BACKGROUND
In many Southeast Asian populations, urbanization and migration have increased the share of older adults supported by nonresident children. The expansion of mobile telephone infrastructure has emerged as a mechanism to bridge the spatial dispersion of families and to facilitate support for aging adults.

OBJECTIVE
We document two decades of change in the proximity of adult children of older people in Indonesia. We then ask how the arrival and expansion of mobile communication infrastructure changed key dimensions of intergenerational support: frequency of contact and material transfers.

METHODS
We combine data from a longitudinal, population-representative household survey with area-level information on mobile signal strength in Indonesia spanning the development of mobile telecommunication. We describe shifts in the family network available to older adults as well as changes in support between 1997 and 2014. We use fixed effect specifications to estimate the impact of the arrival of mobile telecommunication on intergenerational support.

RESULTS
For Indonesian older adults, the geographic dispersal of adult children increased over the two-decade period, but the proximate residence of at least one child remained stable. Weekly contact and the monetary value of material transfers to older people doubled. The arrival of mobile technology increased contact between aging parents and their adult children but had little impact on material transfers.



中文翻译：

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印度尼西亚移动电信兴起期间的代际支持（作者：皇甫一岳、Jenna Nobles）

背景
在许多东南亚人口中，城市化和移民增加了由非居民子女抚养的老年人的比例。移动电话基础设施的扩展已成为弥合家庭空间分散和促进对老年人的支持的一种机制。

目标
我们记录了印度尼西亚老年人与成年子女接近的 20 年变化。然后，我们询问移动通信基础设施的到来和扩展如何改变了代际支持的关键维度：联系频率和物质转移。

方法
我们将来自具有人口代表性的纵向家庭调查的数据与印度尼西亚跨越移动电信发展的区域级移动信号强度信息相结合。我们描述了 1997 年至 2014 年间老年人可用的家庭网络的变化以及支持的变化。我们使用固定效应规范来估计移动电信的到来对代际支持的影响。

结果
对于印度尼西亚的老年人来说，成年子女的地理分布在过去 20 年间有所增加，但至少有一名儿童的住所保持稳定。每周接触和向老年人转移物质的货币价值翻了一番。移动技术的到来增加了年迈父母与其成年子女之间的联系，但对物质转移的影响不大。