Intergenerational cohabitation and welfare attitudes among European young adults

Abstract

This article explores the relationship between intergenerational cohabitation and welfare attitudes focusing on the perspective of cohabiting adult children in Europe. Cohabitation constitutes a common support arrangement for young adults who face labour market risk, reducing their need for state-based welfare, but might also lead to feelings of frustration when the dependency clashes with social norms, increasing the incentives to demand policies that enable emancipation. Using data from the 8th wave of the European Social Survey, I fit ordered logistic models for a sample of 6895 young adults in 16 European countries, focusing on attitudes towards unemployment benefits and basic income. Results indicate that the link between labour market risk and attitudes is weaker when young adults live with their parents. Moreover, living with parents is associated with higher demand for basic income schemes, but this effect is weaker in countries where cohabitation constitutes a common support arrangement. These findings highlight the relevance of considering the household context when studying the link between labour market risk and welfare attitudes, and suggest that norms regarding the division of responsibilities between families and the state might hold back demand for state-based welfare in familialistic countries.