Children’s Relative Living Proximity and Intergenerational Support to Older Parents in China

Abstract

Although research has recognized the influence of geographic proximity on intergenerational support in Chinese families, the effect of siblings’ geographic proximity remains unexplored. Guided by the within-family differences approach, this study uses data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study to examine how the relativity of children’s and their siblings’ geographic proximity is associated with children’s support to older parents and how the association differs by child gender. Results show that living relatively farther among siblings is associated with providing less economic support and have less contact with parents, but this negative effect is less prominent on sons’ economic support and daughters’ contact with parents. Having siblings living at the same distance also affects children’s support behaviors. The findings reveal that support responsibilities could be differentially distributed by children’s relative living proximity among siblings and indicate the importance of considering sibling influences when studying intergenerational support in Chinese families.