The Distribution and Direction of Women’s Support Exchanges with Young Adult Children in Rural Mozambique

Sarah R. Hayford, Ohio State University
Luca Badolato, The Ohio State University
Victor Agadjanian, Department of Sociology and the International Institute University of California - Los Angeles

Flows of intergenerational support shift over the life course, with children requiring support from parents when young and expected to provide for parents as they age. During intermediate stages of the family life course, as children are 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. This paper analyzes exchanges of financial, material, instrumental, and emotional support between mid-life women and their young adult children in a low-income, high-fertility context. We draw on newly available survey data from a longitudinal study of women in rural southern Mozambique. This extended abstract describes the setting and data, outlines our approach, and presents descriptive figures. The completed paper will add multivariable analyses accounting for women’s and children’s sociodemographic characteristics.