Reciprocity in Relationships: Socio-Economic and Health Influences on Intergenerational Exchanges between Mature Parents and Their Adult Children in Great Britain

Emily Grundy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

In this paper data from a two-wave (1988 and 1994) nationally representative British data set are used to analyse exchanges of support between parents aged 55-75 and their adult children. I examine the influence of receipt of help from children on parents’ provision of help to children and socio economic, demographic and health differences in both provision and receipt of help. Results show that higher parental income was associated positively with helping children with money and with providing other kinds of help. Being a tenant, disability and older age were negatively associated with provision of help. Odds of receiving help from a child were raised among married tenants and were positively associated with parental disability and age. Provision of help was strongly associated with receipt of help, and vice versa, indicating a strong reciprocal element to intergenerational exchange.