Should parents financially support their adult children? Normative views in Australia

Authors/Creators

Deirdre Drake, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
Justine Dandy, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
Jennifer M. I. Loh, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow
David Preece, Edith Cowan UniversityFollow

Abstract

Social welfare policies generally assume that parents remain responsible for adult children. Recent social changes in industrialized nations, however, have rendered family obligation norms more complex. We examined 300 Australians’ norms concerning parents’ obligations to sup- port adult children financially. Utilizing a quasi-experimen- tal design, we investigated the extent to which respondents agreed that parents should support adult children, and the influence of situational factors. More respondents were in favor of assisting adult children than against, but there was no consensus as to what parents should do. Respondents generally agreed on factors that should be considered, then attempted to balance parental responsibility norms with adult independence norms. Parental help was more strongly endorsed when need was considered legitimate, and when the adult child was younger. Implications for Australian social policy are discussed.

RAS ID

25637

Document Type

Journal Article

Date of Publication

2017

School

School of Arts and Humanities

Copyright

subscription content

Publisher

Springer International Publishing

Comments

Drake, D., Dandy, J., Loh, J. M., & Preece, D. (2017). Should parents financially support their adult children? Normative views in Australia. Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 39(2), 348-359. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-017-9558-z

Recommended Citation

Drake, D., Dandy, J., Loh, J., & Preece, D. (2017). Should parents financially support their adult children? Normative views in Australia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-017-9558-z