TY - JOUR
T1 - Grandparents' financial contributions to grandchildren in Rural China
T2 - The role of remittances, household structure, and patrilineal culture
AU - Silverstein, Merril
AU - Zhang, Wencheng
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by the Fogarty International Center of the National Institutes of Health (R03 TW01060), the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and the US–China Institute of the University of Southern California.
Funding Information:
This research was supported by the Fogarty International Center of the National Institutes of Health (R03 TW01060), the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and the US-China Institute of the University of Southern California.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 The Author(s).
PY - 2020/4/16
Y1 - 2020/4/16
N2 - Objectives: This investigation examined predictors of monetary transfers made by grandparents for the benefit of their grandchildren in rural China. Predictors included family factors related to financial supply (remittances received from the parents of grandchildren), household demand (living in a skipped-generation household), and patrilineal culture (targeting sons and grandsons). Method: The 2015 wave of the Longitudinal Study of Older Adults in Anhui Province was used to study financial transfers made by 831 grandparents to grandchildren in the families of 1,633 parents. Two-part random-effects regression was used to predict whether a transfer was made and the value of transfers, given that one occurred. Results: Grandparents provided higher value transfers to grandchildren whose parents provided greater remittances and with whom they coresided in skipped-generation households. The likelihood of making a transfer fully followed the male lineage, and was greatest to grandson-only families in which parents were first-born sons. Discussion: Results show that economic, household, and cultural factors are independently associated with the largesse of grandparents. We conclude that grandparents' economic contributions to grandchildren in rural China are shaped by family demands in a highly mobile society, intergenerational interdependence, and a persistent patrilineal gender system that reaches to the level of grandchildren.
AB - Objectives: This investigation examined predictors of monetary transfers made by grandparents for the benefit of their grandchildren in rural China. Predictors included family factors related to financial supply (remittances received from the parents of grandchildren), household demand (living in a skipped-generation household), and patrilineal culture (targeting sons and grandsons). Method: The 2015 wave of the Longitudinal Study of Older Adults in Anhui Province was used to study financial transfers made by 831 grandparents to grandchildren in the families of 1,633 parents. Two-part random-effects regression was used to predict whether a transfer was made and the value of transfers, given that one occurred. Results: Grandparents provided higher value transfers to grandchildren whose parents provided greater remittances and with whom they coresided in skipped-generation households. The likelihood of making a transfer fully followed the male lineage, and was greatest to grandson-only families in which parents were first-born sons. Discussion: Results show that economic, household, and cultural factors are independently associated with the largesse of grandparents. We conclude that grandparents' economic contributions to grandchildren in rural China are shaped by family demands in a highly mobile society, intergenerational interdependence, and a persistent patrilineal gender system that reaches to the level of grandchildren.
KW - China
KW - Financial transfers
KW - Gender
KW - Grandparents
KW - Intergenerational
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U2 - 10.1093/geronb/gbz009
DO - 10.1093/geronb/gbz009
M3 - Article
C2 - 30698810
AN - SCOPUS:85083478507
SN - 1079-5014
VL - 75
SP - 1042
EP - 1052
JO - Journals of Gerontology - Series B Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences
JF - Journals of Gerontology - Series B Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences
IS - 5
ER -