Proximity and Intergenerational Exchange: New Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study

Christine A. Mair, North Carolina State University

Geographic distance between older adults and their children constitutes an opportunity structure that can either facilitate or restrain intergenerational exchange. This study asks three research questions: 1) To what extent does geographic distance affect the exchange of financial and time-based resources between parents and their children?; 2) Does a change in proximity lead to an altered level of intergenerational exchange?; 3) What are the effects of family context and parents’ individual characteristics in this process? Utilizing newly available public data on the proximity between children and parents in the 2004, 2006, and 2008 waves the Health and Retirement Study, we examine how geographic distance between generations may affect intergenerational exchange of monetary loans and caregiving time. We find that the effect of proximity varies by type and direction of transfer. In addition, family context and individual characteristics are important predictors that reflect parent and child need as well as resource availability.