Effects of Changing Demographic Trends on Later-Life Health

在上述拟议的四个分项目中，第一个研究“劳动力参与和家庭结构对成年子女照顾年迈父母的影响”于2008年7月开始。研究计划和数据分析于2008年9月5日完成，目前正在为会议介绍和出版准备手稿。第一个子研究的总体假设是，宏观层面的劳动力结构将扩大其影响到个别家庭单位影响家庭护理动态。与工作无关的因素，如亲属等级制度、家庭成员之间的资源竞争以及父母的需要，也影响着家庭资源分配的决定。 使用2006年健康与退休研究的数据，第一个子研究显示，成年女儿比成年儿子花更多的时间帮助父母满足ADL和IADL需求。基于计量经济学（多变量Tobit回归）和模拟方法的分析进一步表明，工资率较高，每周工作时间较长的成年子女的ADL和IADL时间转移到他们的父母的时间较少。然而，没有明确的迹象表明，劳动力结构影响成年子女转移行为的方式不同。亲属等级制度对家庭转移动态有影响。控制关键变量，兄弟姐妹在成年子女的转移实践中起着替代作用，而配偶则为成年子女的转移提供补充帮助。成年子女的配偶和父母之间确实存在着对成年子女时间的资源竞争。最后，在其他条件相同的情况下，已婚夫妇内部的转移分配与丈夫和妻子在劳动力中的比较优势平行。 有实质性的社会和政策的影响与性别照顾的差距，这项研究将有助于目前的文献。

Among the four sub-projects proposed above, the first study, The Impact of Labor Force Participation and Family Structure on Adult Childrens Provision of Care-giving to Their Elderly Parents commenced in July 2008. The research plan and data analysis were completed September 5, 2008, and a manuscript is presently being prepared for conference presentation and publication. The overarching hypothesis for the first sub-study is that macro-level labor force structure will extend its impact into individual household units affecting family care-giving dynamics. Non-work-related factors, such as kin hierarchy, resource competition among family members, as well as parental needs, also shape the household resource allocation decisions. Using data from the 2006 Health and Retirement Study, this first sub-study reveals that adult daughters spend significantly greater amount of time than adult sons helping their parents with ADL and IADL needs. Analyses based on the econometrics (multivariate Tobit regressions) and simulation methods further demonstrate that adult children with higher wage rates and longer weekly work hours give fewer hours of ADL and IADL time transfers to their parents. Nevertheless, there is no clear indication the labor force structure influences adult sons and daughters transfer behaviors in a different manner. Kin hierarchy has an impact on the family transfer dynamics. Controlling for key variables, siblings play a substitution role in adult childrens transfer practices, whereas spouses provide supplementary assistance to adult childrens transfers. Resource competition for adult childrens time does exist between adult childrens spouses and parents. Finally, all else being equal, the division of transfers within married dyads is parallel to the husbands and wifes comparative advantages in the labor force. There are substantial social and policy implications associated with gendered care-giving disparity and this research will contribute to the current literature.