Expectations Regarding Reciprocity of Flows of Intergenerational Support in China: Does Gender or Birth Order Matter?

Abstract

This study investigates the flows of downward intergenerational transfer to adult children of different gender and birth order, and their influence on parental expectations towards old-age care and financial support, using data from the 2015–2016 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). Based on the analytic sample of 1218 parents and 3237 adult children, we found that in multi-child families, sons are more likely to be expected by their parents as future caregivers if both they and their siblings received parental housing support, while it is the case for daughters when only they themselves received parental housing support. Parents’ downward housing support shows a stronger effect on care expectations than on expectations of future financial support. This study contributes to our understanding of intergenerational transfer norms and expectations from parents’ perspective and has important implications for old-age care policies in contemporary China.