ABSTRACT Objective This study provides an updated typology of intergenerational support between parents and adult children in contemporary China. Background A growing body of research has documented the diversity of intergenerational relationships among Chinese families, yet existing studies often lack granularity in capturing functional solidarity—particularly in distinguishing the type and direction of support flows—and rarely consider how these patterns vary systematically by gender and across age groups. Method Using 2022 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) data ( N = 8084 adult children aged 18–59), latent class analysis (LCA) identified distinct intergenerational support configurations. Multinomial regression analyzed associations between support types and offspring gender, age, socioeconomic characteristics, and parental characteristics. Results Six support configurations have emerged: (1) bidirectional (15.6%), (2) upward instrumental‐financial (11.3%), (3) upward financial (15.1%), (4) downward financial (13.1%), (5) downward instrumental (11.7%), and (6) no exchange (33.2%). Sons are more likely to be in reciprocal or support‐receiving types, while daughters are more often in non‐reciprocal or detached types. These gendered patterns persist across age groups, though downward support declines with age, particularly after midlife. Conclusion Intergenerational support in China is highly diverse, with the no exchange type emerging as the most prevalent. Patrilineal norms help explain sons' concentration in reciprocal and support‐receiving types, while alternative logics—such as altruism and self‐interest—contribute to daughters' overrepresentation in non‐reciprocal and detached configurations.
Zhou et al. (Fri,) studied this question.