Cumulative Effects of Doubling Up in Childhood on Young Adult Outcomes

Abstract

Living in a doubled-up, or shared, household is a common experience. Nearly one-half of children in the United States double up at some point during childhood, yet we know little about the cumulative effects of these households on children. This study estimates the effects on young adult health and educational attainment of childhood years spent in three doubled-up household types: (1) those formed with children’s grandparent(s), (2) those formed with children’s adult sibling(s), and (3) those formed with other extended family or non-kin adults. Using marginal structural models and inverse probability of treatment weighting—methods that account for the fact that household composition is both a cause and consequence of other family characteristics—I find that doubling up shapes children’s life chances, but the effects vary depending on children’s relationships with household members. Childhood years spent living with nongrandparent extended family or non-kin adults are associated with worse young adult outcomes, but coresidence with grandparents is not significantly associated with young adult outcomes after selection into these households is accounted for, and coresidence with adult siblings may be beneficial in some domains. By studying the effects of coresidence with adults beyond the nuclear family, this research contributes to a fuller understanding of the implications of family complexity for children.

Under Whose Roof? Understanding the Living Arrangements of Children in Doubled-Up Households

“…Although such house hold com plex ity remains understudied, a grow ing body of research has made ADVANCE PUBLICATION 2 H. Harvey et al a com pel ling case for extending the study of fam ily com plex ity beyond the nuclear fam ily. This research has found that coresidence with extended fam ily and nonkin is com mon and increas ing in prev a lence, con trib utes sub stan tial insta bil ity to children's house holds, and is asso ci ated with child well-being (Cross 2018;Harvey 2020a;Mollborn et al 2011;Perkins 2019;Pilkauskas and Cross 2018;Raley et al 2019).…”

“…Most prior research on dou bled-up chil dren has focused on mul ti gen er ational house holds (chil dren liv ing with grand par ents). However, the for ma tion and impli ca tions of dou bled-up house holds likely vary by house hold com po si tion (Harvey 2020a;Mollborn et al 2011). For exam ple, com pared with mul ti gen er a tional households, house holds formed with other extended fam ily or non rel a tives may share household expenses to a greater extent and have more dis agree ments over resource shar ing (Harvey 2018;Reyes 2018).…”

“…We extend this line of research by focus ing on fam i lies with chil dren and using recent data from the Amer i can Community Survey. Understanding chil dren's expe ri ences in dou bled-up house holds is par tic u larly impor tant given the grow ing num ber of chil dren in these arrange ments (Pilkauskas and Cross 2018) and evi dence that dou bled-up house holds and changes in dou bled-up house hold com po si tion are asso ci ated with child well-being (Harvey 2020a;Mollborn et al 2011;Perkins 2019). Because the fac tors asso ci ated with host/guest sta tus may vary by house hold com po si tion, we exam ine three dis tinct house hold types (house holds formed with grand par ents, other extended fam ily, and nonkin).…”

“Not Just a Lateral Move”: Residential Decisions and the Reproduction of Urban Inequality

“…As Martha's example shows, preference is constructed based on what the perceived alternatives are. A lifetime of housing insecurity, being subjected to paternalism by landlords and public housing authorities (Chaskin and Joseph 2015;Rosen and Garboden 2020;Soss et al 2011), and experiences doubling up with family members (Harvey 2020) all contribute to a desire to own a home. While most scholars assume that the nearuniversal preference for homeownership is due to economic opportunity or some notion of the American Dream, we find that many prefer homeownership simply because the alternatives-unstable, poor-quality rental units-seem worse.…”

“…Shelter-in-place also means being unable to access facilities, such as schools, libraries, and recreation centers, which provide a layer of protection against substandard living situations and unsafe relationships. In addition, privacy is at a premium for most poor households-it is hard to find and extremely valuable (Harvey 2020;Pilkauskas et al 2014). Living in crowded conditions can increase the risk of infection, as well as take a toll on mental and emotional health.…”