@mastersthesis {6037, title = {Beyond Dyads: The effect of extended family resources and demands upon time and money transfers from adult children to parents}, year = {1997}, month = {1997}, school = {Duke University}, abstract = {Many studies of American families report a low prevalence of time and money transfers from middle-aged children to parents. Methodologically and conceptually, past research has been limited to examining single currency transfers to a sole parent from one adult child and to a focus on the characteristics of either the adult donor or the parent recipient. Such studies fail to account for the possibility of transfers to parents in other currencies. They also neglect the extent to which the extended family offers both resource options and competing demands upon the time and financial resources of middle-aged adults. The present dissertation uses data from the 1994 Health and Retirement study (HRS) to examine the determinants of financial, personal care, and household assistance transfers from adult children to parents. The HRS data provide a unique opportunity to model different types of transfers and to examine the middle-aged child{\textquoteright}s (1) resources (2) competing demands (3) sibling transfers to parents and (4) perception of parental need, and their effect on time and money transfers to parents. Rational- economic exchange theory is used to formulate a set of specific hypotheses on the impact of the preceding four resource factors on adult child-to-parent transfers of time and money. The findings with regard to the effect of the adult child{\textquoteright}s resources and parental need are consistent with a rational-economic theory of transfer behavior. However, the effect of sibling transfers is inconsistent with a rational-economic model of exchange because sibling transfers act to reinforce one another rather than cancel each other. Likewise, the effect of the middle-aged child{\textquoteright}s competing time and financial demands on transfers to parents suggests the relations among an adult child{\textquoteright}s time and financial transfer commitments may be complementary rather than competitive. Together, the latter findings suggest that in the american family child-to-parent transfer behavior is not wholly based on a system of rational-economic exchange but may also include elements of kin solidarity.}, keywords = {Adult children, Demographics}, url = {Database ID: DAI-A 58/12, p. 4826, Jun 1998}, author = {O{\textquoteright}Neill, Gregory Sean} }