Child-to-parent intergenerational support and its association with subjective well-being among older adults: A cross-national comparison of American and Korean parents

Rapid population aging in the United States and South Korea has implications for intergenerational relationships and support between adult children and older parents. However, given the two countries’ different cultural and social norms and economic development, older adults’ perceptions and experiences of intergenerational support may differ. This study utilizes data from the 2018 wave of the Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study and the Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing to examine the relationship between intergenerational support from children to parents and the subjective well-being of older American and Korean parents. Employing the Probit model, our findings reveal significant and positive associations between receiving emotional support from adult children and the well-being of older parents in both countries. However, receiving financial transfers from adult children is negatively associated with the subjective well-being of older American parents, while this association is positive but not statistically significant among older Korean parents. Furthermore, we explored specific subgroups and found that child-to-parent emotional contact significantly contributes to the subjective well-being of fathers, individuals not living with their children, and parents in higher income percentiles. In contrast, receiving financial transfers from adult children plays a significantly positive role in the well-being of older Korean mothers and parents in lower income percentiles. These results highlight the importance of developing interventions tailored to specific countries and groups and effectively addressing the unique needs and challenges older adults face in diverse cultural and socioeconomic contexts.