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1 – 10 of 27Wei He and Shaomeng Jia
This paper aims to investigate the increasing trend of multigenerational co-living in the USA and to research the socioeconomic and cultural determinants of such decision.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the increasing trend of multigenerational co-living in the USA and to research the socioeconomic and cultural determinants of such decision.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses the 2017 American Housing Survey data to run descriptive and regression analysis.
Findings
The authors find household income appears consistently to be the most significant factor determining multigenerational co-residence decision across all household compositions. Latino households are most likely to co-reside with multiple generations, followed by Asian and African American households. Immigrants tend to live in multigenerational co-residential housing units with smaller sizes and more impoverished neighborhoods, but show greater flexibility in making residential arrangements once they gain better education. In addition, older householders or female householders are significantly more likely to co-reside with multiple generations. Living in metropolitan areas has no impact on co-residence choice, although some evidence suggests that multigenerational co-residential families tend to live in inferior neighborhoods.
Research limitations/implications
This study provides updated evidence on multigenerational co-residence choice in the contemporary United States. The findings provide evidence on how households make residential choices in response to financial hardships and contribute to the theoretical understanding of the variations of such decisions among immigrants and different ethnic and aging groups.
Practical implications
This study on multigenerational co-residence choice imposes important practical implications. The unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic creates ideal research setting to study how households cope with the tremendous uncertainties in the job markets and financial markets. Although multigenerational co-living may work well for some households with lower or moderate-income for financial reasons, it is not an attractive option for every family.
Social implications
Sharing a home with multiple generations can be challenging. Policymakers should design policies and programs to provide households with guidance on how to live peacefully in multigenerational settings and make multigenerational co-living an appealing and cost-effective housing option for American families of all means.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the existing literature by providing new evidence on the determinants of multigenerational co-residence decision. This study’s findings are fundamental to guide policymakers in carrying out policies and programs aimed at providing a more appealing and cost-effective housing arrangement for American families. The evidence on the senior and minority subsamples are especially meaningful as the vast majority of the baby boom generation in the USA is aging and substantial growth is expected in multigenerational households over the next several decades. Understanding the increasing burden of old-age depression in aging societies will help policymakers prioritize public resources in city planning to address the needs of this rapidly growing population.
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Euehun Lee and Karen M. Gibler
The Republic of Korea is experiencing demographic, economic, and cultural changes that may create demand for seniors housing in the coming decades. The population is rapidly…
Abstract
The Republic of Korea is experiencing demographic, economic, and cultural changes that may create demand for seniors housing in the coming decades. The population is rapidly ageing; pension income is becoming more prevalent; and attitudes are changing about co‐residence. More people are expressing interest in housing that allows for privacy and independence from family members. These changes indicate potential demand for alternatives such as seniors housing. To help specify demand models for seniors housing in South Korea, a survey of urban residents aged 50 and older is presented to identify preferences among those who are planning to live in seniors housing. Results indicate higher income, healthy South Koreans are more likely to plan to live in seniors housing. They are interested in housing that provides personal care, home care, social, and security services, without the financial and physical maintenance burden of a traditional home.
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Yunzi (YaaYaa) Zhang and Liping A. Cai
Family tourism remains an important market segment. Its dynamics evolve when family members take a trip together. Understanding how families from emerging markets create quality…
Abstract
Family tourism remains an important market segment. Its dynamics evolve when family members take a trip together. Understanding how families from emerging markets create quality touristic experiences is essential in a globalized environment of tourism flows. Using textual data from online blogs, this study explores how multigenerational family tourists from China experience and interpret the United States as a destination. Results show that traditional Chinese values assist family members to construct quality experiences. Different generations fulfill their respective functions with pleasure and responsibility. The findings suggest that quality experiences for the family tourists from China are constructed upon their consumption of the physical and tangible environment in the United States.
