THESIS
2021
1 online resource (ix, 52 pages) : illustrations (some color)
Abstract
Aging Chinese parents rely heavily on their adult children, but the causal effects of fertility
decline on intergenerational support are still unclear. This study mainly draws on the China
Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) in 2015 to analyze how the number of
children influences living arrangements, instrumental support, emotional support, and
financial support among Chinese families. I adopt the cohort-province-specific policy
treatment as the instrumental variable to identify the fertility decline induced by the One-Child Policy. The results reveal that both rural and urban elderly parents can receive more
instrumental and emotional support when they have fewer children. I argue that this is
because adult children with fewer siblings have stronger intergenerational tie...[
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Aging Chinese parents rely heavily on their adult children, but the causal effects of fertility
decline on intergenerational support are still unclear. This study mainly draws on the China
Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) in 2015 to analyze how the number of
children influences living arrangements, instrumental support, emotional support, and
financial support among Chinese families. I adopt the cohort-province-specific policy
treatment as the instrumental variable to identify the fertility decline induced by the One-Child Policy. The results reveal that both rural and urban elderly parents can receive more
instrumental and emotional support when they have fewer children. I argue that this is
because adult children with fewer siblings have stronger intergenerational ties, which is a
representation of the quantity–quality trade-off in the long run. However, in rural families, a
smaller number of children significantly reduces the probability of co-residence and the
amount of monetary support. My findings indicate that the impact of the number of children
on support for aging parents is complex, and that it depends on the kind of support and where
parents live.
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