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The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences logoLink to The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences
. 2024 Mar 26;79(6):gbae038. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbae038

Mother–Child Closeness and Adult Children’s Time and Financial Assistance

I-Fen Lin 1,✉, Anna M Hammersmith 2
Editor: Zhen Cong
PMCID: PMC11101760  PMID: 38530870

Abstract

Objectives

Drawing on the intergenerational solidarity framework and life course perspective, the authors assessed how mother-child closeness across different life stages is associated with adult children’s time and financial assistance to mothers in later life.

Methods

Using children’s reports of their perceived closeness to mothers from Waves 1 to 4 of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) and mothers’ reports about adult children’s time and financial assistance from Wave 2 of the Add Health Parent Study (AHPS) in the United States, the authors investigated how mother-child closeness during adolescence, emerging adulthood, and young adulthood is related to midlife adult children’s support with a focus on difference between mother-daughter (N = 934) and mother-son (N = 899) dyads.

Results

Closeness during young adulthood was an important determinant of adult children’s time assistance to their mothers, regardless of child’s gender. Daughters’ closeness with mothers during young adulthood also had a direct association with their financial support to mothers but not sons’. In contrast, sons’ perceived closeness during emerging adulthood had a direct association with their financial support later in life. Closeness during adolescence had no direct association with later-life transfers of time or money but had an indirect association through its influence on mother-child relationships at subsequent life stages.

Discussion

Mother-child closeness is a continuously evolving process. Although mother-child bond formed during adolescence has no direct influence on help to mothers later in life, it shapes the progression of mother-child interactions over time that eventuates in support.

Keywords: Adolescence, Emerging adulthood, Gender, Upward transfers, Young adulthood

Women tend to outlive men by nearly 6 years on average (U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2022). Women also tend to marry men older than themselves, which means that women are more likely than men to be single and need support from adult children in the form of money and time in old age (Ausubel, 2020). According to the intergenerational solidarity framework, a key factor that determines adult children’s provision of support to mothers is the quality of their relationships (Kim et al., 2012; Rossi & Rossi, 1990). Adult children are more likely to help mothers when their relationships are closer. However, mother-child relationships are not static and can change across different life stages (Doty & Mortimer, 2018; Lindell & Campione-Barr, 2017). Prior research on adult children’s support of their mothers often examines mother-child relationships at one point in time (e.g., Cheng et al., 2013; Lin & Wu, 2019; Whitbeck et al., 1994). None has considered how mother-child relationships across multiple life stages influence adult children’s support behavior. If it is the relationship in early-life stages that is more important, changes in mother-child relationships later in life may have little consequence for adult children’s helping behavior. In contrast, if it is the relationship at a later life stage that is more important, improving mother-child relationships in later life may increase adult children’s provision of support, subsequently enhancing mothers’ well-being.

In this study, we use nationally representative data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) and Add Health Parent Study (AHPS) that prospectively track mother-child closeness during adolescence (Add Health Waves 1 and 2), emerging adulthood (Add Health Wave 3), and young adulthood (Add Health Wave 4) to conceptualize the continuous process of relationship quality and examine whether mother-child closeness at certain life stages is more related to midlife adult children’s provision of time and financial assistance to their mothers (AHPS Wave 2). Because daughters tend to form closer bonds with their mothers than do sons (Fingerman et al., 2020; Rossi & Rossi, 1990), we also examine gender differences. This study adds to the literature by exploring how mother-child relationships evolve across different life stages and shape adult children’s helping behavior, paying close attention to differences between daughters versus sons.

Background

Intergenerational Solidarity

Intergenerational solidarity framework is commonly used to understand interactions across generations over the adult life course (Bengston & Roberts, 1991; Roberts & Bengston, 1990). Intergenerational solidarity describes family relationships as multidimensional, defined by six distinct but overlapping dimensions of solidarity. Two of these dimensions—affectual solidarity and functional solidarity—are particularly germane to this study. Affectual solidarity describes feelings of closeness across generations, whereas functional solidarity depicts transfers of time and money from one generation to another (Bengston & Roberts, 1991; Roberts & Bengston, 1990).

