ABSTRACT
The continuing relationship between adult children and their parents, once the former have left home, is likely to affect both children’s and parents’ welfare. Their well-being may, for instance, be enhanced if they keep in contact with one another and receive help from each other. This chapter analyses how help and contact between generations varies with the socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of the two generations, and it uses this analysis to shed light on the validity of a number of theories of intergenerational family relations, including altruism, exchange, reciprocity, gender and evolutionary theories. It also considers how these relations contribute to inequality across individuals and between generations. In particular, do those with more economic resources also benefi t from more contact and help, or do more contact and help compensate for lower levels of economic resources?
