Coresident Adult Children Research Articles

The impact of adult children living at home on the well-being of Spanish parents: Evidence from panel data

Despite the prevalence of co-residence of adult children and their parents across Europe, there is only limited empirical evidence on the impact of such living arrangements on well-being. This paper investigates the impact of adult children living in the household on the well-being of Spanish parents aged 50-75. Using three waves of panel data from the Spanish Survey of Household Finances we assess whether the impact on parental well-being differs depending on the age of the child, and whether the effect depends on the gender of the parent. We find that there is a negative impact on parents' well-being of older adult children (aged 30 or over) living in the household, while cohabitation with younger children (aged 18-29) is not found to affect parental well-being. When analysing the impact on mothers and fathers separately we find that the negative effect of older children living in the household is driven by a significant reduction in the well-being of mothers, with no evidence of a corresponding effect on fathers. The negative effect on mothers' well-being seems to be related to co-residence with older sons rather than older daughters.

Living arrangements and intergenerational support among older Chinese: Does the gender of the co-resident adult children make a difference?

This study examines the effect of living arrangements on intergenerational support for older Chinese, using a nationally representative survey data of 9713 respondents (mean age = 70.18 years). The results of a generalised ordered logit and logit model showed that older adults living with a daughter received better instrumental and emotional support than those living with a son. The associations between residing with a daughter and the provision of intergenerational support varied between urban- and rural-dwelling older adults. The findings suggest that attention should be given to the gender perspective in gerontological social work practices and family support policies.

Long-term trends in intergenerational proximity: Evidence from a grandchild design.

Competing claims exist about how the geographic distance between parents and their adult children has changed historically. A classic modernisation hypothesis is that people currently live further away from their parents than in the past. Others have argued for stability and the remaining importance of local family ties, in spite of a long‐term decline in co‐residence of adult children and parents. The current paper uses a novel design that relies on reports by grandchildren to study long‐term changes in intergenerational proximity in the Netherlands. The analyses show that there has been a clear and continuous decline in intergenerational proximity between the 1940s and the 1990s. Mediation analyses show that educational expansion and urbanisation are the main reasons why proximity declined. No evidence is found for the role of secularisation and increasing international migration. Proximity to parents declined somewhat more strongly for women than for men.

Living separately but living close: Coresidence of adult children and parents in urban China

Background: Studies in previous decades have shown that patterns of intergenerational coresidence in China have been diminishing. However, few studies have documented the level of intergenerational coresidence for a wide range of ages. Furthermore, most studies on the topic are based on data collected more than 10 years ago. Objective: In this study, we document the intergenerational coresidence patterns of a wide range of ages, from 25 to 60, in urban China. We employ updated national data collected in 2013 that covers 2,585 counties in China. Methods: We conducted three sets of analysis. The first set includes all cases. For the second set, we kept cases with at least one parent living in the same city and conducted the same analysis as in the first set. The dependent variable of these two sets of analysis is whether the adult child coresides with at least one parent. The third set includes only those adult children who do not live with their parents. We explore the probability of adult children at different ages living in the same city as their parents. Results: There is a U-shaped relationship between the age of adult children and the predicted probability of coresidence with parents. The predicted probability of intergenerational coresidence is higher among younger and older adult children, although it remains low at all ages. More importantly, among those living separately, we found a positive linear relationship between the age of the adult child and the predicted probability of living in the same city. Contribution: The findings suggest that coresidence of parents and adult children is no longer a dominant intergenerational living arrangement pattern in urban China. Living separately but close has become a dominant pattern.

Children’s education and parental old-age health: Evidence from a population-based, nationally representative study in India

Previous research has documented intergenerational transmission of human capital from children to parents. Less is known, however, about heterogeneity in this ‘upward transmission’ in low-resource settings. We examine whether co-resident adult children’s education is associated with improved health among older parents in India, using nationally representative data from the 2014 Indian National Sample Survey. Parents of children with tertiary education had a lower probability of reporting poor health than parents of children with less than primary education. The benefits of children’s education persisted after controlling for economic factors, suggesting that non-pecuniary pathways—such as health knowledge or skills—may play an important role. The association was more pronounced among economically dependent parents and those living in the North and West regions. Taken together, our results point to a strong positive association between children’s education and parental health, the role of non-pecuniary pathways, and the importance of subnational heterogeneity in India.

