Characteristics and Determinants of Intergenerational Financial Transfers Within Families Using Mixed Care for Elderly People

• Published in: Društvena istraživanja 2018-01, Vol.27 (1), p.27-46
• Main Authors: Hlebec, Valentina, Filipovič Hrast, Maša
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult children; Analysis; Care and treatment; Caregivers; Demography and human biology; Elder care; Elderly; Elderly parents; Families & family life; Family and social welfare; Family relations; Finance; Home care; Home health care; Household size; Income; Intergenerational relationships; Intergenerational transmission; Law; Long term health care; Methods; Money transfer; Older people; Parents & parenting; Polls & surveys; Relatives; Social aspects; Socio-Economic Research; Welfare systems
• ISSN: 1330-0288; 1848-6096
• DOI: 10.5559/di.27.1.02

The provision of care to dependent elderly parents or parents-in-law is an important part of intergenerational exchange within families, especially in countries where the long-term care system is based predominantly on family care. However, in mixed-care networks, care tasks are shared between family members and formal carers. Additionally, adult children may need to financially help their parents, especially due to the financial burden that formal care places on the elderly. We used the Slovenian national survey of social home care users and their family members,collected in 2013, to observe the characteristics and determinants of intergenerational financial transfers in families that use mixed care, within dyads comprising a care recipient and a family caregiver. The findings show that there is a considerable proportion of financial exchange among the observed dyads. Furthermore, among the determinants, the income of the elderly person and amount of care received are important for financial flows upward (to the elderly parent) and downward (from the elderly parent). The concurrent flows differ; their main determinants are the carer's age, household size and education.