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Although the Chinese nation is undergoing rapid modernisation and urbanisation, there remains widespread interest in some traditional familial arrangements and practices…
Abstract
Purpose
Although the Chinese nation is undergoing rapid modernisation and urbanisation, there remains widespread interest in some traditional familial arrangements and practices, particularly in the intergenerational context. This paper discusses the family relations of urban middle-aged citizens in present-day China.
Design/methodology/approach
This study employed the grounded theory method to investigate family relations among middle-aged citizens in urban China based on data obtained via semi-structured interviews with 34 participants. A grounded theory coding strategy was used for data analysis.
Findings
The analysis revealed evidence of a transformation towards downward solidarity, with decreasing intergenerational co-residency; that is, the traditional norm of adult children providing support to their older parents is rapidly losing popularity. However, middle-aged and older citizens continue to support their adult children by helping them purchase real estate and assisting with childcare activities.
Practical implications
The findings suggest the existence of intergenerational inequality. Policymakers should acknowledge this phenomenon and provide the younger generation with enough support to improve the wellbeing of the country's middle-aged and older population.
Originality/value
The transformation towards downward solidarity implies a new intergenerational relationship in contemporary China, in which many young people rely on financial and functional support from their older parents. Meanwhile, traditional norms continue to exist despite greater downward solidarity among the younger generation. In other words, old and new norms simultaneously exist.
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By using food consumption as a kaleidoscope, the aim of this paper is to illustrate the bidirectional and dialectical interactions among caregivers and between single children and…
Abstract
Purpose
By using food consumption as a kaleidoscope, the aim of this paper is to illustrate the bidirectional and dialectical interactions among caregivers and between single children and their multiple caregivers in Xiamen.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper reports findings from in‐depth interviews with grandparents and parents (n=33) from ten three‐generational families and parents (n=20) from ten nuclear families with single children between six and nine years old.
Findings
Grandparents unequivocally accorded supreme importance to ensuring a child finishes his/her meals while parents tended to hold slightly more liberal views. These differences created higher conflict and tensions between the caregivers in three‐generational families as compared to nuclear households. Children in multigenerational families were more frequently force‐fed by adult‐caregivers whereas their counterparts were more capable of feeding themselves during meal times.
Research limitations/implications
This exploratory study provides in‐depth insights but carries the limitation of generalisability. Future research can apply similar methodology on bigger samples so as to ascertain a better estimation of the extent of stress and tension across generations over meal times in urban China.
Practical implications
The initial finding reported in this paper is useful for public health workers and family life educators in China to help families with children of middle childhood to manage tension arising from meal times.
Originality/value
Diverging from most parenting research which tends to focus on parent‐child dynamics, this paper included three generations – grandparents, parents, grandchildren – in the research conceptualization. This is important as grandparents are integral parts of childrearing in China.
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Hongyan Yu, Ann Veeck and Fang (Grace) Yu
This study aims to, with family structures in urban China becoming increasingly diverse, examine how and to what extent the characteristics of everyday family meals relate to the…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to, with family structures in urban China becoming increasingly diverse, examine how and to what extent the characteristics of everyday family meals relate to the establishment and strengthening of a collective sense of the Chinese family. Integrating ritual and family identity theories developed through studies conducted in the West, the research explores the relationship between family identity and the major dimensions that characterize ritualistic practices through an examination of family dinners in a non-Western context.
Design/methodology/approach
The mixed-method approach combines a qualitative phase (focus groups and interviews) with a large-scale survey of households (n = 1,319) in four Chinese cities.
Findings
The results find a positive relationship between family identity and commitment to family meals, as well as continuity promoted through family meals, at a 99 per cent confidence level.
Research limitations/implications
One important research limitation is that the sample was limited to four cities. In addition, it is difficult for quantitative measures to capture the richness of emotionally and symbolically laden constructs, such as communication, commitment, continuity and family identity.
