JUST over half of Australians think parents should help their adult children with a home deposit.
For people hoping to rely on the “bank of mum and dad”, the news gets worse, with 60 per cent of participants in an ECU survey agreeing parents should be willing to provide a paltry $1500 to help their kids get a foot on the property ladder.
The university’s School of Arts and Humanities researchers surveyed 300 people about their attitudes towards giving adult children money for a house deposit as well as a holiday and medical procedure.
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READ NOWThey found more than 80 per cent of participants agreed $1500 should be given for a medical procedure compared to 15 per cent for a holiday.
Other results included participants were more likely to endorse parents giving their child money if they were aged in their 20s than in their 30s.
Women were slightly less likely than men to agree money should be given.
Lead researcher Deirdre Drake said competing themes emerged when participants were asked about their stance.
“Those who agreed with giving money to adult children commonly cited the idea that parents should always help their children whilst those who disagreed with giving money referred commonly to the idea that adults need to be responsible for themselves,” she said.
Dr Drake said the research had implications for social policy development.
“As the period of transition from childhood adulthood has become longer, there has been a trend across many industrialised countries towards governments attempting to reduce social welfare and transfer more financial responsibility onto family members,” she said.
“Our results suggest that governments need to be cautious about assuming that parents will support their adult children financially; many parents are willing to do so, but not for everything and not in all situations.”
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