Intergenerational closeness (affectual solidarity) is a key motivator for the provision of instrumental and financial support between generations (functional solidarity; Rossi & Rossi, 1990), often superseding other dimensions of family cohesion including frequency of contact, shared values, geographic distance, and filial obligations (Cicirelli, 1993; Kim et al., 2012). In fact, recent work has found that transfers of support are likely to occur in intergenerational ties characterized by strong attachment, positive sentiments, and feelings of closeness (Cheng et al., 2013; Cicirelli, 1993; Parrott & Bengston, 1999; Silverstein et al., 2002; Whitbeck et al., 1991, 1994).

Mother-Child Closeness During Adolescence, Emerging Adulthood, and Young Adulthood

Intergenerational closeness may fluctuate across different life stages, making the life course perspective well suited to understand how parent-child relationships unfold from adolescence through young adulthood (Elder, 1998; Silverstein et al., 2002). Mother-child closeness tends to wane as children transition into adolescence because one of the developmental tasks for adolescents is to differentiate themselves from parents in an effort to establish their own identity (Lindell & Campione-Barr, 2017; Shanahan et al., 2007; Tsai et al., 2013).

Emerging adulthood (Arnett, 2007) is a life stage that is distinct from adolescence and young adulthood. During emerging adulthood, children begin to pursue adult roles, including secondary education, full-time employment, partnership, as well as residential independence. This is especially true as adult children move away from home and begin to view their relationships with parents through a lens of egalitarianism (Shanahan et al., 2007; Tsai et al., 2013). Children during emerging adulthood continue to receive support from their parents, which can increase positive sentiments between generations (Bucx et al., 2012; Fingerman, 2017). Indeed, Tsai and colleagues (2013) found that closeness between parents and children rebounds following adolescence and into emerging adulthood.

As children enter young adulthood, parent-child relationships gradually stabilize (Doty & Mortimer, 2018; Hwang et al., 2023), often characterized by low levels of conflict and high levels of affection, which suggest closer ties (Fang et al., 2021; Tsai et al., 2013). Yet, some research suggests parent-child ties may also weaken as children continue to work toward achievement of key markers of adulthood, making them less reliant on parents (Bucx & van Wel, 2008). By using a life course perspective, we evaluate whether and how closeness at certain life stages (e.g., adolescence, emerging adulthood, and young adulthood) is associated with midlife adult children’s provision of time and financial assistance to their mothers.

Mother-Child Closeness and Adult Children’s Support

Prior research has consistently shown that parent-child closeness is vital in determining adult children’s time and financial help (Carpenter, 2001; Cheng et al., 2013; Cicirelli, 1993; Kong & Moorman, 2016; Lin & Wu, 2019; Parrott & Bengtson, 1999; Silverstein et al., 1995; Whitbeck et al., 1994), but these studies often examine only one point in time and thus it is unclear at what stages of children’s lives parent-child relationships play a significant role.

For instance, using data from the Family Exchanges Study, Cheng and colleagues (2013) found that adult children aged 18–30 who had better relationships with their parents provided more instrumental and financial support. Because parent-child relationships and transfers were measured concurrently in this study, it is unclear whether parent-child relationship quality at ages 18–30 would have a lasting effect when parents’ care needs increase in old age. Similarly, two additional studies (Carpenter, 2001; Cicirelli, 1993) showed that midlife adult children’s attachment to their mothers was positively associated with the amount of help given to the mothers. Because these two studies also were based on concurrent measures of relationships and transfers, it is plausible that the relationships are the consequences rather than antecedents of transfers.

Another body of work uses longitudinal data to establish a temporal order in the association between parent-child closeness and adult children’s support behavior. Whitbeck and colleagues (1994) used a White sample from Iowa rural communities and found that parent-child relationship quality was associated with middle-aged adult children’s instrumental support to their mothers 2 weeks later. Using panel data from the Longitudinal Study of Generations, Parrott and Bengtson (1999) showed that parent-child affection when adult children were in midlife was positively associated with adult children’s financial support to their mothers 3 years later, but affection did not seem to influence instrumental support. With the same data source, Silverstein and colleagues (1995) found that greater affection with mothers during midlife was related to an increase in social support 6 years later. Although these studies provide a temporal order of parent-child relationships and transfers, parent-child relationships were measured only 2 weeks to 6 years prior to the timing of transfers.