Practical implications
The results provide insights into the meanings of family meals in China. With over one-third of household expenditures spent on food in Chinese cities, the formulation of brand positions and promotions can be informed through a greater understanding of the influence of family dynamics on food consumption.
Social implications
The findings indicate that, within China’s dynamic environment of changing family values, strengthening the ritualistic characteristics of everyday family activities, such as family meals, can lead to an increase in a collective sense of family.
Originality/value
The study demonstrates under what conditions, within this rapidly changing socioeconomic environment, the family dinner provides stability and a sense of unity for Chinese families. In China, a trend toward individualization is accompanied by a deep-seeded sense of obligation toward family that exerts an important influence on meal composition and patterns.
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Yi Wu, Alan Tidwell and Vivek Sah
This study aims to examine living preference and tenure among millennials, with a particular focus on the impact of ethnic and cultural diversity on housing outcomes including…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine living preference and tenure among millennials, with a particular focus on the impact of ethnic and cultural diversity on housing outcomes including observed homeownership inequalities.
Design/methodology/approach
Using the individual panel data from three waves in American Housing Survey, 2015–2019, this study compares the likelihood of co-residing among Asian and Hispanic millennials with non-Hispanic white millennial peers. Furthermore, this study estimates the effect of co-residence on homeownership across generational and ethnic backgrounds.
Findings
This study finds a preference for coresident adult familial households among foreign-born Asian and Hispanic millennials, and US-born Hispanic millennials when compared to their non-Hispanic white millennial peers. The results are robust after considering neighborhood selection bias, affordability and education. The effect of co-residence on ownership is significant and positive, suggesting this living arrangement contributes to homeownership across all generational and ethnic groups.
Practical implications
Housebuilders should be aware of Asian and Hispanic millennials’ increased appetite for extended family living arrangements and consider increasing the physical size of affordable or workforce-oriented rental housing and new single family construction to accommodate more adult co-living arrangements.
Originality/value
This study provides a more comprehensive understanding of the role ethnic and cultural diversity has on millennial adult living preferences and its generational differences, which is not just “boomeranging” as identified by previous literature, contributing to the growing interest in the housing research on the effect of ethnic diversity and culture on millennials’ homeownership rates.
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The change in household structure is a worldwide phenomenon that reflects demographic changes, social and cultural trends, and changing economic conditions. The purpose of this…
Abstract
The change in household structure is a worldwide phenomenon that reflects demographic changes, social and cultural trends, and changing economic conditions. The purpose of this chapter is to explore the prevalence of multigenerational households among recent immigrants from Eastern Europe to Israel. The size of the household among these immigrants is smaller, on average, than the household size among native-Israelis, even though immigrants have a higher tendency to live in extended households.
Our analysis shows that the share of multigenerational households declines with duration in Israel among young immigrants, but not so much among elder immigrants who arrived at older age. This difference may reflect the better economic integration of younger immigrants in the local labor market and the lower attachment of younger immigrants to cultural habits that existed in the origin country. In addition, there is a great similarity in the prevalence of multigenerational households between cohorts suggesting that immigrants, presumably, do not form a multigenerational household in Israel in order to provide them with a social anchor, but rather to help them overcome economic constraints upon arrival.
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Ambridge residents live with extended kin and non-family members much more often than the population of the United Kingdom as a whole. This chapter explores cultural norms…
Abstract
Ambridge residents live with extended kin and non-family members much more often than the population of the United Kingdom as a whole. This chapter explores cultural norms, economic need, and family and health care to explain patterns of coresidence in the village of Ambridge. In landed families, filial obligation and inheritance norms bind multigenerational families to a common dwelling, while scarcity of affordable rural housing inhibits residential independence and forces reliance on access to social networks and chance to find a home among the landless. Across the socioeconomic spectrum, coresidence wards off loneliness among unpartnered adults. Finally, for Archers listeners, extended kin and non-kin coresidence creates a private space where dialogue gives added dimensionality and depth to characters who would otherwise be known only through their interactions in public spaces.
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