Help to Family and Friends: Are There Gender Differences at Older Ages?
Open accessAbstract
This paper uses recent data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (N = 5,220) to explore gender differences in the extent to which adults in their 50s and 60s provide informal help to their adult children, elderly parents and friends We find that both men and women report very high levels of helping kin and nonkin alike, though women do more to assist elderly parents and women provide much more emotional support to others than do men. Men provide more assistance than do women with "housework, yard work and repairs." As they retire from the workforce, married men become significantly more involved in the care of their grandchildren, virtually eliminating any gender difference by the time they are in their 60s.
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Gender differences in the extent of help provided can be obscured in surveys.
“which, as authors of quantitative studies acknowledge, can be obscured in surveys (Kahn, McGill and Bianchi 2011, 90).”
From Gendering Reciprocity (2013) · cites this paper as Kahn, McGill and Bianchi 2011, 90
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Research works printed but not linked: 22
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- Authors
- Kahn, J. R., McGill, B. S., & Bianchi, S. M.
- Affiliations
- Maryland Population Research Center (US)
- University of Maryland, College Park (US)
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- Corresponding author
- Kahn, Joan R.
- Venue
- Journal of Marriage and Family
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2011-01-10
- Volume
- 73
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 77-92
- ISSN
- 0022-2445 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3129855
- OpenAlex
- W2098570850
- Cited by
- 137
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 12 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 13 · 2015: 11 · 2014: 6 · 2013: 9 · 2012: 6
- FWCI
- 23.57
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Journal of Marriage and the Family (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R24HD041041)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Intergenerational Family Dynamics and Caregiving
- Social Sciences › Demography › Family Dynamics and Relationships
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Aging, Elder Care, and Social Issues
- Keywords
- gender differences, informal support, elderly parents, adult children, emotional support, grandparenting, retirement, older adults, housework, Wisconsin Longitudinal Study
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