Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T12:04:50.800Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Schools, schooling and children's support of their ageing parents in rural Nepal

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 April 2009

SARAH R. BRAUNER-OTTO
SARAH R. BRAUNER-OTTO*
Affiliation:
Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA.
*
Address for correspondence: Sarah R. Brauner-Otto, Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, CB# 8120, University Square, 123 West Franklin Street, Chapel Hill, NC 27516-2524, USA. E-mail: sbotto@email.unc.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Intergenerational transfers play an important role in individuals' lives across the lifecourse. This paper reviews theories on intergenerational transfers and social change to inform our understanding of how changes in the educational context that arise from the spread of mass education influence children's support of their parents. By examining multiple aspects of the educational context in rural Nepal, including husbands' and wives' education and exposure to schools, this paper provides new information on the mechanisms through which changes in social context influence children's support of their parents. Multilevel logistic regression was used to estimate the relationship between schooling, exposure to schools, and the likelihood of couples giving to their parents. It was found that schooling and exposure to schools have independent and opposite effects on the support of older parents. Higher levels of schooling for husbands were associated with a higher likelihood of having given support to husbands' parents. On the other hand, increased exposure to schools for husbands and wives was associated with a lower likelihood of having given to wives' parents. The findings provide evidence that multiple motivations for intergenerational support exist simultaneously and are related to social context through different mechanisms.

