Family dynamics have become more complex and differentiated over time, generating a new context of family relationships and support structures. At the same time, individuals increasingly rely on family support. Shared values and interpersonal relationships play an important role for intergenerational exchange, but the provision of support is ultimately contingent on individual needs and resources available to exchange. Therefore, the question arises about how events altering individual needs and resources may in turn have negative implications for individual’s well-being over the life course.

In a new study, we draw from rich panel data from Germany to investigate the role of one such event, parental separation, for support exchanges between parents and adult children.

We looked at 4,340 German adults who participated in in-depth surveys conducted every other year between 2009 and 2016, which explored the extent to which parents and children gave and received support to each other. We focused on the interdependencies across multiple dimensions of support. Specifically, we looked at three types of support: emotional support, which includes things like personal advice; material support, which refers to things like financial support and gifts; and instrumental support, which includes things like helping out around the house, babysitting and eldercare. As intergenerational support is a bidirectional transfer process, in which parents support their children and children support their parents when parents get older, we examined both directions of support: from parents to children (downward) and from children to parents (upward). Furthermore, we considered mothers and fathers as separate but interdependent sources and recipients of support.

Our results suggest that the effects of parental separation, which affect the resources and well-being of parents and children, as well as their relationships, extend to their ability and opportunities of exchanging support. We find evidence of interdependence across several dimensions. Both upward and downward support are lower when parents did not separate for most dimensions and directions of support. The only exchanges which do not differ for children of separated and non-separated families are emotional support exchanges with mothers in both directions, and material support to mothers.

Differences emerge for support exchanges with mothers vs fathers, with separation being less disruptive of support exchanges between adult children and mothers, which may relate to their kinkeeper role during marriage, longer co-residence with children after separation, and lower likelihood to remarry and establish a new family.

Education makes a significant difference for mothers, but not for fathers. More educated mothers are better able they are to provide material support to their children after separation, suggesting that the socio-economic position of mothers buffers some of the negative consequences of union dissolution for intergenerational relations.  

Parental separation in childhood is associated with lower support exchanges with fathers, but not with mothers. This result aligns with those of studies showing that parental separations earlier in life are negatively associated with intergenerational contact than parental separations later in life, particularly with fathers.

Overall, our study shows that children in separated families are at a disadvantage not only as kids but also as adults, highlighting the social challenge and the need to provide additional support for separated families.

The fact that separation is associated with lower intergenerational assistance across a range of support dimensions and flows contributes to increasing disadvantage for those already disadvantaged. As the family plays an increasing role as safety net, lower intergenerational assistance among families who experienced separation may translate in increasing disadvantage for those who traditionally were in disadvantage. Individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds are far more likely to be exposed to parental separation, suggesting that a gap exists for non-intact families between support exchange and need of support, which might have significant implications for how family dynamics contribute to the reproduction of social inequalities.

We welcome research to expand on our findings by addressing what explains the associations we documented between parental separation and intergenerational support. Among other factors, it would be interesting to investigate the role of resources related for example to employment status, financial situation, as well as health; family structures, such as presence of (step-) siblings or parental remarriage; and relationship quality, such as emotional closeness or frequency of contact.

Anna Manzoni is Associate Professor of Sociology at North Carolina State University (USA). Current research interests include youth transition to adulthood, intergenerational support, inequalities in college access and returns and social mobility more broadly. Her work has been published in  Advances in Life Course Research, Journal of Family Research, Journal of Youth and Adolescence, Journal of Higher Education, PLOS one, Research in Higher Education, Social Forces, Sociological Methodology, among other journals. Follow them on Twitter @theitalianna