Time and Effort: A Second Look at Family Reciprocity by Older Singaporeans

We choose sociodemographic features of the older person, time commitments, availability of potential receivers of help and other potential givers of help, psychosocial features, illness and disability, and receipt of help. [...] The reason is simple: The previous data were not designed with the topic of social exchange in mind, and great effort was expended to find sufficient receive help and give help items to suit a social exchange analysis. [...] Better items boost the statistical strength of the results here, but the substantive result is the same in both analyses; older people give their time and effort in return for money and material goods. [...] Helping behaviors are changing worldwide to include conscious affective displays of caring and love, finding and monitoring others to care for older parents, planning and administrative tasks, and assuring security (Chan and Lim 2004; Chappell and Funk 2012; Cheung and Kwan 2009; Dong, Zhang and Simon 2014; Ha et al. [...] Intergenerational giving and receiving in families is diversifying in “who, what, and when” (Antonucci and Jackson 2007; Cong and Silverstein 2011; Costanzo and Hoy 2007; Grundy 2005; Lin and Wu 2014; Lin and Yi 2013; Quashie 2015; Zuo, Wu and Li 2011).