The number of relatives and geographical proximity between them affects informal support provided to older persons. In this study, we investigate whether (a) childless persons and parents living remotely from their adult children experience similar shortages in informal support, and (b) whether neighbours, friends and other non-family helpers compensate for these shortages. On the basis of Survey on Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) data for 12 European countries, we estimate the probability and amount of informal non-financial support received by persons aged 65 and over who remain childless or live at different distances to their children. The contribution of non-family individuals is rather complementary to the help from family. Parents residing in the proximity of their children rely almost exclusively on family; as the geographical distance between adult children and older parents increases, the probability and amount of non-family support increase as well. But childless individuals differ from parents of remotely living children: the former rely on smaller support networks and resort more often to other relatives than the latter. Non-family individuals compensate for the scarcity of informal support only in the case of parents of distant children, but not in the case of childless individuals.

亲戚的数量和他们之间的地理亲近度会影响向老年人提供的非正式支持。在这项研究中，我们调查（a）远离成年子女的无子女人士和父母在非正式支持方面是否经历了类似的短缺，以及（b）邻居，朋友和其他非家庭佣工是否能够弥补这些短缺。根据12个欧洲国家的欧洲健康，老龄和退休调查（SHARE）数据，我们估算了65岁及65岁以上的无子女或生活在不同距离的人所获得的非正式非财务支持的可能性和金额。他们的孩子。非家庭成员的贡献与家庭的帮助相当互补。居住在子女附近的父母几乎完全依靠家庭；随着成年子女与年长父母之间的地理距离的增加，非家庭抚养的可能性和数量也随之增加。但是，没有孩子的人不同于居住在异地的孩子的父母：前者依靠较小的支持网络，与后者相比，他们更多地求助于其他亲戚。不带家属的人仅在有远方子女的父母的情况下才能弥补非正式支持的不足，而对没有子女的人则不能。