Turn-of-the-Century Dependence and Interdependence: Roles of Teens in Family Economies of the Aged

Abstract

This study adopts a household economy framework of analysis and links county, household, and individual level 1910 Census data to explore the extra-household activities of teens living in household economies of the aged. Findings are that the household presence of elder household heads or nonnuclear elders (coresident kin of household heads) had significant but different impacts on teens. Older household heads participated less in paid employment and responsibility for economic support generally fell on male teens in the household. Teens were less likely to attend school. In contrast, the presence of nonnuclear elders in households increased the odds of teen members being in school. Nonnuclear elders, as a group, showed need across several dimensions: economic, health, and social support, yet their intrahousehold contributions appear to have allowed teens to pursue schooling.

An Age-Based Mobilisation: The Emergence of Old Age in American Politics

“…This cohort's linkages to and participation in key social institutions such as households and labour markets had changed from previous cohorts' patterns of integration. For example, parents of Townsendites (elders at the turn of the 20th century) generally lived out life in households with an adult child (Chudacoffand Hareven 1979;Elman 1993a;King and Preston 1990;Kramerow 1992;Smith 1979). Elders had at least the potential to receive (and give) daily instrumental or social support.…”