Short Summary :

This paper examines the main socioeconomic and demographic determinants likely to influence individuals’ decisions to provide long-term care to their parents. To do so, we draw on original data from a survey conducted in 2023 among 2,300 people living in Quebec and Ontario, aged 45 to 58. We successively analyze three dimensions of the decision to provide anticipated help (the choice of the potential recipient, the type of care, and the expected weekly intensity) in order to capture the complexity of the decision-making process upstream of engagement in informal care. We show that these determinants are based on distinct trade-offs. The choice of caregiving arrangement is primarily shaped by organizational constraints (whether the caregiver works full time or not) and the anticipated burden (depending on the life expectancy of the care recipient), whereas the expected intensity of help depends on gender norms, time constraints (notably related to full-time employment and retirement), the perceived health status of the recipient, and the parent–child relationship. This heterogeneity highlights that the willingness to help stems neither from a purely affective logic nor from a strictly economic calculation.