The proposed research will investigate intergenerational exchanges of support between grandparents and parents in families with children. Both intra-household and inter-household exchanges will be considered. Four dimensions of support include (1) monetary and material resources. (2) childcare, (3) household assistance, and (4) companionship and advice. The study will use data from the 1987/88 National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH), representative national sample of 13,017 adults, which includes a double sample of minorities, single-parent families, families with stepchildren, cohabiting couples, and recently married couples. The NSFH provides detailed information on kinship and social support networks. Data will be analyzed for two groups of respondents to the NSFH: (1) men or women who are parents and who coreside with one or more children aged 18 or younger, and (2) men or women who are grandparents (persons with one or more children aged 19 or older who are parents). For each group, three types of analyses will be performed. First, the study will describe the provision and receipt of support on each of the four dimensions, the total volume of support, and net support. Second, structural equation models will be estimated to identify demographic and socioeconomic differentials in each of these aspects of intergenerational exchange. Third, for the parents, a causal model of the exchange of support between the parents and grandparents is estimated. This model views the provision and receipt of support as reciprocally determined, and dependent upon (a) the needs of the parents and grandparents, (b) the socioeconomic resources of the NSFH respondents, and (c) facilitating factors. For the grandparents, the study will investigate how grandparents respond to multiple demands on their support (from their aging parents, their multiple children, in-laws, and stepchildren), under given resource constraints. At each stage of the analysis, the study will investigate differences in these exchange patterns by gender, ethnicity, and family structure.
