Parents' marital status also influences the availability of the generations to help each other, as well as their ability to help and need for help. When children are born outside of marriage or the parents' marriage dissolves, the roles of mothers and fathers diverge. Nonresident fathers and children are likely to lose touch with each other early in the child's life, and this disengagement may have lasting consequences for the availability of adult offspring to help their father toward the end of his life. The union status of adult offspring also affects their needs and resources available for intergenerational assistance as well as the network of people who may call on them for help (e.g., in-laws). In this section, we describe the mortality, fertility, and marriage trends that frame intergenerational relationships and that vary by education and race-ethnicity.