Transfers from Older Parents to Their Adult Children in Taiwan and the Philippines

Abstract

This study examines the extent to which olderparents provide material resources and servicesto their children in the Philippines andTaiwan, and the influence of coresidence onreported transfers between parents and theiradult children. The data used in the analysesare from two nationally representativehousehold surveys of persons aged 60 and olderin the Philippines and Taiwan. Results showthat almost half of older parents in thePhilippines provide resources to non-coresidentchildren and only 4 percent of older Taiwaneseparents currently make such transfers. Whentransfers with coresident children areincluded, older parents show much greaterinvolvement in family support: 69 and 14percent of older parents in the Philippines andTaiwan, respectively, say they make transfersto children. The difference between the twomeasures diminishes with age, however, asoverall levels of giving decline. Results frommultivariate models show that while bothmeasures are associated in similar ways withkey factors such as age, health, gender, andeconomic resources, the association betweenliving arrangements and intergenerationaltransfers varies across measures. Theseresults suggest that older adults' in thesecountries tend to exhibit a preference fortransfers to the children with whom they live,and that coresidence with grandchildren may bean indirect transfer of services tonon-coresident adult children.