Intergenerational Support in the Transition From Work to Retirement

The retirement transition is often characterized by major changes in the lives of individuals. Their children could potentially offer support in this process. Little is known, however, about intergenerational support upon retirement. To what extent are parents supported by their children in the retirement process? And how can differences in the degree of support be explained? Two central theoretical frameworks from the literature on intergenerational relationships-one based on the principle of altruism and the other based on the principle of exchange-are combined with insights from the retirement literature to formulate hypotheses. These were tested by analyzing panel data collected among 697 fully retired individuals in the Netherlands. Information about support from children upon retirement (discussing retirement, and general perceived support) was collected during Wave 3 in 2011. The findings show that only a minority of the studied retirees experience support from their children in the retirement process. As expected based on the altruism principle, retirees without a partner, who have a poor financial situation, and who expected to miss the social status and finances of prior work, are relatively likely to experience support from their children upon retirement. These findings highlight the importance of taking both structural and psychological antecedents into account. Retirees who regularly look after their grandchildren, or who often help their children with practical chores, were found to experience more support as compared to retirees who never provide these types of help, which is in line with hypotheses based on the exchange perspective.