Racial and Ethnic Differences in Extended Family Households

Abstract

Prevalence of extended family households and factors associated with them are examined for non-Hispanic whites, African Americans, Asians, and Hispanics using data from the 1990 U.S. Census. Nuclear family households and three distinct types of extended family households (upward, downward, and horizontal) are identified, and racial/ethnic differences in the distribution of these types are noted. I contend that household extensions occur as a result of a combination of economic, demographic, and cultural factors. To examine economic aspects of household extension, I first examine income distributions across various household types. Then, using multinomial logistic regression, I identify economic, demographic, and cultural factors related to the three different types of extended family households. Even after racial/ethnic differences in demographic and economic variables are accounted for, preferences for downward extension among African Americans, upward extension among Asians, and horizontal extension among Hispanics still remain, suggesting an independent effect of racial/ethnic culture regarding household extension.

The Future of Intergenerational Relations in Aging Societies

“…5 Some ethnic groups are much more likely to maintain intergenerational households in which the volume of support and assistance is more intense and reciprocal over time. 6 (Interestingly, however, there is a paucity of evidence on the workings of intergenerational households in con temporary societies.) Finally, divorce and remarriage affect the amount of support provided both downward and upward throughout the life course.…”

Multigenerational Living Arrangements Among Migrants

“…Nevertheless, there are unexplained differences in the economic role of additional household members by race, ethnicity and sex of the head. The latter result is confirmed by Kamo (2000) who shows that economic and demographic factors explain the formation of extended households, but cannot explain all differences between population groups. Van Hook and Glick (2002) find that in particular older migrants who arrived recently are likely to coreside with their adult children.…”

“…A high prevalence of multigenerational households is a widespread phenomenon among migrants in many countries (see, for example, Angel and Tienda, 1982;Kamo, 2000;Glick, 2002, 2007;Cohen-Goldner, 2010). The question at hand is whether migrants choose multigenerational cohabitation due to (cultural) preferences or whether cohabitation is driven by economic constraints.…”

Does immigrant residential crowding reflect hidden homelessness?

“…Among various origin groups in the United States, for example, Hispanic and Asian households have the highest incidences of crowding (Kamo 2000). As might be expected, recent immigrants among these groups have the highest crowding rates of all (Choi 1993;, but even native-born members of these groups have higher than average density levels (Myers and Lee 1996).…”