The Structure and Determinants of Intergenerational Support Exchange Flows in an Eastern European Setting.

Although the provision, receipt, and bidirectionality of support exchanges are important for generational well-being, our understanding of them is lacking in Eastern Europe, a region undergoing swift population aging and social change. This study links intergenerational support exchanges to determinants in Romania, with a focus on proximity of adult children. Data are from the Romanian Aging and Migration Survey (N = 1,398). Analyses involve two stages. First, latent class analysis (LCA) is conducted to develop an intergenerational support typology. The second uses the typology as a dependent variable in multivariate equations predicting exchange determinants. LCA analysis yielded six propensity classes. Physical distance strongly predicts class membership. Having coresident adult children increases the likelihood of bidirectional exchange. Having an international migrant adult child reduces the chances, even with coresident adult children present. International migrant children lead to a higher probability of being a nonexchanger or receiving monetary support. There is a need for continued consideration of bidirectional exchange models in rapidly developing contexts.

Conflict and negotiation in intergenerational care: Older women’s experiences of caring with the Old Age Grant in South Africa

Social policy and welfare provision have converged with socio-economic conditions, cultural beliefs about kin support and intra-household dynamics to position older women as important financial providers in their families. This article draws on the findings of a qualitative study about intergenerational relationships of care in a large township near Cape Town. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with fourteen female Old Age Grant recipients and some of their co-resident adult children. The article focuses on the grant recipients’ experiences of giving and receiving financial support (‘financial care’) in their intergenerational relationships. It also unpacks the intra-household dynamics involved in this caregiving. Although the grant better enabled the women in the study to meet the needs of their households, beliefs about the mutual and shared responsibility for financial caregiving in families informed their expectations of financial assistance from younger kin. When their co-resident younger relatives did earn an income, negotiations around the provision of financial care ensued; generating conflict and reflecting unequal power relations between relatives. These dynamics contributed to the women’s experiences of vulnerability and their high burden of care. In this context, the article examines the state’s role in the care process and how it has contributed to the gendered and generational distribution of care work in families.

Co-residence of adult children with their parents: differences by migration background explored and explained

ABSTRACTResearch on majority populations throughout Europe showed strong attachment and exchange of support between parents and their adult children. Studies on migrant families are limited yet needed in light of the increasing share of older people of migrant origin in European populations. One of the main sources of intergenerational support and care is via coresidence of (older) parents and their adult children. In this paper, we first analyse whether co-residence of adult children with their parents differs between migrants and non-migrants across Europe. Second, we assess the potentially differential effect of resources and socio-demographic factors among the migrant and non-migrant population as well as migrant-specific factors (migrant generation and region of origin). Data on five countries, with different migration patterns and histories, covered in the first wave of the Generation and Gender Survey are used (Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, and the Netherlands). Results show that levels of adult child–parent co-residence do not vary significantly by migrant status but do differ across Europe. Furthermore, we find that socio-demographic factors are important and have a similar association with parent–child coresidence for migrants and non-migrants. Our study does, however, suggest differences in co-residence by region of origin and migrant generation.

House Price and co-Residence with Older Parents: Evidence from China

Numerous Chinese families choose to reside together with their elderly parents due to the considerable impacts of conventional values such as filial duty in Chinese society. However, as house prices rocketed up in major Chinese cities over the past decade, this arrangement is facing a sizeable challenge, therefore also raising new research question about it. This paper attempts to investigate the phenomenon of co-residence of adult children with their elderly parents in China. Using the 2013 data of China Household Finance Survey (CHFS), we document that house price is indeed a significant determinant for the pattern of intergenerational co-residence. Our empirical results can provide interesting insights into the important implication of rising house price for household residential arrangements in this country.

Adult Children Living With Aging Parents: The Association Between Income and Parental Affect.

This study examined the moderating effect of parental income on the association between parent-child coresidence and parental affect. Secondary analysis was conducted with data from the ORANJ BOWL panel, a representative sample of adults in New Jersey, aged 50 to 74 years ( N = 5,688). Results indicated that income had a significant moderating effect on the association between the adult child's residential status and parents' positive and negative affect. Among parents with coresident adult children, an observed decline in positive affect and rise in negative affect were amplified as parental income level increased, suggesting differential strains on parental well-being across income levels.

