The impact of rural adult children’s migration on intergenerational support to parents: the moderating effect of clan culture

ABSTRACT: Rural adult children’s migration has raised growing concerns about the weakness in children’s intergenerational support to their left-behind parents. Based on the data from the China Family Panel Studies, this paper systematically analyzed the impact of rural adult children’s migration on intergenerational support to their middle-aged and elderly left-behind parents and further explores the moderating effect of clan culture on it. It has found that the migration of rural adult children does not weaken intergenerational support for their parents across the board, but affects the forms of intergenerational support; that is, it changes from “serving on the side” to “focusing on material”, and from “face-to-face” emotion comfort to “network” communication. The traditional clan culture has not eased the shift in the forms of children’s intergenerational support but strengthened the financial support. These findings are relevant for an efficient policy design of care for left-behind parents worldwide.