Parental Assistance to Grown Children

The December issue of Journal of Marriage and Family includes an article by Karen Fingerman and colleagues entitled "Giving to the Good and the Needy: Parental Support of Grown Children" (abstract, press release from Purdue University). The theme of today's young people receiving greater assistance and for longer periods of time than their counterparts from previous generations is not new. What's interesting about this new article is that the greatest amount of parental aid (emotional as well as material) flowed not just to children having the most trouble making the transition to adulthood, but also to the most successful ones. The authors suggested that parents may assist successful children to bask in the latter's achievements (and their own childrearing) or to sew the seeds for the child to assist the parents in their old age.