Transnational Care of the Elderly

Transnational caregiving refers to the exchange of care and support across national boundaries. There are many important issues faced by transnational caregivers of the elderly, a topic of increasing interest in an ethnically changing world. In today's global economy, a great deal of communication, support, exchange, and care takes place bi-directionally between adults and their parents who reside in different nations. Although illness or disability can occur at any time throughout the life cycle, transnational care primarily focuses on caregiving by migrant adult children for their elderly parents who remained in their homeland. Here we examine the importance and growth of transnational care and selected variables (e.g., gender, culture, family histories, and migrants’ socioeconomic status) that impact upward care provided by adult children to elderly parents.