Abstract
Suburbs have demographically diversified in terms of race, yet little research has been done on household structures in suburbs. Using the 2011 American Housing Survey and 2009–2013 American Community Survey, this study investigates the distributions of household structures in suburbia and central cities, and the relationship between household structures and residential attainment. The findings of this research include: (1) The distribution of household structures differs between suburbia and central cities. Married-couple households are the most common household type in both central cities and suburbs, but they are more likely to reside in suburbia than in central cities; (2) Household structure is a determinant of residential attainment and the relationship varies by race/ethnicity groups. Among Hispanics and Asians, multigenerational household structure is indicative of central city residence, but this association does not hold for whites and blacks. For multigenerational households, the odds of living in suburbia decreases by almost 40 percent among Hispanics and by almost 50 percent for Asians.
Highlights
The question of what makes people move has been the focus of research on residential mobility.The existing literature suggests that residential mobility can be understood with factors relating to different aspects
We confirmed that one-person households remain common and they are more prevalent in central cities than suburbia (H1a) and that married-couple households are the most popular household structure and they tend to reside in suburbia instead of central cities (H1b)
Our second major hypothesis focuses on the determinant of residential attainment, the relationship between household structure and suburbia residence and whether this relationship varies by race/ethnicity
Summary
The question of what makes people move has been the focus of research on residential mobility.The existing literature suggests that residential mobility can be understood with factors relating to different aspects. Studies have found that suburbs are diverse, including manufacturing suburbs and poor suburbs [4,5], and suburban residents have become demographically heterogeneous as shown by the presence of moderate and low income residents and black, Hispanic, and Asian minorities [4,6] They are still more homogeneous than in the central city [7], implying the preservation of affluent lifestyle. Given these underlying meanings of suburbian residence, moving to suburbia may have long been translated into assimilation to the mainstream culture and desirable social status, for minorities [3] This line of inquiry further explores the determinants of suburban residence and several factors have been identified. We decided to use a term, “household” because American Housing Survey (AHS) is a self-reported survey and interviewed one person (not necessarily the head) in a household to collect residence-related information
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