Sibling Influence on Care Given by Children to Older Parents

Abstract

This study examines the degree to which siblings' behaviors and characteristics influence a child's caregiving. A sample of 186 older parents in need of care with at least two adult children reported on characteristics and caregiving of all their children (N = 703). Multilevel regression models show that there is evidence of children's joint caregiving efforts: The more care siblings give, the more care the child gives. Results demonstrate that the more sisters a child has, the less care that child gives. Children also substitute and support each other: The greater the number of siblings with partners and the lower the frequency of sibling emotional support exchanges with a parent, the more care the child gives. The study reflects the various outcomes of sibling solidarity when older parents become dependent.

Sibling structure, distributive norms, and negotiation for mothers-in-law's assistance in rural South China

“…While the above analysis goes beyond the parent-dyad by examining intergenerational transfers in a network family context (Cong & Silverstein, 2011a;Davey et al, 2004;Leopold & Raab, 2013;Tolkacheva et al, 2010;Van Gaalen et al, 2008), it furthers the literature on within-family differences by incorporating daughters-in-law in the analysis, and thus demonstrates the significance of the lineage factor (Cong & Silverstein, 2008a, 2008bWillson et al, 2003). Because childcare and household tasks are mostly gender specific, daughters-in-law play an active and crucial role in the negotiation for a mother's support, particularly in patrilocal and patriarchal societies (Walker, 2009;Wenger, 2009).…”

“…Recent studies have highlighted the importance of examining intergenerational exchanges within the larger family context (Bengtson, 2001;Cong & Silverstein, 2011a;Davey et al, 2004;Eggebeen, 1992;Leopold & Raab, 2013;Tolkacheva et al, 2010;Van Gaalen et al, 2008). They have called for an examination of within-family differences and variations in parents' giving among children, i.e., the exchange between the parents and each child in a family rather than the children as an aggregate (Silverstein & Giarrusso, 2010;Suitor, Pillemer, & Sechrist, 2006).…”

“…First, since these studies mostly focus on time-for-money transfers between two generations of family members, few studies have instrumental help or caring labor as the focus of study or as distinctive categories of analysis, 1 nor do they differentiate between childcare and other types of household help. Second, the majority of such studies have used quantitative research methods and thus have tended to infer the negotiations among parents and adult children and the underlying social norms governing the negotiations (Cong & Silverstein, 2011a;Leopold & Raab, 2013;Spitze et al, 2012;Tolkacheva et al, 2010;Walker, Allen, & Connidis, 2005) rather than to examine the bargaining process directly. A few exceptions that have examined sibling negotiations of shared responsibility in elder care have highlighted the fairness principle as the dominant distributive norm among sons and daughters (Ingersoll-Dayton, Neal, Ha, & Leslie, 2003;Matthews, 2002;Yang, 1996;Zhang & Wang, 2010).…”

“…The literature on parent-toadult child relations and grandparenting has long examined parental caregiving as an instrumental or practical component of intergenerational transfers or exchange (Soldo & Hill, 1993). The latest development in intergenerational transfer studies moves beyond the parent-child dyad to examine the issue from the extended family network perspective (Cong & Silverstein, 2011a;Davey, Janke, & Savla, 2004;Eggebeen, 1992;Leopold & Raab, 2013;Tolkacheva, van Groenou, & van Tilburg, 2010;Van Gaalen, Dykstra, & Flap, 2008), paying attention to the lineage factor by considering daughters and in-laws as providers of elder care and family support (Cong & Silverstein, 2008a, 2008bWillson, Shuey, & Elder, 2003).…”

Who Supports Whom? Gender and Intergenerational Transfers in Post-Industrial Barbados

“…Furthermore, children's provision of support tends to decrease if they have more available sisters (Wolf et al 1997;Tolkacheva et al 2010). This is not to say that sons do not provide such support but that their provision of support is significantly dependent on the availability of a female sibling.…”