Short-term reciprocity between adult children and parents: A within-person investigation of longitudinal data

Although reciprocity of intergenerational support has been widely considered in family studies, empirical investigations utilizing panel data are still rather scarce. This study used data from four waves of the German Family Panel (pairfam), which were collected in two-year intervals between 2009 and 2016. We examined whether the frequency of received support from parents previously is associated with the frequency of provided support to parents later. Multiple forms of support were considered that may be used as currencies of intergenerational exchange (i.e., one could be exchanged for another): emotional support, practical help, financial aid and personal care. Our analyses used multilevel regression models and investigated both between- and within-person effects. Between-person effects indicated mainly positive associations between different forms of received and provided support. However, these associations were confirmed by only a few of the within-person effects, which examined individuals’ variations over time. According to within-person effects, an increase in the frequency of emotional support that a son received from a parent was positively associated with subsequent provision of financial support for that parent. Additionally, an increase in the frequency of practical help that daughters received from their fathers was positively associated with subsequent provision of financial aid to their fathers. The magnitude of these positive within-person effects was smaller compared to the between-person effects. Within-person effects did not provide further evidence for causal intergenerational reciprocity within the investigated time period.