Some studies delve earlier in the life course to examine how parent-child relationships earlier in the life course shape adult children’s time and financial support to their mothers at old ages. Using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, Lin and Wu (2019) found that adult children who felt close to their mothers during childhood had a direct, positive association with time help to their unpartnered mothers. However, parent-child closeness during childhood had no association with financial support in later life. In another study, Kong and Moorman (2016) using data from the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States showed that childhood abuse was significantly associated with less emotional support given to mothers later in life, but childhood abuse was unrelated to instrumental support. These studies advance prior research by examining characteristics of early-life parent-child relationships, but they rely on respondents’ retrospective reports, which could be biased by their current support of parents (or lack thereof).

All of the studies discussed above examine parent-child relationships only at one particular life stage (e.g., childhood, emerging adulthood, or young adulthood). However, parent-child relationships earlier in the life course may affect parent-child relationships well into adulthood, which in turn influence adult children’s assistance to their aging parents (Whitbeck et al., 1991). Thus, it is important to investigate which life stage of mother-child closeness has a greater direct association with adult children’s helping behavior in later life and whether mother-child closeness at an earlier life stage has an indirect association with adult children’s helping behavior through its influence on mother-child closeness at the subsequent life stage (Silverstein et al., 1995, p. 474). To the best of our knowledge, no study has incorporated parent-child relationships across different life stages to examine both the direct and indirect associations of how parent-child relationships across different life stages are linked to time and financial assistance that mothers receive from their adult children later in life.

Variation by Child’s Gender

It is well documented in the caregiving literature that daughters are more likely than sons to provide support to their parents (e.g., Grigoryeva, 2017; Leopold et al., 2014). This occurs partly because of gender norms in which women are expected to be a caregiver and men to be a provider (Shu & Meagher, 2018). Thus, daughters are more responsive to parental needs than sons, even after accounting for their differential attachments to labor force participation and various job characteristics (Sarkisian & Gerstel, 2004). Compared with sons, daughters also tend to feel a stronger obligation to care for parents in need and are more likely to experience feelings of guilt if they do not live up to these expectations (Matthews, 2002). Moreover, there is a same-gender preference in caregiving (Lee et al., 1993). Mothers may resist care from their adult sons, or adult sons may feel uncomfortable providing personal care to their mothers (Matthews, 2002; Szinovacz, 2007).

Daughters and sons also differ in their relationships with their mothers. Mothers and daughters are more invested in maintaining intergenerational ties as they share stronger emotional bonds with one another (Fingerman et al., 2020; Hämäläinen & Tanskanen, 2021). In fact, mother-daughter relationships are often characterized by greater closeness than relationships between mothers and sons (Swartz, 2009). Although sons are mostly motivated by filial obligations, expectations of an inheritance, and frequency of contact to help their parents, daughters’ support is mainly motivated by affection for aging parents (Silverstein et al., 1995). Mothers also tend to name a child to whom they are emotionally closer, which often is a daughter, to be most likely to care for them if they become ill or disabled (Pillemer & Suitor, 2006). Based on prior research, we expect that mother-child closeness plays a more important role for daughters’ than sons’ time and financial assistance to their mothers.

The Present Study

Mother-child closeness is an important determinant of adult children’s helping behavior (Carpenter, 2001; Cheng et al., 2013; Cicirelli, 1993; Kong & Moorman, 2016; Lin & Wu, 2019; Silverstein et al., 1995, 2002; Whitbeck et al., 1991, 1994). Yet, prior work often examines parent-child closeness at one point in time. It is unclear how the mother-child relationship, as it unfolds over time, is linked to adult children’s provision of time and financial support to their mothers. We fill this gap by examining how mother-child closeness during adolescence, emerging adulthood, and young adulthood is associated with adult children’s support. We expect mother-child closeness to be a continuous process; that is, relationships from a life stage influence relationships at the subsequent life stage. However, it is unclear which life stage of mother-child closeness has a stronger direct association with later-life transfers. Because mothers tend to have closer ties with their daughters than sons (Fingerman et al., 2020), the patterns of the association may differ between mother-daughter relative to mother-son dyads. To address these questions, we use four waves of data from the Add Health that include prospective reports of mother-child closeness from children, as well as mothers’ reports of time and financial assistance received from their midlife adult children at the second wave of the AHPS. This study makes a significant contribution to the literature by assessing the role of mother-child relationships across different life stages in shaping adult children’s helping behavior.

