Transfers from Older Parents to Their Adult Children in Taiwan and the Philippines

This study examines the extent to which older parents provide material resources & services to their children in the Philippines & Taiwan, & the influence of coresidence on reported transfers between parents & their adult children. The data used in the analyses are from two nationally representative household surveys of persons aged 60 & older in the Philippines & Taiwan. Results show that almost half of older parents in the Philippines provide resources to non-coresident children & only 4% of older Taiwanese parents currently make such transfers. When transfers with coresident children are included, older parents show much greater involvement in family support: 69% & 14% of older parents in the Philippines & Taiwan, respectively, say they make transfers to children. The difference between the two measures diminishes with age, however, as overall levels of giving decline. Results from multivariate models show that while both measures are associated in similar ways with key factors such as age, health, gender, & economic resources, the association between living arrangements & intergenerational transfers varies across measures. These results suggest that older adults in these countries tend to exhibit a preference for transfers to the children with whom they live, & that coresidence with grandchildren may be an indirect transfer of services to non-coresident adult children.