The Impact of Adult Children’s Education on Elderly Parents’ Health and Old-Age Support

The aim of this dissertation is to study the effect of adult children's education on the health and economic wellbeing of their parents in old age. This dissertation contributes to the field of human capital theory through enhancing the understanding of the connections between adult children and parents in old age. It studies large nationally representative data sets in the US and China. The findings highlight the potential importance of pathways through which children’s human capital affects parents in later life and suggest that offspring’s human capital (education) is important for parental health and old-age support. This research has important implications for the amelioration of health disparities related to intergenerational inequality in both the U.S and China.