The study also considers mother and child characteristics that may be associated with mother-child closeness and adult children’s time and financial assistance. Mothers tend to report closer relationships with their children when they are older (Umberson, 1992). Mother’s age and poor health are positively related to adult children’s support (Kim et al., 2012; Rossi & Rossi, 1990). Mothers who were racial-ethnic minorities tend to have closer ties with their children, often feeling more obligated toward their children than their White counterparts (Silverstein & Bengston, 1997; Umberson, 1992). This difference in perceived obligation may increase the likelihood of transfers from adult children who were racial-ethnic minorities to mothers relative to their White counterparts (Kim et al., 2012). Mothers with higher levels of education are emotionally closer to children than mothers who have fewer years of education (Tsai et al., 2013). Mothers who are no longer working have more time to spend with their children (Szinovacz & Davey, 2001), which may increase mother-child closeness. Having adult children without a college degree or who are unemployed may reduce mother-child closeness, as mothers tend to stress or worry more about these children relative to college-educated or employed offspring (Cichy et al., 2013). Mothers’ and adult children’s partnership statuses are another potentially important factors associated with mother-child closeness and adult children’s provision of support. Partnerships consume time and resources. Thus, it is likely that partnered adult children feel less close to their mothers and are less likely to provide support than those who are unpartnered (Kim et al., 2012; Sarkisian & Gerstel, 2008). As for mothers, those who are partnered often require less support from their adult children relative to unpartnered mothers (Carr & Utz, 2020). Family size also matters. Parents have less contact with individual offspring in larger families (Logan & Spitze, 1996) and adult children are less likely to provide support when they have other siblings (Lin & Wolf, 2020). Adult children’s parenthood status likely influences mother-child relationships as well. Becoming a parent may exhaust time and resources, reducing both closeness and support transfers to one’s aging mother (Min et al., 2022; Tanskanen, 2017).

Method

Data used in this study came from Waves 1 to 4 of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) and Wave 2 of the AHPS (https://addhealth.cpc.unc.edu/). Add Health is a longitudinal, nationally representative school-based sample of adolescents who were in the 7th through 12th grade at their first interview between 1994 and 1995. These adolescents were subsequently reinterviewed in 1996, 2001–2002, and 2008–2009, when they were in the 8th–12th grade (Wave 2, labeled as adolescence), aged 18–26 (Wave 3, labeled as emerging adulthood), and aged 24–32 (Wave 4, labeled as young adulthood). Response rates for Add Health range from 72% to 89% (Harris et al., 2019). AHPS collected data from one of the Add Health respondent’s parents (typically the mother) in 1994–1995. Parents participating in Wave 1 of AHPS were resampled in a second wave of data collection in 2015–2017 when the Add Health respondents were aged 31–41. Selection of parents into Wave 2 was based on whether they were a biological parent, adoptive parent, or stepparent of nondeceased Add Health respondents at the time of sampling. The response rate for the AHPS Wave 2 is not yet available but AHPS Wave 1 had a response rate of 85%.

For this project, mother-child dyads are the unit of analysis. Our target sample encompassed Add Health respondents with biological mothers who responded to Wave 2 of the AHPS, yielding 2,085 mother-child dyads. We excluded 236 dyads in which Add Health respondents lived with their mothers. For these dyads, it is difficult to distinguish who helped whom because coresidence usually involves sharing economic resources and household chores. We further removed eight dyads with missing values on sample weights and eight dyads with missing values on measures of transfers from adult children to their mothers. The final analytic sample consisted of 1,833 mother-child dyads, including 934 mother-daughter and 899 mother-son dyads.

