Population Ageing and the Well-Being of Older Persons in Thailand ...

Section 5: Family support and intergenerational exchanges
with no child next door although for over one fifth
their child lives outside their province. In contrast,
only six per cent of those with four or more children
had no child within the their own province.
Monetary filial support is also associated with family
size. The larger the number of adult children the
respondent has, the more likely children are a source
of income and the more likely they are to receive the
given amounts of monetary support shown. Still close
to threefourths of Thai elderly with only one child
and fourfifths with two report that children are a
source of income. Social contact with adult children
is less sensitive to the number of adult children.
Regardless of family size over fourfifths have at least
weekly contact with an adult child, well over 90
per cent have at least monthly contact, and over 95
per cent have at least annual contact.
These results suggest that the smaller family sizes
among the future elderly are unlikely to lead to a
substantial increase in the extent to which older age
Thai parents are deserted by their children.
However, reduced family size is likely to contribute to
further declines in coresidence and increases in the
share of elderly who are geographically separated from
their children. Smaller family size also seems to
reduce the extent to which elderly parents can expect
to receive monetary support.
Although family size appears to have some impact on
various aspects of support from children, human
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