An Analysis of Exchanges amongst Kin in Mexican Families

Cecilia A. Rabell, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

In order to analyze and compare inter-generational and intra-generational exchanges, we study the different ways in which family members who do not live in ego’s household help when ego’s family lives through a critical situation such as death, a severe illness, etc. We therefore study what ego (family head or spouse) receives from his most important family figures: parents, siblings and adult children and also, for comparative reasons, from friends and neighbors. We include in our analysis the type of help received (emotional and economic support, goods and services) and the problems it aims to solve (health, emotional or economic problems, amongst others).Our findings suggest that the patterns of inter-generational exchanges are gender related and vary greatly according to socio-economic differences. The data comes from the National Family Dynamics Survey which includes 18,094 household heads or spouses and is representative of the Mexican adult population.