Fertility and Later-Life Mental Health: Evidence on Transfers and Instrumental Assistance From Adult Children in Indonesia

Objective This study examined whether completed fertility shapes later-life mental health in Indonesia and whether adult children’s support explains this relationship. Methods Using the 2007 and 2014 Indonesian Family Life Survey, we instrumented fertility with differential exposure to Village Contraceptive Distribution Centers and estimated 2SLS and instrumental-variables mediation models. Results An additional child reduced CES-D score and probability of elevated depressive symptoms. Financial and material transfers formed a protective pathway, while the remaining component outside measured transfers offset part of this effect. Higher fertility also increased instrumental assistance, although its mediating contribution was imprecisely estimated. Protective effects were more apparent among respondents with less than primary education, alongside adverse physical and nutritional outcomes. Discussion Completed fertility may improve later-life mental health partly through transfers from adult children, while supportive and burdensome consequences coexist, especially among socioeconomically constrained older adults. Estimates apply to the fertility-responsive population identified by the IV design.