Growing Parental Economic Power in Parent–Adult Child Households: Coresidence and Financial Dependency in the United States, 1960–2010

Abstract

Research on coresidence between parents and their adult children in the United States has challenged the myth that elders are the primary beneficiaries, instead showing that intergenerationally extended households generally benefit the younger generation more than their parents. Nevertheless, the economic fortunes of those at the older and younger ends of the adult life course have shifted in the second half of the twentieth century, with increasing financial well-being among older adults and greater financial strain among younger adults. This article uses U.S. census and American Community Survey (ACS) data to examine the extent to which changes in generational financial well-being over the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries have been reflected in the likelihood of coresidence and financial dependency in parent-adult child U.S. households between 1960 and 2010. We find that younger adults have become more financially dependent on their parents and that while older adults have become more financially independent of their adult children, they nevertheless coreside with their needy adult children. We also find that the effect of economic considerations in decisions about coresidence became increasingly salient for younger adults, but decreasingly so for older adults.

Under one roof: The effect of co-residing with adult children on depression in later life

“…While there are multiple explanations for these trends, one of the major drivers has been a rise in the proportion of people living without their adult children in older age (Gratton & Gutmann, 2010;Iacovou, 2002). However, recent years have witnessed a reversal in this trend, attributed to an increasing number of children staying longer or moving back to the parental home in response to the high unemployment rates associated with the recent economic downturn (Kahn, Goldscheider, & Garciá-Manglano, 2013;Kaplan, 2012).…”

“…Notably, studies suggest that the nature of co-residence between parents and children in recent years most often involve the provision of support from parents to children. For example, a recent increase in intergenerational living in the US (Pew Research Center, 2010) has been attributed to the growing financial instability of younger cohorts and the lengthening of the transition towards 'adulthood' (Billari & Liefbroer, 2010;Furstenberg, Kennedy, McLoyd, Rumbaut, & Settersten, 2004;Kahn et al, 2013;Kaplan, 2012;Lee & Painter, 2013). Likewise, recent evidence shows that becoming unemployed doubles the probability that an adult child moves in with older parents (Wiermers, 2014).…”

Education and Filial Norms: Adult Daughters and Older Mothers in Turkey

“…Previous research shows that positive sentiments and reciprocation of these sentiments are positively correlated with intergenerational exchanges (Katz et al, 2010). In this context, love and affection were more articulated by the educated adult women as opposed to the religious connotation raised by the less educated adult women.…”

Formas de convivencia de las personas mayores

“…Tendencias demográficas, como la mayor esperanza de vida sin discapacidad, favorecen que las personas mayores provean más apoyo hoy que en el pasado (Cherlin, 2010). Por todo lo dicho, los hijos adultos estarían siendo los grandes beneficiados de la convivencia intergeneracional durante las últimas dé-cadas (Kahn et al, 2013).…”

“…Demographic trends, such as increased life expectancy without disability, make it possible for the elderly to provide more support today than in the past (Cherlin, 2010). As a result, adult children have been the major beneficiaries of intergenerational co-residence in recent decades (Kahn et al, 2013).…”