Are Single Adults Left Behind? Partnership Status and Compounded Disadvantage in Parental Support Across European Welfare Regimes

Veronika Corradi-Eiger , Masaryk University

Access to intergenerational support represents a critical mechanism through which family resources shape inequality among adult children in contemporary Europe. As the proportion of single adults rises across European societies, understanding how partnership status relates to parental support has become increasingly important. While partnered individuals benefit from shared household resources and dual family networks, single adults may face compounded disadvantage when parental support is also limited. Despite growing recognition of partnership status as a source of inequality, research has largely overlooked how parental transfers interact with partnership to create compounded disadvantage. This study examines whether access to financial, practical, and emotional support from parents varies by partnership status across European welfare regimes (Albertini & Kohli, 2013). The study leverages parent-reported downward intergenerational transfers from SHARE Wave 9 (2021–2022), covering large-scale data across 28 European countries. Two-level logistic regression models (children nested within parents) are estimated for each transfer type, controlling for socioeconomic, demographic, and family characteristics. Findings are expected to show systematic disparities between single and partnered adult children across parental support dimensions, with strongest compounded disadvantage anticipated in Southern European contexts where weak welfare support coincides with limited family resources. Conversely, Nordic regimes with robust welfare states may buffer against partnership-based inequality. Results contribute to understanding how partnership status intersects with welfare regimes to shape intergenerational solidarity and inform policy debates on welfare state design and support targeting, with implications for whether private safety nets reproduce or compensate for structural inequalities across European contexts.

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 Presented in Session P1. Families, Fertility, and the Life Course 1