earticle

영어

This study aims to examine the patterns of middle-aged parents’ intergenerational support exchange with their adult children and its effects on the happiness of the parents. The sample consisted of 765 middle- aged parents selected from the National Survey of Korean Families by the Ministry of Equality and Family in 2010. The results were as follows. First, intergenerational support exchange between parents and their adult children was categorized into four groups depending on the provider of support: parents who exchanged no support with their children, parents who only received support from their children, parents who only provided support to their children, and parents who exchanged support with their children. Second, parents who exchanged no support with their children were high in instrumental support and those who both provided and received support were high in emotional support. Third, consciousness of their children significantly affected the satisfaction level of their relationship with their children. The more the parents emphasize on the growth of their children, the more they were satisfied. Parents in the support exchange group were more satisfied when they received economic support from their children. With regard to instrumental and emotional support, parents were more satisfied when they provided support to or mutually exchanged support with their children. Forth, subjective health conditions, consciousness of their children, and household's income more significantly affected the happiness of middle-aged parents than the patterns of intergenerational support exchange. With regard to economic support, parents who only received support from their children were less happy than the other groups. With regard to instrumental support, parents who exchanged no support with their children were happier than the other groups. With regard to emotional support, parents who provided support to their children were happier than the other groups.