Working Paper: NBER ID: w14328
Authors: Liliana E. Pezzin; Robert A. Pollak; Barbara S. Schone
Abstract: Do adult children affect the care elderly parents provide each other? We develop two models in which the anticipated behavior of adult children provides incentives for elderly parents to increase care for their disabled spouses. The "demonstration effect" postulates that adult children learn from a parent's example that family caregiving is appropriate behavior. The "punishment effect" postulates that adult children may punish parents who fail to provide spousal care by not providing future care for the nondisabled spouse when necessary. Thus, joint children act as a commitment mechanism, increasing the probability that elderly spouses will provide care for each other; stepchildren with weak attachments to their parents provide weaker incentives for spousal care than joint children. Using data from the HRS, we find evidence that spouses provide more care when they have children with strong parental attachment.
Keywords: long-term care; disabled elderly; caregiving; family dynamics
JEL Codes: D1; J1; J2
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Adult children influence the caregiving behavior of elderly spouses through the demonstration effect (D13) | Nondisabled spouse provides more care to model appropriate behavior for children (J12) |
| Nondisabled spouse fails to provide care for disabled spouse (J12) | Children retaliate by not providing care for nondisabled spouse in the future (J12) |
| Presence of children increases the intensity of caregiving (J13) | Spouses provide more care when they have children with strong parental attachment (J12) |
| Stepchildren with weak attachments provide less incentive for spousal care than joint children (J12) | Joint children provide more incentive for spousal care (J13) |