Measures

Mother-child closeness

Closeness is a continuous variable measured in each of the four waves of Add Health that asked respondents how close they felt to their biological mothers. Because Waves 1 and 2 of Add Health were conducted about 1–2 years apart, we combined closeness measures from these two waves to indicate parent-child closeness during adolescence. For those who responded to both waves, we took the average of two scores. For those who responded to only one of two waves, we took the information from the wave when a response was available. Response categories for this variable changed slightly across waves, including 1 = Not close at all/Not at all, 2 = Not very close/Very little, 3 = Somewhat close/Somewhat, 4 = Quite close/Quite a bit, and 5 = Extremely close/Very close.

Adult children’s assistance to mothers

Adult children’s assistance included giving support in the form of money or time. Mothers in the AHPS were asked whether Add Health respondents gave them or their spouse/partner any money, personal loans, or gifts of $100 or more. These mothers also were asked whether Add Health respondents helped them or their spouse/partner with activities such as errands, transportation, chores, or hands-on care in the past 12 months. Response categories for both questions were Yes (coded 1) or No (coded 0). We used mothers’ reports because time transfer from adult children to their mothers was not asked in Wave 5 of Add Health. Although prior research suggests that adult children’s reports of giving help to parents are more reliable than parents’ reports of receiving help (Lin & Wu, 2018), using mothers’ reports of transfers in this study is advantageous because if both reports of mother-child closeness and transfers are based on children’s reports, the estimated association tends to be biased upward because of the common method bias (Podsakoff et al., 2003).

Control variables

We considered mother and child characteristics that reflect mothers’ needs for support and adult children’s resources and constraints to help. Mother’s age was measured in 2016, ranging from 48 to 80. We also included mother’s race (1 = White, 0 = racial-ethnic minorities), education (1 = a college degree or more, 0 = no college degree), partnership status (1 = partnered, 0 = unpartnered), number of children (1–5), employment status (1 = working, 0 = not working), and self-rated health (1 = poor, 2 = fair, 3 = good, 4 = very good, 5 = excellent). For child characteristics, we took account of their education (1 = a college degree or more, 0 = no college degree), partnership status (1 = partnered, 0 = unpartnered), parenthood status (1 = having a child, 0 = no children), and employment status (1 = working, 0 = not working). All of these characteristics were based on mother’s reports from AHPS to be consistent with the timing of transfer measures.

Analytic Strategy

The current study consists of two analyses. First, we presented descriptive statistics using means or percentages, as appropriate, for all variables used in the analysis, separately by daughters versus sons. Second, we conducted a multiple-group (daughters vs sons) path model as illustrated in Figure 1. We hypothesized that mother-child relationship is a continuously evolving process in which mother-child closeness during adolescence has a direct association with mother-child closeness during emerging adulthood and young adulthood. Similarly, mother-child closeness during emerging adulthood has a direct association with mother-child closeness during young adulthood. Additionally, mother-child closeness at each life stage has a direct association with adult children’s money and time assistance to their biological mothers, as well as an indirect association through closeness at the subsequent life stage. A path model is well suited for the research question posed in this study because it helps to identify which life stage of mother-child closeness plays a significant role in shaping adult children’s helping behavior. Mothers’ and adult children’s resources and needs have direct influences on adult children’s provision of money and time, but to simplify the presentation, they are not shown in Figure 1. We also allowed the residuals of money and time assistance to be correlated as prior studies have shown that adult children who provide parents with money help are also likely to give time help (Lin & Wu, 2019).

Figure 1.

Figure 1.

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Path model of how mother-child closeness during adolescence, emerging adulthood, and young adulthood is associated with adult children’s money and time help to mothers in later life. Sources: The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health and the Add Health Parent Study. To simplify the presentation, mother’s needs for support and adult children’s resources and constraints that are associated with adult children’s money and time help are not shown.

