Long-Term Care of the Disabled Elderly: Do Children Increase Caregiving by Spouses?

Liliana E. Pezzin, Robert Pollak and Barbara S. Schone

No 14328, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Do adult children affect the care elderly parents provide each other? We develop two models in which the anticipated behavior of adult children provides incentives for elderly parents to increase care for their disabled spouses. The "demonstration effect" postulates that adult children learn from a parent's example that family caregiving is appropriate behavior. The "punishment effect" postulates that adult children may punish parents who fail to provide spousal care by not providing future care for the nondisabled spouse when necessary. Thus, joint children act as a commitment mechanism, increasing the probability that elderly spouses will provide care for each other; stepchildren with weak attachments to their parents provide weaker incentives for spousal care than joint children. Using data from the HRS, we find evidence that spouses provide more care when they have children with strong parental attachment.

JEL-codes: D1 J1 J2 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-age and nep-hea
Note: LS
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Published as Liliana Pezzin & Robert Pollak & Barbara Schone, 2009. "Long-term care of the disabled elderly: do children increase caregiving by spouses?," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 7(3), pages 323-339, September.

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Journal Article: Long-term care of the disabled elderly: do children increase caregiving by spouses? (2009)
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