Family Culture Research Project

Intergenerational transfers occur within a family context, yet most research on the topic is atomistic, focusing on the attributes and behaviors of individuals in the family matrix and not on the family itself. Social norms and behaviors related to familial obligation and responsibility differ across families, distinguishing the transfer behaviors of one family from another and defining the intergenerational culture within which family members act. This research focuses on shared family traits, in addition to more conventional measures of individual kin, to develop a sociological analysis.

Using the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) as the major data source, PARC has constructed data sets that specifically measure transfers of time and money between respondents and their children. As of March 1, 2008, seven biennial waves of data (1992-2006) will become available. These data provide dynamic measures of transfer behaviors across as many as four generations of a family and a changing pool of donors and recipients as well as direct and indirect measures of family transfer culture.

Ben Franklin, 1987