Abstract
The rise of life expectancy throughout the developed world has meant that older adults play an increasingly important role in their grown-up children’s lives. We evaluate whether the intergenerational solidarity theory is useful for understanding the intergenerational transfers of time in Japan given the relatively generous welfare provision for the older adults and the fall in intergenerational coresidence. We apply seemingly unrelated regression models to data of the 2006 Japanese Survey on Time Use and Leisure Activities (Statistics Bureau Japan, 2006) to investigate how coresidence patterns are associated with paid and unpaid work time of adult married children. The sample contains 23,226 married couples where both husband and wife are aged 20 to 59. We find evidence of intergenerational solidarity in coresident households. We also find that “doing gender” is layered through intergenerational exchanges of support between married working-age children and their older parents. Working-age women’s time use patterns are associated with coresidence arrangements and care needs of their older relatives to a much greater extent than working-age men’s. The observed patterns are consistent with healthy older women supporting their daughters’ careers in exchange for care when they need help themselves. For working-age men, the patterns are not very pronounced. Notably, working-age husbands without children appear to be more responsive to their older the parents’ care needs, suggesting that fatherhood may be associated with solidifying gendered role performance within Japanese couples.
Highlights
Coresidence with older parents has attracted the attention of many researchers in recent decades
As the older adults get older and frailer, they require care themselves. The latter scenario has given rise to widespread concerns about the sandwich generation in which adult children face double care responsibilities as they need to care for young children and frail older adults at the same time, potentially undermining their ability to succeed in the labour market (e.g., Vlachantoni et al, 2020)
This paper has provided a comprehensive account of variation in married men’s and women’s paid work, housework and childcare, and older-adult care time using large scale national survey data of Japan
Summary
Coresidence with older parents has attracted the attention of many researchers in recent decades. 65 or above happened at the same time as several dramatic shifts in family behaviours occur These include falling family sizes, a rise in women’s educational attainment and labour market participation (Fingerman et al, 2020). In this context, older adults can play two roles in their extended families. The prevalence of coresidence has been falling in Japan over time, it is still a common practice even among the young older adults aged 65–74 This decline in coresidence has been accompanied by a steady increase in the prevalence of residential proximity to parents among recently married men and women in Japan (Kato, 2013; Wang & Raymo, 2020). Several generations of one family residing nearby are likely to support each other with unpaid work in ways somewhat similar to residing households (e.g. Chen et al, 2000; Raymo et al, 2010)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
