Parents' socioeconomic status and support to adult children across the life course

Objective

This paper examines how parents' socioeconomic status (SES) affects the support parents give to children and how parents' SES moderates changes in support across children's life courses.

Background

Many studies have documented effects of parents' SES on support to adult children, as well as effects of children's life course stages on received support, but few studies have examined how these two factors interact. A dynamic perspective on the social stratification of support can provide new clues about how parents transmit advantages across generations.

Method

Using prospective panel data on 10,822 parent–child dyads in the Netherlands from 2003 to 2015 and random and fixed effects models, this paper examines life course changes in the financial, practical, and informational support adult children (aged 18–59) receive from parents.

Results

Positive effects of parents' SES were found on informational and financial support, but there were no main effects on practical support. Informational support declined with age but later in higher-SES families. Support declined after union formation and similarly for higher- and lower-SES families. The increase in practical support when children became parents and single parents was stronger in higher-SES families than in lower-SES families. Stratification of financial support was stronger in early adulthood and increased again later in children's lives.

Conclusion

There was evidence for a prolonged support pattern among higher-SES families, combined with stronger effects of children's parenthood transitions in such families. Parents' SES affects support streams to adult children, but effects depend on the type of support and children's stage in the life course.