NOTE: Due to a family emergency, our originally scheduled speaker, Jane Lankes Smith, is unavailable and will be replaced by Sarah Hayford — see details below.
Dr. Sarah Hayford, The Ohio State University, Director, Institute for Population Research; Robert T. Lazarus Professor of Population Studies, Sociology
Title: The Nature, Distribution, and Direction of Intergenerational Exchange in Rural Mozambique
Description: Flows of intergenerational support shift over the life course, with children requiring support from parents when young and (in many contexts) expected to provide for parents as they age. During the intermediate stages of the family life course, as children are gradually transitioning to adulthood and parents are aging, patterns of exchange are complex. It is important to understand the extent and nature of these exchanges, especially in low-income settings with weak social safety nets where people at all ages depend on family for support. In this talk, I present analyses of exchanges of financial, material, instrumental, and emotional support between mid-life women and their adolescent and young adult children in a low-income, high-fertility context. I draw on newly available survey data from a longitudinal study of women in rural southern Mozambique. Results show complex and varied patterns of exchange across different domains. Mothers both provide and receive support, with the balance of support varying across domains and conditioned by both maternal and child characteristics. I discuss these results in the context of changing expectations for the transition to adulthood in this setting.
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