title: Why Do Families Differ? Children's Care for an Unmarried Mother.
abstract: An adult child's provision of care to an unmarried elderly mother varies both within and between families. Within-family differences address the variation in different children's behavior within in a family. Between-family differences refer to the propensities that members of a family-the children of one mother-share and that differentiate them from other families. Previous research suggests five hypotheses affecting either within-family or between-family differences. Data from multiple waves of the Asset and Health Dynamics Among the Oldest Old (AHEAD) cohort of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS; 16,719 observations on 5,607 mother-child dyads in 1,925 families) are used to estimate a multilevel model with a binary outcome. Results indicate substantial differences between families. Mother's characteristics, family composition, and family history account for about half the between-family differences.
authors.affiliation: Box 117330, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611-7330 ( henretta@ufl.edu ).
authors.forename: John C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Henretta
authors.forename: Beth J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Soldo
authors.forename: Matthew F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Van Voorhis