationships, fewer siblings, lower-risk marriages, and stronger commitment to repaying aging parents. Emotional altruism, relational ethnics, and rational calculations are the underlying logics that govern intergenerational relations in the Chinese family.
... Previous studies indicate that the intergenerational resources transferred between older parents and adult children may be based on altruism and reciprocity. An altruistic perspective posits that each generation provides for another generation based on need, e.g., if older parents provide money to adult children with poor economic resources, parents may expected that adult children may provide social support and care to older parents with poor health (Kunemund et al., 2005). According to Silverstein et al. (2002), adult children who received emotional and financial support from their parents provide social support to their parents, which suggest that reciprocal exchanges (e.g., health and financial resources) between generations stretch over a large part of the family life cycle (Suitor et al., 2007). ...
... Moreover, studies indicate that relationships between older parents and adult children may be affected by grandparent-grandchildren relationships. In fact, close interactions due to obligation or need (e.g., care-taking of grandchildren, taking them to school, being educators, mentors and confidants) may be linked to unsatisfactory, ambivalent and conflictive relationships between older parents and adult children (Cardoso, 2011;Cerveny et al., 2012;Dias, 2008Dias, , 2008Drew & Silverstein, 2007;Kunemund et al., 2005: Mendoza-Ruvalcaba et al., 2017Smith & Drew, 2004). ...
This study aims to analyze the perspectives of intergenerational relationships between older adults and adult children. For this purpose, a qualitative research was carried out, which analyzes these relations at a cross-national level. Four hundred and twenty four older participants aged 65-97 years, were interviewed. Participants were of three different nationalities and lived in the community. All the interviews went through the process of verbatim transcription and subsequent content analysis. Two dimensions of genera-tional ambivalence were revealed from the study; support and the conflict dimensions. Findings of content analysis produced six themes, which represent intergenerational relations between older adults and adult children: older adults-adult children interaction quality; family integration; care and support; definition of limits; distance and alienation; and communication difficulties. This study highlighted the diversity of experiences in old age, in relation to intergenerational relationships and underlined the conflicting expectations from older adults in relation to their adult children.
... Previous studies indicate that the intergenerational resources transferred between older parents and adult children may be based on altruism and reciprocity. An altruistic perspective posits that each generation provides for another generation based on need, e.g., if older parents provide money to adult children with poor economic resources, parents may expected that adult children may provide social support and care to older parents with poor health (Kunemund et al., 2005). According to Silverstein et al. (2002), adult children who received emotional and financial support from their parents provide social support to their parents, which suggest that reciprocal exchanges (e.g., health and financial resources) between generations stretch over a large part of the family life cycle (Suitor et al., 2007). ...
... Moreover, studies indicate that relationships between older parents and adult children may be affected by grandparent-grandchildren relationships. In fact, close interactions due to obligation or need (e.g., care-taking of grandchildren, taking them to school, being educators, mentors and confidants) may be linked to unsatisfactory, ambivalent and conflictive relationships between older parents and adult children (Cardoso, 2011;Cerveny et al., 2012;Dias, 2008Dias, , 2008Drew & Silverstein, 2007;Kunemund et al., 2005: Mendoza-Ruvalcaba et al., 2017Smith & Drew, 2004). ...
This study aims to analyze the perspectives of intergenerational relationships between older adults and adult children. For this purpose, a qualitative research was carried out, which analyzes these relations at a cross-national level. Four hundred and twenty four older participants aged 65–97 years, were interviewed. Participants were of three different nationalities and lived in the community. All the interviews went through the process of verbatim transcription and subsequent content analysis. Two dimensions of generational ambivalence were revealed from the study; support and the conflict dimensions. Findings of content analysis produced six themes, which represent intergenerational relations between older adults and adult children: older adults-adult children interaction quality; family integration; care and support; definition of limits; distance and alienation; and communication difficulties. This study highlighted the diversity of experiences in old age, in relation to intergenerational relationships and underlined the conflicting expectations from older adults in relation to their adult children.
... While some find equalizing (Dimova and Wolff, 2008;Kazianga, 2003;Nagarajan, 2009) and others un-equalizing effects in general (Berg and Cuong, 2011), others framing transfers as remittances find that only some (internal and not international or vice versa) transfers are equalizing (Lopez, 2007;Olowa et al., 2011;Taylor et al., 2005). Others assessed those effects across generations, finding that regularity and amounts of transfers matter in yielding greater equality (Künemund et al., 2005), but most studies only focus on either end of the transfer. They rarely match destinations and sources of transfers as they collect and present household or individual survey data, but not necessarily relational data. ...
