Family Obligations? Working-Class Older Parents’ Relational Work in Support of their Young Adult Children

For families saving for emergencies or repaying debts, feeling morally obligated to assist young adult children who cannot meet their own expenses may require parental sacrifice, namely, giving resources that parents desperately need themselves. Until recently, scholars of relational work have not examined how family obligations are negotiated in this context. Aiming to clarify the diverse forms that relational work takes in parental negotiation of family obligations they reflect, we asked how older parents understand the money they have when considering material support for their young adult children. Based on 40 interviews with 20 Israeli couples, we identify the earmarking of money as in surplus or scarcity to shape a typology of four forms of relational work: parenting without separation, ideals of self-actualization, painful sacrifice, and marginalization of support. This multiplicity enables us to conceptualize relational work as an evolving practice shaped by shifting family obligations under conditions of financialization.