Results. Older parents in England had higher chances of at least weekly face-to-face social contact than their childless
counterparts but larger family size had only a slight additional effect. For parents, having at least one daughter was
more important than number of children. Larger family size was positively associated with receipt of help from a child
by parents with activities of daily living (ADL) or instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) limitations. Childless
women were more likely than mothers to receive help from friends but even so had lower odds of receiving help from any
informal source. Contact with a child in 2002 predicted receipt of help 2 years later.