As exchanges of instrumental support between kin and non-kin remain essential to buffer the impact of critical life events, we consider the characteristics of personal configurations that may enhance or hinder them. Personal configurations vary in terms of their composition and two aspects of their structure: density and centrality. These dimensions are investigated to uncover whether they influence the type of instrumental support being exchanged (financial, material, and care) and the likelihood of their being reciprocal. Drawing on a representative sample of individuals living in Switzerland, results show that overall instrumental support is present in all personal configurations irrespective of their composition, but financial support is more prevalent in configurations based on parent–adult child relationships. Furthermore, configuration structures characterized by density of emotional support are positively associated with giving care support and with reciprocity, while those characterized by density of conflict are associated with giving less instrumental support overall.

The number of relatives and geographical proximity between them affects informal support provided to older persons. In this study, we investigate whether (a) childless persons and parents living remotely from their adult children experience similar shortages in informal support, and (b) whether neighbours, friends and other non-family helpers compensate for these shortages. On the basis of Survey on Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) data for 12 European countries, we estimate the probability and amount of informal non-financial support received by persons aged 65 and over who remain childless or live at different distances to their children. The contribution of non-family individuals is rather complementary to the help from family. Parents residing in the proximity of their children rely almost exclusively on family; as the geographical distance between adult children and older parents increases, the probability and amount of non-family support increase as well. But childless individuals differ from parents of remotely living children: the former rely on smaller support networks and resort more often to other relatives than the latter. Non-family individuals compensate for the scarcity of informal support only in the case of parents of distant children, but not in the case of childless individuals.

Older parents in China rely heavily on their adult children for instrumental assistance. In different multi-child families, multiple offspring may co-operate in providing instrumental support to older parents in distinct ways in terms of how much support they provide on average and how much differentiation exists between them when they provide such support within a family. We aimed to identify different within-family patterns in relation to multiple offspring's instrumental support to an older parent in Chinese multi-child families, and to investigate potential predictors for different within-family patterns. Using data from the China Family Panel Studies (2016), we had a working sample of 5,790 older adults aged 60+ (mean = 68.54, standard deviation = 6.60). We employed latent profile analysis (LPA) to classify within-family patterns and multinomial logistic regression to investigate predictors. Our findings identified three within-family patterns: dissociated (59.10%), highly differentiated (29.60%) and united-filial (11.30%). Older parents in the highly differentiated families tended to be older, mothers, divorced/widowed and to have poorer physical health compared to their counterparts in the dissociated families. In contrast, the composition characteristics of multiple adult children played more important roles in determining the united-filial within-family pattern. The united-filial families were more likely to have fewer adult children, at least one adult daughter and at least one co-residing adult child.

The exchange of informal support within the social network plays a vital role in enabling older adults to remain living in the community as they age. Following spousal loss in later life, the exchange of instrumental support is of particular importance in order to meet the practical and financial needs of the bereaved spouse. Adult children are typically the primary source of social contact and informal support for older widowed adults following bereavement. However, very little is known of the longitudinal changes that occur in the exchange of instrumental support with children during the transition to late-life widowhood. Trajectories and predictors of change in material and time support exchange in parent–child relationships were modelled over a 15-year period for 1,266 older adults (mean age 76.7 years). Widowed older adults received more material and time support from their children than their married peers. Proximity to children, age at spousal loss, self-rated health, cognitive functioning and income were predictive of levels of exchanged instrumental support in late-life widowhood. Short-term reciprocity appears to continue in parent–child relationships during late-life widowhood. The implications of the findings for policy and practice are discussed, including the role of children in the support networks of older widowed adults and the potential difficulties faced by those who do not have access to informal avenues of support.

Previous research has shown that exchanges of support within social networks reduce the loneliness of older adults. However, there is no consistent evidence on how types of support (instrumental and emotional) and the direction of that support (giving and receiving) are related to loneliness, and whether the effects are culture-specific. The aim of this study was to investigate support exchanges and their effects on loneliness in Spain and the Netherlands. We suggest that cultural differences, such as more interdependent cultural values in Southern Europe and more independence-related values in Northern Europe, influence social realities such as the social support exchanged. In Spain relationships with family members are determined by mutual obligations; older people expect to receive instrumental support from them. However, in Northern Europe independence is highly valued and intimacy and closeness are shown primarily by confiding about personal matters. This paper examined data from two comparable surveys, one in Spain (N=646) and one in the Netherlands (N=656). Older adults in Spain provide for, and receive, high amounts of instrumental support and this proved to be a protective factor against loneliness. An alternative pattern was found in the Netherlands where respondents provided more and received more emotional support than Spanish older adults; emotional support is a protective factor in the Netherlands (but only for support received).

This study assesses the relationship between the number of work hours and the provision of instrumental support to parents among 779 middle-aged women and men in dual-worker couples in The Netherlands. Using data from the Netherlands Kinship Panel Study collected during 2002–04, we estimate a simultaneous two-stage probit least-squares model, which takes into account that the competing time and financial demands of a person's engagement in paid work and parental support are endogenous. We explicitly control for the effects of partners' earnings, housework and parent-support contributions, and of co-resident children's time demands and help with domestic tasks. Contrary to expectations, the results do not reveal a conflict between paid work and giving support to parents. Several possible explanations are discussed. The results emphasise the importance of the household context, in that the work hours of both women and men depend on other household members' activities and finances, as does men's provision of parent-support. The striking lack of relationships between women's provision of parental support and any individual and contextual characteristic demonstrates the persistence of gendered roles in family members giving support.