ABSTRACT
The lengthening of life expectancy and the ageing of the population in France and more generally in Europe can be seen as an essential motor of the changes in the family over recent decades, especially in the relationships among its generations. This chapter analyses the dynamics of these relations of familial mutual assistance in terms of financial transfers and material services. It shows that some periods of the life cycle are more conducive to supplying assistance than receiving it, and that in spite of their low frequency, familial exchanges consecrate the predominance of the link of direct filiation (parents-children).