Returns home by children and changes in parents’ well-being in Europe

Co-resident adult children may be a source of emotional and instrumental support for older parents, but also a source of conflict and stress. Results from previous research are far from conclusive and indicate that intergenerational co-residence may have both negative and positive effects on parents' depressive symptoms and physical health. We analyse longitudinal data from four waves of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (2007-2015) to examine whether returns to the parental home by adult children are associated with changes in the quality of life of parents aged 50-75. Results from fixed effects linear regression models show that returns to the parental home by adult children were associated with decreases in parents' quality of life and that this largely reflected declines associated with the return of a child to an ‘empty nest’ where no other children were still co-resident. In line with previous research which has indicated differing effects of co-residence on parents' depressive symptoms by cultural tradition, this effect was largely driven by decreases in parents' quality of life in a grouping of Nordic/social-democratic. There were no associations between changes in parental quality of life and the returning child's characteristics, although unemployment of a child was negatively, and new partnership of a child, positively associated with changes in parental quality of life.

Household changes and diversity in housing consumption at older ages in Scotland

ABSTRACTThis paper contributes to understanding housing adjustments in later life by investigating the role of four key lifecourse transitions experienced by older individuals and their households, namely changes in health, retirement, union transitions and adult children leaving the household. Using data from a representative sample of the Scottish population for the decade 2001–2011, the study examines who moves and, for movers, whether they adjust their housing size in response to changes in their personal and household circumstances. In particular, the study explores diversity in housing consumption at older ages by investigating whether the triggers of upsizing or downsizing differ across tenure groups. The majority of older adults in Scotland do not change their place of residence during the study decade. For the minority who do move, all four lifecourse transitions are significant triggers for residential relocation but there is considerable diversity across the two major tenure groups in the influence of household changes on their housing consumption adjustments. In both tenure groups, however, the presence of children in the household is associated with upsizing and is a significant impediment to downsizing. Given the relative rootedness of older parents with co-resident adult children and their propensity to upsize rather than downsize if they move, our findings raise concerns over the interdependencies between younger and older generations in the housing market.

House Price and Intergenerational Co-Residence Choices: Evidence from China

In contrast to most Western countries, numerous Chinese families can, to a large extent, be characterized as co-residence with their elderly parents due to the effects of the conventional values such as filial duty in Chinese society. However, as house prices rocketed up in major Chinese cities over the past decade, the category of living arrangement is facing a considerable challenge and drawing much attention. As a result, this paper attempts to investigate the determining factors of the co-residence of adult children with their elderly parents in China. Using the 2013 data of China Household Finance Survey (CHFS), we document that house price is indeed a significant determinant for the pattern of intergenerational co-residence. Our empirical results also provide interesting insights on the important implication of population ageing for the family living arrangement in this country.

The more the merrier? Fertility and food insecurity among older Senegalese women

ABSTRACTThe number of children women have is a critical determinant of their future wellbeing. Often, adult children confer some protection against adverse conditions in their older ages. In many sub-Saharan African societies, it is expected that older women who typically have had many children, will benefit from their investment in children. Yet it is unclear if this is really the case. Using data from the 10 per cent micro-sample of the 2002 Senegalese Population and Housing Census, this study investigates the effect of the childbearing histories of older women (aged 60–85) on the likelihood that their households experienced food insecurity in the past year. Women who had had no children and those who had ever had two or more, were not significantly different from those who had had five or more – only those who had had one child were adversely affected. Based on principles of intergenerational altruism and moral obligation, I expected that food insecurity would decrease with increases in the number of surviving children. This pattern was generally found. However, among women in the bottom 40 per cent of the wealth distribution, the relationship was, at best, weak with respect to all of the fertility variables (children ever had, living, co-resident). The benefits of high fertility seem to accrue to relatively richer women – those in the top 60 per cent of the wealth distribution. Yet among these richer women, having fewer than three children and co-resident adult children were significant risk factors of food insecurity.