We first estimated the multiple-group path model specified in Figure 1. Then we adopted the model-trimming approach (Kline, 2011) by gradually constraining nonsignificant coefficients to 0, one at a time, and compared the more-restricted model (i.e., a model with fewer freely estimated paths) with the less-restricted model. We repeated the procedure until further pruning any path would significantly worsen the model’s goodness of fit. The path models were estimated using the WLSMV estimator provided in the statistical package Mplus version 8.9 (Muthén & Muthén, 2023). The final path model fits the data well with a comparative fit index of 0.95, a Tucker-Lewis index of 0.93 and a root mean square error of approximation value of 0.02 (Hu & Bentler, 1999).

Missing data were modest, ranging from less than 1% for mother-child closeness during adolescence and partnership statuses of mothers and children to 25% for mother-child closeness during emerging adulthood. We performed multiple imputation using chained equations, which imputed missing values for a given variable as a function of other covariates and the dependent variables in the models (Raghunathan et al., 2001; van Buuren et al., 1999). The results were based on 20 random, multiply-imputed replicates. We also repeated the same analysis using unimputed data and reached the same conclusions (results not shown but available upon request). Because the analysis focuses on the association between Add Health respondent’s perceived closeness with their mother earlier in life and their help in the form of money and time to mothers later in life, all analyses were weighted using Add Health respondent sample weights from Wave 1 as well as Add Health cluster and strata weights (Chen & Harris, 2020).

Results

Mother and Child Characteristics

Table 1 shows weighted means or percentages, as appropriate, for all variables included in the analysis, separately for daughters versus sons. In general, adult children were more likely to give time help than money help to their mothers. Slightly less than one-quarter of adult children provided mothers with any money, personal loans, or gifts of $100 or more, and the pattern of money help was similar for daughters and sons. However, daughters were more likely than sons to provide their mothers with time help (55.6% vs 49.9%, p < .05).

Table 1.

Weighted Means (Standard Deviations) and Percentages for Mother and Child Characteristics

Characteristic Daughters
(Unweighted n = 934)		 Sons
(Unweighted n = 899)
% Mean SD % Mean SD Diff
Help given to mother
 Money help 24.4 22.9
 Time help 55.6 49.9 *
Mother-child closenessa
 Adolescence 4.4 0.8 4.6 0.6 ***
 Emerging adulthood 4.4 0.8 4.5 0.7
 Young adulthood 4.5 0.8 4.5 0.8
Mother characteristics
 Age 62.3 5.3 62.4 5.4
 White 72.5 73.1
 College degree or more 26.0 26.4
 Partnered 68.3 66.0
 Number of children 2.8 1.5 2.7 1.4
 Working 46.1 47.5
 Self-rated healthb 3.1 1.1 3.1 1.0
Child characteristics
 College degree or more 44.7 33.7 ***
 Partnered 76.6 75.7
 Any offspring 72.9 61.6 ***
 Working 79.1 90.9 ***
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Notes: Sources: Waves 1–4 of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health and Wave 2 of the Add Health Parent Study.

a1 = not close at all/not at all; 2 = not very close/very little; 3 = somewhat close/somewhat; 4 = quite close/quite a bit; 5 = extremely close/very close.

b1 = poor; 2 = fair; 3 = good; 4 = very good; 5 = excellent.

*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.

In this sample, children and their mothers remained quite close during adolescence, emerging adulthood, and young adulthood with most children, on average, reporting a “quite close” (= 4) relationship with their mothers. Sons tended to report a slightly closer relationship with their mothers than did daughters during adolescence, but sons and daughters shared similar levels of closeness with their mothers during emerging adulthood and young adulthood.

Mothers were 62 years old, on average. Seven in 10 mothers were White and about one-quarter of mothers had completed a college degree or more. Two-thirds of the mothers were partnered with an average of three children. Approximately 46% of the mothers were working at the time of the interview. Mothers in this sample were generally in good health. No differences emerged in mother characteristics between daughters and sons.

However, several significant gender differences in child characteristics emerged. In general, daughters were more likely than sons to have received a college degree (44.7% vs 33.7%, p < .001) and be a parent (72.9% vs 61.6%, p < .001) but were less likely than sons to be working (79.1% vs 90.9%, p < .001). Daughters and sons were equally likely to be partnered (76.6% vs 75.7%, p > .05).

