Intergenerational Exchange:the Research On The Rural Family Support

By the end of2013, the number of aging population in China has been over200million. Nation, Society and Families are all under tremendous pressure that comes from the huge pension needs of elderly people. The degree of population aging in rural China is3.95%higher than city, while the economic development level and the public service facilities construction also with the old-age security system are not good enough, and thus led to the situation that the supporting obligations are assumed by family endowment. With the society changing, the foundation of the traditional family endowment had been damaged at different level. So, is the traditional family support for the aged affected? If the family support for aged owns a sustainable dynamic mechanism in the new era?This study finds that the supports from offspring to parent are closely related with intergenerational relationship, economic resources, social resources and legal resources. The intergenerational relationships which built on the exchange between parental and offspring in independent period, instead of the economic resources investment in the offspring period become the key factors which decide the support from the offspring. The intergenerational relationship depends on the mutual and exchange behavior which can build effective intergenerational changing relationship between offspring and parent. Then it strengthen the emotional foundation and exchange relationship. The enhanced emotional foundation and exchange foundation become the motivation for offspring to provide supports to parents. With the rapid development of economy of rural area, the parental economic condition is getting better and better in support period, and the exchanges between offspring and their parents are becoming more obvious. It manifests that the offspring provide the care and spiritual consolation to parents, at the same time the parents provide economic support to the offspring. In contrast, the function of norm constraint resources and legal resources are smaller on offspring supporting obligations. To build a good relationship between the offspring and parents can provide the motivation for offspring to support the parents in support period. Enhance the economic level of the elderly parent can also have the same effect.Firstly, this paper summarizes the previous research results about the family pension, and tries to understand the internal dynamic mechanism and the problems of family supporting in social changes. Secondly, base on the theory of resources, this paper divides intergenerational resource into four periods and make some comparisons in order to acquire more macroscopic understandings of the changes of intergenerational resources. Then, takes "A" town in north Zhejiang province as a case to make a deep analysis by dividing intergeneration relationship between parents and offspring into raising period, independent period and support period so as to get microscopic understandings of family supporting. Then, based on the social exchange theory, this paper analyzes the causes of the behavioral differences of the family supporting. Finally, based on the full text of above research, this paper promotes the intrinsic understanding of family supporting from theoretical level, and at last gives some expectations to the future policy formulation.