Parental Status and Subjective Well-Being Among Currently Married Individuals in China

Using data from the 2006 Chinese General Social Survey ( N = 2,515), we examine the relationship between parental status and subjective well-being among Chinese adults who are in their first marriages. After accounting for background characteristics, parents and childless individuals do not report significantly different feelings of well-being. When parental status is disaggregated according to family structure, parents of adult children only report higher levels of subjective well-being than both parents of minor children and the childless. The number of daughters is positively associated with feelings of well-being. Furthermore, the effects of coresiding with adult children appear to depend on whether one has minor children in the household. Coresident adult children are positively associated with well-being when minor children are also present but are negatively associated with well-being when minor children are not present.

Proximity and Co-residence of Adult Children and their Parents in the United States: Descriptions and Correlates

In this paper we provide an overview of the patterns of intergenerational proximity and coresidence of adult children and their mothers in the U.S., using data from the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH) and the U.S. Census. We highlight the importance of three specification and sample choices in the analysis.First, most previous studies consider coresidence to be the limiting case of proximity, using Tobit, ordered logit, or ordered probit specifications. We argue that proximity and coresidence are qualitatively different, and show that the multinomial logit provides a better representation of the patterns in the data. Second, we argue that substantial differences in the correlates of proximity by gender and marital status indicate the importance of modeling these categories separately. Third, the NSFH allows us to consider the proximity of couples to both his mother and her mother. This information is rarely available in survey data but is important for complete analyses.Our results show that education and age are the most robust predictors of proximity: college graduates are less likely to live near their mothers and older children live further from their mothers. Other demographic variables such as race, ethnicity and only child status also affect the probability of close proximity and coresidence. However, characteristics indicating adult children's current need for transfers (e.g. grandchildren) are not correlated with either close proximity or coresidence, while characteristics indicating mothers' current needs for transfers (e.g., disability) are correlated with coresidence but not close proximity.

Proximity and Coresidence of Adult Children and Their Parents in the United States: Description and Correlates

In this paper we provide an overview of the patterns of intergenerational proximity and coresidence of adult children and their mothers in the U.S., using data from the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH) and the U.S. Census. We highlight the importance of three specification and sample choices in the analysis.First, most previous studies consider coresidence to be the limiting case of proximity, using Tobit, ordered logit, or ordered probit specifications. We argue that proximity and coresidence are qualitatively different, and show that the multinomial logit provides a better representation of the patterns in the data. Second, we argue that substantial differences in the correlates of proximity by gender and marital status indicate the importance of modeling these categories separately. Third, the NSFH allows us to consider the proximity of couples to both his mother and her mother. This information is rarely available in survey data but is important for complete analyses.Our results show that education and age are the most robust predictors of proximity: college graduates are less likely to live near their mothers and older children live further from their mothers. Other demographic variables such as race, ethnicity and only child status also affect the probability of close proximity and coresidence. However, characteristics indicating adult children's current need for transfers (e.g. grandchildren) are not correlated with either close proximity or coresidence, while characteristics indicating mothers' current needs for transfers (e.g., disability) are correlated with coresidence but not close proximity.

Proximity and Coresidence of Adult Children and their Parents: Description and Correlates

The ability of family members to engage in intergenerational transfers of hands-on care requires close proximity or coresidence. In this paper we describe and analyze the patterns of proximity and coresidence involving adult children and their mothers using data from the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH) and the U.S. Census. Although intergenerational coresidence has been declining in the United States, most Americans live within 25 miles of their mothers. In both the raw data and in regression analyses, the most robust predictor of proximity of adult children to their mothers is education. Individuals are less likely to live near their mothers if they have a college degree. Virtually all previous studies have considered coresidence alone, or else treat coresidence as a limiting case of close proximity. We show that this treatment is misleading. We find substantial differences in the correlates of proximity by gender and marital status, indicating the need to model these categories separately. Other demographic variables such as age, race and ethnicity also affect the probability of coresidence and close proximity, but characteristics indicating a current need for transfers (e.g., disability) are not correlated with close proximity.

