Previous studies suggested that family life-course stages correlate very mod-estly with many other measures of individual and family attributes (e.g., family life elements), partly because of the extent of heterogeneity within various stages (Mattessich and Hill 1987). In this study, household types and family, kinship, and friendship networks were used to derive a latent structure with four types of convoy structures that correspond to four family life stages.
Furthermore, a nonlinear relationship was found between intergenerational support exchanges with the four types of support structures. Respondents from the pre-family convoy were found to be in the earliest family life-course stages, and those from the pro-social convoy were in the similar or subsequent life stages, but subject to relatively disadvantaged statuses. Both groups could be characterized as lacking resources in terms of the available support networks. Consequently, they provided significantly less support to parents while deriving more support from others. By contrast, members of mature convoys were in the later family life-course stages, and were thus equipped with more abundant network resources. As a result, they were able to provide more support to their parents while receiving less support from them. Members of the extended convoy were characterized by the latest fam-ily life-course stage, and therefore had relatively fewer resources and made relatively fewer intergenerational support exchanges than mature convoy members.
The aforementioned findings indicate that an HbC is an empirically fea-sible concept for the study of intergenerational support exchanges because it is essentially a composite of several support networks. These networks vary with the progression through life-course stages and their availability can be easily identified. The combination of available networks forms convoy
subtypes that were processed with LCA in this study. On the other hand, the empirical findings of this study might contribute to family studies in several respects. First, they reveal a typology that corresponds to the family life-course stages by using a latent structure approach. Such an approach has been used to reveal the complex role configurations and the paths of individuals through different stages of the life course (Macmillan and Eliason 2003). The four con-voy classes reflect the abridged phases of the family life course proposed by Rollings and Feldman (1970) while incorporating social networks that have been maintained rather than being merely available. In other words, social net-works that were used to construct an HbC may be viewed as a core network in spite of their nature, and can thus be mobilized when needed (Marsden 1987).
The findings of this study were also consistent with Fei’s (1992) assertion that the immediate family is the source of the most important relationships within Chinese societies. Most members of mature and extended convoys fulfilled the definition of a modified extended family. Equipped with more network resources, they are able to provide more support to their parents but tend to receive less support from them. It is noted that when traditional extended families are spatially separated, the rules and content of exchanges are modified (Hwang 1987; Lee et al. 1994; Shi 1993; Silverstein et al. 2002).
The equity rule, which emphasizes the notion of reciprocating means, pre-vails as opposed to the traditional rule of need. Multiple exchange strategies are applied to meet the requests for certain types of support. Although more empirical evidence is needed, the equity rule may be shown to be more preva-lent than the rule of need in contemporary Taiwanese families. Finally, the findings also confirmed that immediate living kin tend to be the most impor-tant part of the support network (Peek and Lin 1999).
Our research findings reiterated Hogan and Eggebeen’s (1995) claim regarding the necessity to factor into consideration the completeness of the three concentric circles in Kahn and Antonucci’s (1981) convoy structure.
Unlike the assertion of Kahn and Antonucci (1981), we have found that Taiwanese households may omit one of the inner or outer circles as the focal person moves along the life course. Some may have only one or two circles, which will consequently influence the amount of support exchanges they engage in. The findings of another recent study also indicated that the lack of both social and kinship networks did not result in significantly less support provided to parents, compared to respondents with four full circles (Chen 2006b). Still, we acknowledge that Kahn and Antonucci’s (1981) three con-centric circles represent an ideal structure. Given that the issue of the convoy household model has not been fully examined in other societies, further empirical studies are needed to ratify the extent of its potential applicability.
Appendix. Descriptive of Regression Variables (n = 1,350)
Parameter %/Mean
Latent class
Pre-family convoy 0.18
Pro-social convoy 0.10
Mature convoy 0.40
Extended convoy 0.32
Sex (male)
Male 0.51
Female 0.49
Age 37.65
Younger than 30 0.23
30 to 59 0.75
60 or older 0.02
Education
Primary 0.16
Junior high 0.16
Senior high 0.34
Associate 0.18
College or more 0.17
Income
$29,999 0.18
$30,000 to $99,999 0.57
$100,000 and more 0.25
Marital status
Married or living with a partner 0.70
Single/divorced/widowed 0.30
Residence
Urban 0.33
Rural 0.67
Ethnicity
(continued)
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research and/or authorship of this article.
Parameter %/Mean
Minnan 0.77
Hakka 0.10
Mainlander 0.11
Other 0.02
Father’s residence
Urban 0.47
Rural 0.53
Mother’s residence
Urban 0.59
Rural 0.41
R Sick care 0.37
R Chores 0.43
R Advice 0.66
R Allow 1 0.06
R Allow 2 0.15
R Child care 0.25
P Sick care 0.64
P Chores 0.58
P Advice 0.71
P Allow 1 0.27
P Allow 2 0.52
Note: R indicates support received from parents. P indicates support provided to parents. Al-low 1 indicates monthly alAl-lowance. AlAl-low 2 indicates irregular alAl-lowance.
Appendix. (continued)
Notes
1. Given the moderate proportion of married respondents in our sample (43.4%), this trend may reflect the cultural practice of married Taiwanese to give irregular monetary allowances on special occasions such as Chinese New Year.
2. The US dollar/NT dollar exchange rate was about 1:34.5 at the time of the survey.
3. The positive effect of those between the ages of 30 and 59 years was significant at the 0.10 level.
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Bios
Chaonan Chen is a professor of health care administration at Asia University and an adjunct research fellow of the Institute of Economics, Academia Sinica. He served as the president of the Taiwan Population Association from 2000 to 2002 and as a mem-ber of the editorial board of the Journal of Population Studies beginning in 1990. His publications include three books, two conference proceedings, and many articles on Taiwan’s family planning, population aging, and intergenerational support exchanges.
Pei-shan Liao is an assistant research fellow at the Research Center for Humanities and Social Sciences, Academia Sinica. Her specialty is in research methods, and she has written publications on questionnaire design, sampling design, and quality of life.
Hui-lin Lin is a professor of economics at National Taiwan University, where she has served as deputy dean of the College of Social Sciences since August 2008. Her publications include three textbooks on statistics, one textbook on microeconomics, and many articles on empirical economics.