Intergenerational Dynamics and Inequality in Mid-to-Later Life

Abstract

Intergenerational relationships are central to the organization of inequality across the life course. Through intergenerational status transmission, downward domestic support, and upward family care, family ties connect individual life-course experiences to broader systems of racial, gender, and later-life inequality. To explore these intersections between family life and social stratification, this dissertation examines how intergenerational relationships shape inequality in middle and later life. Using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, the China Family Panel Studies, and the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, the dissertation addresses three questions. First, how do childhood socioeconomic position and adult status mobility contribute to Black–White disparities in health and mortality? Second, how does downward domestic support from parents shape the gender division of household labor among both adult children and older parents in China? Third, do family-care arrangements explain racial-ethnic differences in nursing-home entry among older adults in the U.S.? The first study shows that childhood income and intergenerational income mobility account for substantial portions of Black–White health disparities: fully explaining the gap in self-rated health, most of the stroke disparity, and meaningful shares of the disparities in chronic conditions and mortality. The decomposition further shows that Black–White differences in exposure to childhood income and mobility trajectories are especially important for stroke and mortality, while racial differences in the health consequences of comparable trajectories are more pronounced for self-rated health and chronic conditions. The second study finds that parental domestic assistance is associated with a narrower gender gap in housework among adult-child couples, partly by reducing wives’ domestic labor and supporting their employment. This narrowing, however, is accompanied by a wider gender gap among older parents who provide support, as older mothers absorb a disproportionate share of additional domestic work. The third study shows that Hispanics have a lower risk of nursing-home entry than Whites, while the initially higher risk among Black older adults is largely explained by observed socioeconomic, health, health care access, and family-context differences. Contrary to a family-substitution explanation, measured family-care arrangements do not account for Hispanics’ lower institutionalization risk; region and nativity emerge as more salient factors. Together, these studies show that intergenerational relationships shape inequality by transmitting resources, redistributing unpaid labor, and structuring family-based care in later life. They also indicate that the consequences of intergenerational ties should be understood within broader racial, gendered, and institutional contexts.