Higher levels of inequality have been associated with lower levels of well-being and welfare of a society. An individual cannot be unequal – inequality arises collectively and in comparison. The present research revisits inequality through the lens of interpersonal and in-group dynamics by exploring personal networks of economic support. It thereby asks:
In which ways are socioeconomic inequalities entangled with practices of private redistribution?
These dynamics were explored in Namibia, a country with inherited inequalities from former apartheid structures. It thus pays particular attention to ethnic identity groups. Using a mixed-method approach which comprises both qualitative statements and structural properties of 205 personal networks of support, I explore a mutual constitution between inequalities as systemic outcome and behavioural dynamic across ethnic identity groups.
Building on previous insights which have stressed the continuance of stratifications due to apartheid, I show how inequality is reflected in personal meaning of support, i.e. responding to external challenges such as unemployment crafting responsibilities to provide support.
I further demonstrate that providing more can be associated with higher socioeconomic positions and greater socioeconomic distance in support relationships. Such reflects higher vertical inequality in support relationships particularly for non-white ethnic identity groups.
Lastly, I propose a novel approach to measuring overall distributive effects of private transfers on income inequality. I find evidence for similarities in terms of socioeconomic profiles within support relationships, yield different distributive effects on income inequality.
In sum, my research demonstrates how applying a different perspective on economic support, most commonly termed informal support or informal safety nets in the Global South, can yield new insights. It thereby contests the notion of ‘informality’ where social practices constitute a vital part of social realities and further illustrates potentially conflicting priorities for individuals participating in economic and social systems where different degrees of individualism versus collectivism prevail.
... Accordingly, past research has illustrated that parent-child relations in the form of contact, emotional attachment, financial and instrumental support, or shared norms of solidarity remain strong over the course of life and continue to influence the adult child's economic and social circumstances despite possible geographic dispersion (Bengtson, Biblarz, & Roberts, 2002;Kohli, 1999;Motel-Klingebiel, Tesch-Römer, & Kondratowitz, 2005;Rossi & Rossi, 1990;Swartz, 2008;Swartz, Kim, Uno, Mortimer, & O'Brien, 2011;Szydlik, 2016). Further, some researchers have suggested that later-life parent-child relationships are socially selective and thereby help to perpetuate social inequalities across generations (Künemund, Motel-Klingebiel, & Kohli, 2005;Swartz, 2008;Szydlik, 2007). Yet, to date, previous research on this topic has primarily focused on explaining intergenerational relations in adulthood by financial resources in contrast to examining their role in mediating the intergenerational transmission of inequality (Künemund et al., 2005). ...
... Further, some researchers have suggested that later-life parent-child relationships are socially selective and thereby help to perpetuate social inequalities across generations (Künemund, Motel-Klingebiel, & Kohli, 2005;Swartz, 2008;Szydlik, 2007). Yet, to date, previous research on this topic has primarily focused on explaining intergenerational relations in adulthood by financial resources in contrast to examining their role in mediating the intergenerational transmission of inequality (Künemund et al., 2005). By drawing upon the insights from previous intergenerational research, this study seeks to contribute knowledge on the role of laterlife family social capital (i.e. ...
... Derived from previous literature, these mental and cultural properties may address the mental concordance with respect to values, attitudes, and beliefs as well as perceived intergenerational obligations, feelings, and perceptions of closeness and connection (Szydlik, 2016). In addition to structural and cultural features, Bengtson, Giarrusso et al. (2002) and subsequent research in this field (Albertini, Kohli, & Vogel, 2007;Kohli, 1999;Künemund et al., 2005;Szydlik, 2016) mostly classified intergenerational solidarity as functional intergenerational exchanges of concrete assistance and support (e.g. financial, physical, and emotional assistance). ...
Despite the well-documented effect of parent–child relations in childhood on the reproduction of social disadvantage, little is known about how relationships between parents and their grown-up children are associated with this process. The present study addresses this research gap by investigating whether structural, cognitive, and functional aspects of family social capital in adulthood are connected to the risk of relative income poverty and its intergenerational reproduction. Based on a longitudinal sample from data of the German Family Panel (pairfam), random effects regression models as well as mediation analysis (KHB method) reveal that affectual and structural facets of intergenerational relations in adulthood matter in two ways for understanding the intergenerational reproduction of poverty. First, emotionally close intergenerational relations and living in proximity of the parental home in adulthood counterbalance the experience of economic deprivation in childhood by alleviating poverty risks. Second, emotionally and spatially distant relations between adult children and their parents partially mediate the social inheritance of poverty across generations. We additionally tested the possible moderating role of migration background but could not find considerable evidence that later-life family social capital matters differently for native and migrant families in predicting the risk of poverty.
