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Abstract
Financial assistance from family and friends is an important resource for lower-income families dealing with difficult economic circumstances. This fact examines what percent of respondents in low-income neighborhoods gave financial help, either to family and friends or to other people they live with, in the last 12 months. The percentage of respondents who gave financial help is high—39 percent, with substantial variation within immigrant and U.S.-born respondent groups by race and ethnicity in the proportion that gave and where the assistance was sent
Introduction
Financial assistance from family and friends is an important
resource for lower-income families dealing
with difficult economic circumstances. Using data from
the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Making Connections
Cross-Site Survey (2002–2004)1, we examine what percent
of respondents in low-income neighborhoods gave
financial help, either to family and friends or to other
people they live with, in the last 12 months. We further
examine how this giving differs by nativity and racial
and ethnic group.
Overall, the percentage of respondents who gave
financial help is high—39 percent. This does not differ
substantially when we examine immigrant and U.S.-
born groups as a whole. However, the aggregate numbers
mask substantial differences within these groups.
Among U.S.-born respondents, approximately two-fifths
of whites, blacks, and Asian Americans gave financial
help to family and friends. U.S.-born Hispanics gave
financial help at a substantially lower rate (30 percent).
Among immigrant respondents, those from Africa
and the West Indies (combined) had the highest rates
of giving financial assistance (53 percent). At 46 percent,
respondents from Europe and Canada (combined)
and Latin America were the next most likely groups to
give help. Immigrants from Southeast Asia and China
and India (combined) gave at much lower rates (31 and
21 percent respectively).
Not surprisingly, the groups differ substantially in
whether the financial assistance given is to those within
the U.S. or out of the country. Only 10 percent of U.S.-
born respondents who gave financial assistance sent it
outside of the country, as compared with 83 percent of
immigrant respondents. Of the U.S.-born respondents
who gave financial help, whites and blacks sent only
7 percent out of the country. Approximately 20 percent
of U.S.-born Asian and Hispanic respondents who gave
financial help sent it out of the country.
There are also substantial differences between the
immigrant groups. Respondents of
from Africa and the West Indies
(combined), Southeast Asia, and
Latin America sent over threefourths
of their financial assistance
to family and friends outside of the
country (75, 83, and 88 percent
respectively). Respondents from
Europe and Canada (combined)
and China and India (combined)
have lower rates of sending help
outside of the country than other
immigrant groups (49 and 56 percent
respectively).
1 The Making Connections Cross-Site Survey is a product of the Annie E. Casey Foundation. For more information, see http://www.aecf.org/Major Initiatives/MakingConnections/FAQs.aspx (accessed May 5, 2008).
(The article is available in PDF format.)
The nonpartisan Urban Institute publishes studies, reports, and books on timely topics worthy of public consideration. The views expressed are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the Urban Institute, its trustees, or its funders.
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