Increasing longevity has led to a rising number of adult children who are at higher ages when they provide care for their parents. Drawing on the lifecourse approach and exchange theory, the paper addresses similarities and differences in parent care between late middle-aged and older adult children. The study uses the UK Household Longitudinal Study, restricting the analysis sample to individuals aged 50 and older with a living parent or parent-in-law. It presents multivariate models to examine differences between late middle-aged (aged 50–64) and older (aged 65+) children in being a parent carer, providing intensive care, the duration of parent care and providing selected types of help to parents. The involvement in parent care increases among women up to the end of their seventh decade of life and for men up to their eighth decade of life. At higher ages, the proportion of parent carers decreases more strongly for women than men. Older carers have shorter care-giving episodes than younger carers, but there is no significant difference in the type of care provided. Even past retirement age, parent care remains classed and gendered, with women from lower social classes having the highest likelihood of providing intensive parent care in old age. Having dependent children or living in a non-marital union depress the likelihood of caring for a parent even past retirement age.

寿命的延长导致越来越多的成年子女在照顾父母时处于较高年龄。本文借鉴生命历程方法和交换理论，探讨了中老年儿童在父母照顾方面的异同。该研究使用英国家庭纵向研究，将分析样本限制为 50 岁及以上且有在世父母或岳父母的个人。它提供了多变量模型来检查中晚期（50-64 岁）和年长（65 岁以上）儿童在作为父母照顾者、提供重症监护、父母照顾的持续时间以及向父母提供特定类型的帮助方面的差异。女性到七岁结束时和男性到八岁前更多地参与父母照顾。在更高的年龄，女性的父母照顾者比例下降的幅度大于男性。年长的护理人员的护理时间比年轻的护理人员短，但提供的护理类型没有显着差异。即使过了退休年龄，父母照料仍然有等级和性别，来自较低社会阶层的女性最有可能在老年时提供密集的父母照料。有受抚养的孩子或生活在非婚姻关系中会降低照顾父母的可能性，甚至超过退休年龄。来自较低社会阶层的女性最有可能在老年时提供密集的父母护理。有受抚养的孩子或生活在非婚姻关系中会降低照顾父母的可能性，甚至超过退休年龄。来自较低社会阶层的女性最有可能在老年时提供密集的父母护理。有受抚养的孩子或生活在非婚姻关系中会降低照顾父母的可能性，甚至超过退休年龄。