Mother-Child Closeness and Assistance to Mothers

Unstandardized coefficients from the multiple-group path analysis of the association between mother-child closeness and adult children’s assistance to mothers are presented in Figure 2 (for mother-daughter dyads) and Figure 3 (for mother-son dyads). To simplify the presentations, mother’s needs for support and adult children’s resources and constraints that are associated with adult children’s money and time help are not shown but the results are available in Supplementary Table 1. As depicted in Figures 2 and 3, we found that mother-child closeness during adolescence had a direct association with mother-child closeness during emerging adulthood (0.44 for daughters and 0.38 for sons), and mother-child closeness during emerging adulthood had a direct association with mother-child closeness during young adulthood (0.46 for daughters and 0.41 for sons). Moreover, there was a direct influence from mother-child closeness during adolescence to mother-child closeness during young adulthood (0.14 for daughters and 0.15 for sons). We also tested whether these path coefficients differ for daughters versus sons but did not find any statistically significant difference, indicating that the relationship progression is identical for daughters and sons.

Figure 2.

Figure 2.

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Unstandardized path coefficients for relations between mother-daughter closeness during adolescence, emerging adulthood, and young adulthood and adult daughters’ money and time help to mothers in later life. Sources: The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health and the Add Health Parent Study. To simplify the presentation, mother’s needs for support and adult daughters’ resources and constraints that are associated with adult daughters’ money and time help are not shown. **p < .01; ***p < .001.

Figure 3.

Figure 3.

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Unstandardized path coefficients for relations between mother-son closeness during adolescence, emerging adulthood, and young adulthood and adult sons’ money and time help to mothers in later life. Sources: The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health and the Add Health Parent Study. To simplify the presentation, mother’s needs for support and adult sons’ resources and constraints that are associated with adult sons’ money and time help are not shown. **p < .01; ***p < .001.

For both daughters and sons, mother-child closeness during young adulthood had a direct association with time help given to mother and the effect size (0.31 for daughters and 0.21 for sons) was comparable for daughters and sons (p > .05). Daughters who felt close to their mothers during young adulthood also were more likely to provide money help (0.28), but this association was not found among sons. Instead, sons’ closeness with mothers during emerging adulthood had a positive, direct association with the likelihood of providing money help to mothers (0.23). For daughters, her closeness with mother during adolescence or emerging adulthood had no direct association with either money or time help. The association of earlier-life mother-daughter closeness with daughters’ money and time help was completely mediated through closeness in later life.

As shown in Supplementary Table 1, several mother characteristics are associated with the propensity of helping mothers with money or time. On average, sons were more likely to help mothers with money (0.03) and time (0.02) when mothers were older, but mother’s age was unrelated to daughters’ help. White mothers were less likely than mothers who were racial-ethnic minorities to receive money help from their children, regardless of child’s gender (−0.37 for daughters and −0.35 for sons). Mothers with a college degree were more likely to receive money help from daughters (0.27) and time help from sons (0.24) than mothers without a college degree. Mother’s education may be indicative of adult children’s resources to provide help in times of need. Partnered mothers were less likely to receive money help from both daughters (−0.38) and sons (−0.49) and time help from daughters (−0.27) compared with unpartnered mothers. The number of children that mothers had was negatively associated with sons’ time help (−0.06) but unrelated to daughters’. Working mothers were more likely to receive time help from sons (0.23) but mothers’ employment status was not associated with daughters’ proclivity to provide support. None of child characteristics were significantly related to mothers’ receipt of time and financial assistance, suggesting that adult children’s help is likely responsive to mothers’ needs as opposed to their resources and constraints in this sample.

Discussion

Parent-child closeness is one of the factors that motivates adult children to help their parents in old age (Rossi & Rossi, 1990). Previous studies show that adult children are more likely to help parents to whom they feel closer (Carpenter, 2001; Cheng et al., 2013; Cicirelli, 1993; Kong & Moorman, 2016; Lin & Wu, 2019; Silverstein et al., 1995, 2002; Whitbeck et al., 1991, 1994). However, most studies examine parent-child relationships only at one stage in the life course. It remains elusive as to whether a particular life stage is more important in determining later life support. This study advances prior research by examining how mother-child closeness during adolescence, emerging adulthood, and young adulthood shapes adult children’s time and financial assistance to their mothers when these children enter middle adulthood. We also pay attention to gender differences as daughters tend to maintain a closer bond with mothers and are more likely to be a caregiver relative to sons.

