The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in its programs on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, and marital or familial status. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact the USDA Office of Communications at (202) 720-5881 (voice) or (202) 720-7808 (TDD). To file a complaint, write the Secretary of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC 20250, or call (202) 720-7327 (voice) or (202) 720-1127 (TDD). USDA is an equal employment opportunity employer. Nonmonetary Assistance and Advice Between Rural Southern Elderly: Housing Characteristics Trends in the Economic Status of Retired People Can IRA's Raise the Low National Savings Rate? Household Characteristics Affect Food Choices The Economic Well-Being of Farm Operator Households Recent Legislation Affecting Families Charts From Federal Data Sources Journal Abstracts and Book Summary Feature Articles Nonmonetary Assistance and By Julia M. Dinkins Family Economics Research Group Families and individuals interact with people in other households for many reasons, one of which is to provide or obtain help with day-to-day tasks. The 1987-88 National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH) was used to examine selected socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of baby-boomer respondents who, over a 1-month period, provided unpaid help to, or received it from, people in other households. Help with babysitting or child care, transportation, home or car repairs, other kinds of household tasks; and advice, encouragement, and moral or emotional support were reported. A majority of baby-boomer respondents were involved with interhousehold assistance (85 percent) and advice (80 percent). They were more likely to give and receive help (assistance, 63 percent; and advice, 62 percent) than to give help only, receive help only, or to neither give nor receive help. Those that boomers helped and were helped by were more likely to be nonrelatives than relatives. These findings are useful to family professionals who are concerned about this "sandwich" generation with multiple responsibilities to children and parents. F amilies and individuals interact with people in other households for many reasons, one of which is to provide or obtain help with day-to-day tasks so that demands on resources are met. This help may be transferred (one-way transaction) or exchanged (two-way transaction), nonfinancial or financial, voluntary or involuntary, may occur between or among generations, and may be in the form of goods or services (3,6). These interactions are of particular importance to baby boomers because they are the middle or "sandwich" generation. They have responsibilities to their children and their parents; however, they may also receive assistance from their parents or adult children. In a study of intergenerational assistance, |