“I'll Give You the World”: Socioeconomic Differences in Parental Support of Adult Children

Abstract

Research has shown that parents with higher socioeconomic status provide more resources to their children during childhood and adolescence. The authors asked whether similar effects associated with parental socioeconomic position are extended to adult children. Middle-aged parents (N = 633) from the Family Exchanges Study reported support they provided to their grown children and coresidence with grown children (N = 1,384). Parents with higher income provided more emotional and material support to the average children. Grown children of parents with less education were more likely to coreside with them. Parental resources (e.g., being married) and demands (e.g., family size) explained these patterns. Of interest is that lower income parents provided more total support to all children (except total financial support). Lower income families may experience a double jeopardy; each grown child receives less support on average, but parents exert greater efforts providing more total support to all their children.

Parent-Child Relationships at the Transition to Adulthood: A Comparison of Black, Hispanic, and White Immigrant and Native-Born Youth

“…Of course, parents of all social classes expend resources to support their children. Although higher-income families provide greater material support to their young adult children, lower-income parents also provide substantial resources, at greater personal cost (Fingerman et al 2015; Furstenberg 2010). These transfers have significant repercussions both for inequality within generations and for the reproduction of inequality across generations.…”

Parental Assistance, Negative Life Events, and Attainment During the Transition to Adulthood

“…Those in the top income quartile receive nearly three times as much as those from the bottom quartile (Schoeni and Ross 2005). Such financial assistance has the potential to perpetuate inequality and cumulative advantage, as young people with more advantaged parents receive more money (Fingerman et al 2015; Padget and Remle 2015; Siennick 2011). …”

“…This study includes a variety of controls known to influence intergenerational support and/or attainment, including race, class of origin, and family size and structure (Aquilino 2005; Fingerman et al 2015; Ward and Spitze 2007). Additionally, we control for parent-child closeness because family solidarity affects both intergenerational giving and attainment (Bengtson et al 2002; Johnson and Benson 2012).…”

Problem‐Solving Orientations, Financial Self‐Efficacy, and Student‐Loan Repayment Stress

“…However, over the past few decades, a statistical shift has been developing, as more and more young adults have postponed these and other life goals, often until their late 20s or their 30s (Eliason, Mortimer, and Vuolo ; Piumatti et al ). In the United States, many young adults continue to rely on parents well into their third decade of life, not only for emotional but also for financial support (Fingerman et al ).…”