We found that mother-child closeness is a continuously evolving process where relationship quality at an earlier life stage has a significant influence on relationship quality at a subsequent life stage. Examining mother-child relationships only at a particular life stage overlooks this continuous process. Additionally, mother-child closeness during adolescence and emerging adulthood did not have a direct association with adult children’s help with errands, transportation, chores, or hands-on care later in life. Rather, mother-child closeness during adolescence and emerging adulthood had an indirect association with adult children’s time help through mother-child closeness during young adulthood. In other words, forming a close tie with one’s mother in early life has no direct influence on time help but it shapes the progression of mother-child interactions over time that eventuates in time help. Instrumental assistance often requires face-to-face interactions, and closeness during young adulthood plays a more significant role than closeness during adolescence or emerging adulthood in facilitating face-to-face interactions and thus the proclivity to offer help. The pattern of mother-child closeness on time help is similar for daughters and sons.

However, we found different patterns between daughters and sons for money help. Among daughters, closeness during adolescence or emerging adulthood had no direct association with the provision of any money, personal loans, or gifts of $100 or more to mothers but was indirectly associated with money help through its influence on closeness during young adulthood. For sons, neither closeness during adolescence nor closeness during young adulthood had an influence on the propensity of providing money help to mothers. Interestingly, it is mother-son closeness during emerging adulthood that had a direct association with later-life money help. Emerging adulthood is a critical period for individuals to establish their independence (Arnett, 2007) and maternal rapport during that period may play a significant role for sons. This finding calls for more research to explain this association further.

This study has several limitations that merit further studies. First, our study focuses exclusively on mothers because the majority of parent respondents in Add Health baseline study were women, who were then resampled for interviews in the 2nd wave of the AHPS. Future work should consider whether father-child closeness mirrors that of mothers and whether the association between father-child closeness and adult children’s money and time help differs from that for mothers and children. Second, both time and money transfers were referred to as help provided to mothers or their spouse/partner, as opposed to mothers only. While recognizing this data limitation, however, we do not think it would significantly bias our estimates because spouses or partners most often live together and thus share financial resources and household chores. Even if time and money provided by adult children were meant to help their mother’s spouse or partner, their mother still benefits from the help indirectly so the propensity to help is still likely affected by mother-child relationships. Third, mother-child closeness was gauged by a single question. Studies using multiple questions to capture multidimensions of parent-child relationships are needed.

Despite these limitations, this study makes significant theoretical and practical contributions. Our work confirms key tenets of the intergenerational solidarity framework (Parrott & Bengston, 1999) that affectional solidarity (i.e., mother-child closeness) is an important determinant of functional solidarity in later life (i.e., time and financial assistance). This work adds to our understanding that the mother-child relationship is a continuous process that unfolds over time. Earlier-life mother-child closeness has an enduring influence on adult children’s support of their mothers by shaping mother-child closeness in later life. This study underscores the importance of conceptualizing parent-child relationships as an evolving process as opposed to a static state to unpack how family relationships over the life course hews intergenerational support in late life. There are practical implications from the findings as well. As population ages, there is concern over who will provide support to a growing number of older adults (Carr & Utz, 2020). Family counselors who work with middle-aged and older adults may invest in promoting healthy, close relationships with their adult children to not only enhance well-being but also ensure stability of support avenues over the aging process.

Supplementary Material

gbae038_suppl_Supplementary_Tables_1
gbae038_suppl_supplementary_tables_1.docx (26.4KB, docx)

Contributor Information

I-Fen Lin, Department of Sociology, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio, USA.

Anna M Hammersmith, Department of Sociology, Grand Valley State University, Allendale, Michigan, USA.

Funding

This research was supported in part by the Center for Family and Demographic Research, Bowling Green State University, which has core funding from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (P2CHD050959). Any opinions expressed here are solely those of the authors and not of the funding agency or center.

Conflict of Interest

None.

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