Tagasaló o Nagsasalo? Precents and Consequences of Intergenerational Support in Later-Life Filipino Families

Filipino families are often described through the lens of utang na loob (debt of gratitude) and reciprocal obligation, but who actually ends up providing and receiving support as parents age — and why — remains an open empirical question. Is support concentrated in a single tagasaló — the family member who catches every financial and caregiving need? Or is it nagsasalo (feasting together) — shared and redistributed across siblings and generations? Against the backdrop of rising longevity, longer years spent living with disease and disability, and declining fertility shrinking the pool of sumasaló, what happens across the life course when a sumasalo today becomes the sole tagasaló tomorrow? This talk draws on life course theory and social exchange theory to identify the precedents and consequences of both giving and receiving intergenerational support among older Filipinos.