Living Arrangements and Social Integration

Abstract

Changes in the composition of American households over the past several decades-particularly increases in the numbers of persons living alone and single-parents living with their children-call attention to potential differences in levels of social integration that accompany differing types of living arrangements. In this paper we review the nature of trends in household living arrangements and examine the potential consequences of types of living arrangements for levels of social integration. With respect to the latter objective, we examine data from a 1978 national survey (N = 3,692) of the U.S. population, showing that persons living alone frequently exhibit higher levels on important measures of extrahousehold social connectedness than those living with others. While lacking the social contact that naturally accompanies living with others, persons living alone appear to be no less attached outside the household and in some instances have higher levels of such contact. These results are supported by a complementary analysis of national data on time use, which confirms the broad outlines of these findings. We conclude from these analyses that, rather than being an isolating situation into which persons are forced against their will, living alone is often a preferred arrangement for which compensating mechanisms of social support often exist.