Intergenerational Analysis of the Donating Behaviour of Parents and their Offspring

Abstract

Using data drawn from the U.S. Panel Study of Income Dynamics, we explore the relationship between the donating behavior of parents and that of their children aged less than 18 which gives a direct insight into whether an intergenerational relationship in donating behavior exists. Furthermore, we exploit information relating to whether or not parents encourage their children to donate to charity by talking to them about donating to unveil information related to the intergenerational transmission of philanthropic behavior. Our findings suggest that an intergenerational correlation is only present in the absence of a control for whether the parent talks to the child about donating. The effect from the parent talking to their offspring is associated with an increased likelihood that the child donates by approximately 10 percentage points, a finding which is robust to a number of different estimation strategies.

Early influences on saving behaviour: Analysis of British panel data

“…13 There is recent evidence that parents talking to their offspring can have a direct influence on the child's financial behaviour. For example, the findings of Brown et al (2015) highlight the importance of verbal directives to children in the context of donations to charity. or stable financial outlooks, as compared to pessimistic financial expectations, are negatively associated with the probability that the child saves, with a magnitude of approximately 2 to 3 percentage points.…”

Getting into the ‘Giving Habit’: The Dynamics of Volunteering in the UK

“…Alternatively, persistence in behavior may be driven by personality traits and other stable characteristic behaviors or values that are not always readily observable to researchers (Brown et al 2015;Janoski and Wilson 1995). For instance, a higher tendency to volunteer has been found to be associated with altruistic values (Hodgkinson 2003), higher openness to experiences (Binder and Freytag 2013) and higher agreeableness (Carlo et al 2005).…”

“…That is: (1) 'spurious' state dependence-the trait behaviors of individuals which affect their volunteering behavior over the life-course and (2) 'true' state dependence-the causal influence of prior volunteering behavior on current behavior. The first source of persistent behavior suggests that sustained patterns of volunteering behavior originate from characteristic behaviors, values and personality traits that are established in pre-adult life and remain stable over the life-course (Brown et al 2015;Janoski and Wilson 1995;Janoski et al 1998). 2 The second source of persistent behavior-the causal influence of prior volunteering behavior on current behavior-is consistent with theories of social capital and the 'warm glow' hypothesis.…”

Development of Adolescents’ Values and Jewish Identities via Experiential Philanthropy Education

“…Parent behaviors in part account for giving by their children (Brown et al, 2012). Items measuring parent influence, measured by parents' telling respondents to give and about their own giving, as well as respondent knowledge of parent giving, were adapted from a study of the relationship between parent and adolescent child giving (Ottoni-Wilhelm et al, 2014).…”