Living with Children and Economic Disadvantage Among Seniors

Abstract

Using the 2000 Census and 2005–2019 American Community Surveys, we examine the propensity of older adults to live with children. We show that seniors from disadvantaged subgroups are more likely to live in multi- or skip-generational arrangements. Contextual factors associated with more multigenerational living include a less generous safety net and high housing costs. Skip-generational living is associated with high female incarceration rates. Conditional on demographic characteristics and these contextual factors, seniors in multigenerational living arrangements are less likely to be in poverty and those in skip-generational arrangements more likely. Overall, the findings are consistent with the possibility that multigenerational arrangements help families address resource needs, whereas skip-generational arrangements heighten the risk of poverty or reflect crises that do so.

Keywords

• : living arrangements
• multigeneration
• skip-generation
• seniors
• poverty