Adult Daughters as Parental Caregivers: Rational Actors Versus Rational Agents

Using logistic regression analyses on a sub-sample (n = 611) of the National Longitudinal Survey, Young Women's Cohort, the study found that inheritance-related factors added no explanatory power to other factors influencing the likelihood of adult daughters providing personal care or doing household chores for their aging parents, suggesting the motivational primacy of adherence to social norms. The study also found that inheritance-related factors increased the likelihood of providing financial assistance beyond that of other factors, suggesting the primacy of self-interest when money transactions are concerned. This is an important study because it offers insights into developing and implementing public and private incentives and policies to ensure an adequate supply of informal caregivers as baby boomers enter their twilight years.