In Whose Home? Multigenerational Families in the United States, 1998–2000

Abstract

This article examines multigenerational living arrangements of white, black, and Latino individuals using data from the Current Population Surveys. We describe people in multigenerational households as "hosts" or "guests." In terms of resources, guests have no home of their own, whereas hosts maintain an important source of independence. By age, the proportion of adults living as guests peaks in the late twenties, then declines until the late seventies. In contrast, hosting rates peak in the fties. Men have higher guest rates and women have higher host rates at almost all ages. While blacks and Latinos are more likely than whites to live in multigenerational households, those with higher incomes are less likely to live in multigenerational households and if they are living in multigenerational households are less likely to be guests, regardless of race-ethnicity. We interpret this as consistent with the assumption that residential independence is generally preferred.

Economic Inclusion and Financial Education in Culturally Diverse Communities: Leveraging Cultural Capital and Whole‐Family Learning

“…The survey findings provide an evidence-based context for creating economic and financial education curricula and provide a blueprint for crafting pedagogical approaches that can potentially meet diverse low-wealth community members where they "are." These findings, along with those from other studies, highlight the importance of attending to cultural and communal issues in financial education (Cohen & Casper, 2002;Hatton & Leigh, 2011;Spader, Ratcliffe, Montoya, & Skillern, 2009). …”

Living arrangements, intergenerational support types and older adult loneliness in Eastern and Western Europe

“…When parents and adult children share a household, the direction of intergenerational transfers is not always clear (Cohen and Casper 2002;Smits, Van Gaalen and Mulder 2010). Who is supporting whom?…”

Household Complexity and Change among Children in the United States, 1984 to 2010

“…Prior research has investigated the consequences of extended family coresidence for children and the role that doubling up plays for families in need, suggesting that there may be meaningful consequences of instability in these households for children's outcomes. Bengtson (2001) argued that among single-parent or other nonnuclear families, multigenerational bonds play an increasingly important role, and single mothers are more likely than other types of households to live in multigenerational households (Cohen and Casper 2002;Pilkauskas 2012). Compared with living with a single mother alone, children living with a single mother and at least one grandparent are less likely to be poor or near poor (Mutchler and Baker 2009); living in a doubled-up or multigenerational household can be a response to economic need (London and Fairlie 2006;Pilkauskas 2012).…”

“…Blacks and Hispanics are more likely than whites to live in multigenerational homes (Cohen and Casper 2002;Pilkauskas 2012), and some work (Fomby, Mollborn, and Sennot 2010;Mollborn et al 2012) has proposed mechanisms such as social protection and exposure to disadvantaged neighborhoods that might explain these differences. Differential exposure to changes in household composition among black and Hispanic children could relate to why they are differentially affected by family instability: if changes are more common among black and Hispanic children, they may be better able to adapt to a new household structure.…”