Changes in Financial and Time Transfers With Parents Over 25 Years: Evidence From the 1988 and 2013 PSID

Emily Wiemers, University of Massachusetts Boston
Sung S. Park , University of California, Los Angeles
Judith A. Seltzer, University of California, Los Angeles
V. Joseph Hotz, Duke University
Robert Schoeni, University of Michigan
Heeju Sohn, University of California, Los Angeles

In this paper, we use data on family relationships and transfers for households in the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) in the 1988 Time and Money Transfer Module and in the 2013 Roster and Transfers Module to examine changes over the 25-year period in financial and time transfers between adult children and their parents. We begin with a basic description of the financial and time transfers that PSID families engage in with their parents in each year and of the changes over time in family structure including the decline in parental mortality, the decline in family size, and the increase in the prevalence of stepparents. We then use a decomposition model to estimate the extent to which changes in the incidence and amount of transfers over time are a result of changes in family structure, or changes in the relationship between family structure and transfer behavior.

See paper

 Presented in Session 137. Families and Aging