Intergenerational Exchange Patterns and Their Correlates in an Aging Israeli Cohort

Based on data from a national sample of people age 60 and older in Israel, this analysis addressed intergenerational exchange among Jewish respondents with children. Data on financial and instrumental help given to children and received from them allowed identification of four exchange patterns: an equal extent of exchange between parents and children, an unbalanced rate of exchange in which parents received more from their children than they gave, an unbalanced rate of exchange in which parents gave more to their children than they received, and lack of any exchange. Multinomial logistic regression analysis underscored the association of different social and health correlates across the different patterns of familial transfer (Nagelkerke pseudo R ²= .43). The findings also suggest the possibility that exchange patterns change across the life cycle, in accordance with the changing social and health status of the family members engaged in the exchange.