Financial Assistance to Aging Parents and Mental Well-Being Among Adult Children

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Abstract

OBJECTIVE: This article examines the relationship between financial assistance to aging parents and the mental health of adult children.
BACKGROUND: Americans are living longer, and an increasing number are relying on family for informal care and financial assistance. While numerous studies find a negative relationship of informal care on mental well-being, there is limited empirical evidence on the role of financial transfers on the mental health of the child.
METHOD: Using fixed effects models on data from the Health and Retirement Study from 1998-2016 (n=9,051) we assessed the relationship of financial transfers from an adult child to an older parent and depressive symptoms of the child. We also investigated if the financial caregiver role and depressive symptoms relationship varied by race and ethnicity of the adult child.
RESULTS: We find that adult children who provided any financial assistance reported greater depressive symptoms. After adjusting for basic needs care, which was also positively associated with depressive symptoms, the financial transfer and mental health relationship was attenuated. We also find that the association between providing financial assistance and depressive symptoms only held for white respondents.

Authors

• Fenaba Addo, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

• Xing Zhang, Arizona State University-Downtown Phoenix