Variations in Support Exchange by Marital Status and Gender

BACKGROUNDFor most people, informal networks of family and friends provide die ties along which social, emotional, instrumental, material, and financial assistance is exchanged. For many with scant resources, informal exchange is key in enabling survival (e.g., Stack, 1974; Zavella, 1987). Even for tiiose with more resources, this support provides connection and aid at life transitions, such as while establishing one's self in young adulthood (e.g., Logan & Spitze, 1996) or becoming more dependent in later life (Connidis, 2001). Another important life transition is marriage. Those who are married can differ significantly from those who are single in the types of aid that are both needed and available. This report explores such possibilities, examining how support exchange is related to the marital status of those involved, and how that may differ by gender. The data are from a survey on support exchange conducted by the author.PRIOR RESEARCH ONMARRIAGE AND SUPPORT NETWORK PARTICIPATIONPrior research demonstrates a number of differences in support network exchange which are related to the marital status of the participants. The social networks of the married are larger than those of the unmarried (Rands, 1988). The married are more prone to give monetary aid to network members than are the unmarried. Coresidence of adult children and parents is more prevalent if the adult children are single (Aquilino, 1990). Unmarried people are likely to give aid requiring time rather than money, such as rides or help with chores (Rossi & Rossi, 1990). Almeida et al. (2001) noted that single men and women give fewer dollars per week to their kin than do married men and women. Marital status also affects aid received. Adult children give more assistance to parents who are single than to parents who are married (Coward etal., 1992).Marital status hence corresponds to a variety of differences in support networks. It also is a truism that men and women exchange aid differently. Johnson (2000) found that women are more involved with their relatives than are men, contacting them more frequently and giving and receiving more help. Women exchange different types of aid with family and friends than do men, with the type of help often corresponding to gender norms (Rossi & Rossi, 1990). For example, women provide emotional support to members of their network (Wellman & Wortley, 1990) and men use their job skills to help each other (Wellman, Carrington, & Hall, 1988).Prior work thus suggests that both marital status and gender correspond to different types of exchanges between various support network members. This report examines how marital status and gender are intertwined in shaping the types of exchange people give each other. It does so using a sample selected to maximize its racial/ethnic diversity, whereas much of the research cited above is based upon primarily White samples.RESEARCH SITE, METHODS AND SAMPLEThis paper is based on fieldwork conducted in Culver City, California between 1997 and 1999. Culver City was chosen due to its relative diversity. It is one of the few local communities to have a population of 10% or more in each of the four major racial/ethnic groups: nonHispanic Whites (58%), African Americans (10%), Asian Americans (12%), and Hispanics (20%) (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1994). Culver City is also geographically segregated. This enabled the use of a two-stage probability sample that incorporated block stratification by the four racial/ethnic categories. The sampling frame was obtained from 1990 Census block data. Residential blocks with 20 dwelling units or more (328 total) were assigned to one of nine strata based on their racial/ethnic composition. Fifty two blocks then were selected from each stratum via systematic sampling. Twenty dwelling units per block were selected randomly for survey receipt. A total of 1,040 questionnaires were mailed to city households. …

Elevated Depressive Symptoms among Caregiving Grandparents

To determine whether caregiving grandparents are at an increased risk for depressive symptoms. National sample (n=10,293) of grandparents aged 53-63 years in 1994, and their spouse/partners, who took part in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). Grandparents were surveyed in 1994 and resurveyed every two years thereafter, through 2000. Over that period, 977 had a grandchild move in or out of their home. These grandparents served as their own controls to assess the impact of having a grandchild in the home. Data Extraction. Depressive symptoms were measured using an abbreviated form of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression (CES-D) scale, scored 1-8, with a score > or =4 associated with depression "caseness". At the time of the 1994 interview, 8.2 percent of grandparents had a grandchild in their home. However, there was substantial variation across demographic groups (e.g., 29.4 percent of single nonwhite grandmothers, but only 2.0 percent of single white grandfathers had a grandchild in residence). The impact of having a grandchild in the home varied by grandparent demographic group, with single grandparents and those without coresident adult children experiencing the greatest probability of elevation in depressive symptoms when a grandchild was in residence. For example, single nonwhite grandmothers experienced an 8 percentage point increase in the probability of having a CES-D score > or =4 when a grandchild was in their home, compared to when a grandchild was not in their home, controlling for changes in health care, income, and household composition over time (95 percent CI=0.1 to 15.0 percentage points). Grandparents have a greater probability of elevated depressive symptoms when a grandchild is in their home, versus when a grandchild is not in their home. Single women of color bear a disproportionate burden of the depression associated with caring for grandchildren. Since an increasing number of grandparents function as a de facto safety net keeping their grandchildren out of formal foster care, identifying strategies to support the health and well-being of caregiving grandparents is an emerging priority.