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Discussion of: Marital Disruption, Step Children, and Transfers to the Elderly. Jennifer L. Troyer Departments of Economics and Health Behavior and Administration University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Purpose of Study.
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Discussion of:Marital Disruption, Step Children, and Transfers to the Elderly Jennifer L. Troyer Departments of Economics and Health Behavior and Administration University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Purpose of Study • To examine the effect of nontraditional family structures on adult children’s transfers to their disabled elderly parents. • Time • Cash • Living Arrangements • Limited study to children of parents who are disabled and widowed or divorced/separated (unpartnered).
Effect of Marital Disruption and Step Children on Bio Child/Parent Bond • Marital Disruption • Divorce (Separation) • Effect depends on gender of parent? • Remarriage • Step Children (conditional upon remarriage) • How is a step child defined? Does the step child still get counted if there is a divorce?
Effect of Marital Disruption and Step Children on Bio Child/Parent Bond • Is it useful to think about divorce/separation vs. widowhood and remarriage simultaneously? • Widowed and never remarried • Divorced and never remarried • Widowed and remarried ever • Divorced and remarried ever
Family Type Construction • Family type • Only child • Step child or bio child • Child with siblings • Could be no step children • Implies bio siblings • Could be step children • Could be bio siblings and/or step siblings • Four variables for Child with Siblings • Index Child is Step Child • Parent has other Step Children • Parent has other Bio Children • Bio Child*Parent has Step Child
Models and Results • Models – separate models for only children and children with any siblings • Bivariate probit for time and cash • Do widowhood and divorce have the same impact on financial “need”? • Multinomial probit for living arrangement • Positive correlation between time and cash transfers – also parent lives with index child? • In only child model, would divorce and only child being a bio child be very highly correlated? • Table 4 (simulated probabilities) for remarried or divorced and not just step children?