Keywords

educationsocial contextNepalcare givingintergenerational relationships
Type
Research Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 29 , Issue 7 , October 2009 , pp. 1015 - 1039
Copyright
Copyright © 2009 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Acharya, M. and Bennett, L. 1981. Rural Women of Nepal: An Aggregate Analysis and Summary of Eight Village Studies. Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal.Google Scholar
Alexander, J. C. 1988. Action and its Environments: Toward a New Synthesis. Columbia University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Angeles, G., Guilkey, D. K. and Mroz, T. A. 1998. Purposive program placement and the estimation of family planning program effects in Tanzania. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 93, 443, 884–99.Google Scholar
Axinn, W. G. 1993. The effects of children's schooling on fertility limitation. Population Studies, 47, 3, 481–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Axinn, W. G. and Barber, J. S. 2001. Mass education and fertility transition. American Sociological Review, 66, 4, 481–505.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Axinn, W. G., Barber, J. S. and Ghimire, D. J. 1997. The neighborhood history calendar: a data collection method designed for dynamic multilevel modeling. Sociological Methodology, 27, 355–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Axinn, W. G., Pearce, L. D. and Ghimire, D. J. 1999. Innovations in life history calendar applications. Social Science Research, 28, 3, 243–64.Google Scholar
Axinn, W. G. and Yabiku, S. T. 2001. Social change, the social organization of families, and fertility limitation. American Journal of Sociology, 106, 5, 1219–61.Google Scholar
Becker, G. S. 1991. Treatise on the Family. Enlarged edition, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Becker, G., Beyene, Y., Newsom, E. and Mayen, N. 2003. Creating continuity through mutual assistance: intergenerational reciprocity in four ethnic groups. Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 58, 3, S151–9.Google Scholar
Beutel, A. M. and Axinn, W. G. 2002. Gender, social change, and educational attainment. Economic Development and Cultural Change, 51, 1, 109–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bista, D. B. 1972. People of Nepal. Ratna Pustak Bhandar, Kathmandu, Nepal.Google Scholar
Blossfeld, H.-P. and Huinink, J. 1991. Human capital investments or norms of role transition? How women's schooling and career affect the process of family formation. American Journal of Sociology, 97, 1, 143–68.Google Scholar
Bongaarts, J. and Watkins, S. C. 1996. Social interactions and contemporary fertility transitions. Population and Development Review, 22, 4, 639–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brauner-Otto, S. R. 2007. Health Services, Schools, Attitudes, and Contraceptive Use: Tests of a Theoretical Model Among Rural Nepalese. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.Google Scholar
Brauner-Otto, S. R., Axinn, W. G. and Ghimire, D. J. 2007. The spread of health services and fertility transition. Demography, 44, 4, 747–70.Google Scholar
Brofenbrenner, U. 1970. Two Worlds of Childhood: US and USSR. Russell Sage Foundation, New York.Google Scholar
Caldwell, J. C. 1982. Theory of Fertility Decline. Academic, New York.Google Scholar
Casterline, J. B. 1985. The Collection and Analysis of Community Data. International Statistics Institute, Voorburg, The Netherlands.Google Scholar
Casterline, J. B. 2001. Diffusion Processes and Fertility Transition. National Academy Press, Washington DC.Google Scholar
Cleland, J. and Hobcraft, J. 1985. Reproductive Change in Developing Countries: Insights from the World Fertility Survey. Oxford University Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Durkheim, E. [1933] 1984. The Division of Labor in Society. Free Press, New York.Google Scholar
Edmonston, B. 2006. Population dynamics in Germany: the role of immigration and population momentum. Population Research and Policy Review, 25, 5–6, 513–45.Google Scholar
Frankenberg, E., Lillard, L. and Willis, R. J. 2002. Patterns of intergenerational transfers in Southeast Asia. Journal of Marriage and Family, 64, 3, 627–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fricke, T. E. 1994. Himalayan Households: Tamang Demography and Domestic Processes. Columbia University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Gertler, P. J. and Molyneaux, J. W. 1994. How economic development and family-planning programs combined to reduce Indonesian fertility. Demography, 31, 1, 33–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ghimire, D. J., Axinn, W. G., Yabiku, S. T. and Thornton, A. 2006. Social change, premarital non-family experiences and spouse choice in an arranged marriage society. American Journal of Sociology, 111, 4, 1181–218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldscheider, F. K., Thornton, A. and Yang, L.-S. 2001. Helping out the kids: expectations about parental support in young adulthood. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 63, 3, 727–40.Google Scholar
Grundy, E. and Henretta, J. C. 2006. Between elderly parents and adult children: a new look at the intergenerational care provided by the ‘sandwich generation’. Ageing & Society, 26, 5, 707–22.Google Scholar
Guneratne, U. A. 1994. The Tharus of Chitwan: Ethnicity, Class and the State in Nepal. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois.Google Scholar
Gurung, H. B. 1980. Vignettes of Nepal. Sajha Prakashan, Kathmandu.Google Scholar
Hamill, S. B. 1994. Parent-adolescent communication in sandwich generation families. Journal of Adolescent Research, 9, 4, 458–82.Google Scholar
Henretta, J. C., Hill, M. S., Li, W., Soldo, B. J. and Wolf, D. A. 1997. Selection of children to provide care: the effect of earlier parental transfers. Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 52, 1, 110–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hernandez, D. J. 1981. A note on measuring the independent impact of family planning programs on fertility declines. Demography, 18, 4, 627–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hogan, D. P., Eggebeen, D. J. and Clogg, C. C. 1993. The structure of intergenerational exchanges in American families. American Journal of Sociology, 98, 6, 1428–58.Google Scholar
Kravdal, O. 2002. Education and fertility in Sub-Saharan Africa: individual and community effects. Demography, 39, 2, 233–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lam, R. C. 2006. Contradictions between traditional Chinese values and the actual performance: a study of the caregiving roles of the modern sandwich generation in Hong Kong. Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 37, 2, 299–313Google Scholar
Lee, Y.-J., Parish, W. T. and Willis, R. J. 1994. Sons, daughters, and intergenerational support in Taiwan. American Journal of Sociology, 99, 4, 1010–41.Google Scholar
Lesthaeghe, R. and Surkyn, J. 1988. Cultural dynamics and economic theories of fertility change. Population and Development Review, 14, 1, 1–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loomis, L. S. and Booth, A. 1995. Multigenerational caregiving and well-being: the myth of the beleaguered sandwich generation. Journal of Family Issues, 16, 2, 131–48.Google Scholar
McGarry, K. and Schoeni, R. F. 1997. Transfer behavior within the family: results from the Asset and Health Dynamics Study. Journals of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 52, 1, S82–92.Google Scholar
McNay, K., Arokiasamy, P. and Cassen, R. H. 2003. Why are uneducated women in India using contraception? A multilevel analysis. Population Studies, 57, 1, 21–40.Google Scholar
Mead, G. H. 1967. Mind, Self and Society: From the Standpoint of a Social Behaviorist. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pienta, A. M., Barber, J. S. and Axinn, W. G. 2000. Patterns of Social Change and Adult Child-Elderly Parent Coresidence: Evidence from Nepal. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Population Association of America, Los Angeles, California, March 23–25, 2000.Google Scholar
Pienta, A. M., Barber, J. S. and Axinn, W. G. 2001. Social change and adult children's attitudes toward support of elderly parents: evidence from Nepal. Hallym International Journal of Aging, 3, 2, 211–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pokharel, B. N. and Shivakoti, G. P. 1986. Impact of Development Efforts on Agricultural Wage Labor. Rural Poverty Paper 1, Winrock, Kathmandu, Nepal.Google Scholar
Preston, S. H., Himes, C. and Eggers, M. 1989. Demographic conditions responsible for population aging. Demography, 26, 4, 691–704.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raudenbush, S. W. and Bryk, A. S. 2002. Hierarchical Linear Models: Applications and Data Analysis Methods. Second edition, Sage, Thousand Oaks, California.Google Scholar
SAS Institute 2004. SAS/IML 9.1 User's Guide. SAS Institute Inc., Cary, North Carolina.Google Scholar
Silverstein, M., Parrott, T. M. and Bengtson, V. L. 1995. Factors that predispose middle-aged sons and daughters to provide social support to older parents. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 57, 2, 465–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith-Lovin, L. and McPherson, J. M. 1993. You are who you know: a network approach to gender. In England, P. (ed.), Theory on Gender/Feminism on Theory. Aldine, New York, 233–54.Google Scholar
Thornton, A., Axinn, W. G. and Teachman, J. D. 1995. The influence of school enrollment and accumulation on cohabitation and marriage in early adulthood. American Sociological Review, 60, 5, 762–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thornton, A. and Fricke, T. E. 1987. Social change and the family: comparative perspectives from the West, China and South Asia. Sociological Forum, 2, 4, 746–79.Google Scholar
Thornton, A. and Lin, H.-S. 1994. Social Change and the Family in Taiwan. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois.Google Scholar
Valente, T. W., Watkins, S. C. and Jato, M. N. 1997. Social network associations with contraceptive use among Cameroonian women in voluntary associations. Social Science and Medicine, 45, 5, 677–87.Google Scholar
Willis, R. J. 1973. A new approach to the economic theory of fertility behavior. Journal of Political Economy, 81, 2, S14–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yabiku, S. T. 2005. The effect of non-family experiences on age of marriage in a setting of rapid social change. Population Studies, 59, 3, 339–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yabiku, S. T. 2004. Marriage timing in Nepal: organizational effects and individual mechanisms. Social Forces, 83, 2, 559–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yabiku, S. T. 2006. Neighbors and neighborhoods: effects on marriage timing. Population Research and Policy Review, 25, 4, 305–27.Google Scholar
Yang, H. 1996. The distributive norm of monetary support to older parents: a look at a township in China. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 58, 2, 404–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zajonc, R. B. 1968. The attitudinal effects of mere exposure. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 9, monograph supplement 2, 1–27.Google Scholar