The Ekderky's Co-residence with Children: A Study of Japanese Households

Abstract

<p>The impact of modernization has prompted demographic changes which have led to the dramatic aging of populations throughout the world. The aging of a population affects many aspects within societies, including household structures like co-residence. The overall theme of this study is an examination of the co-residence of Japanese households in 1986. Two different perpsectives are employed - that of the elderly and that of the household heads who are the adult children of elderly parents. In both perspectives of the study, hypotheses are proposed and explanatory factors are selected based on the nature of the micro data being used. These factors are statistically evaluated by a multivariate binomial logit model.</p> <p>For the elderly perspective of co-residence, the most important factor affecting an elderly individual's propensity to co-reside with child is occupation. Family-oriented types of work have a strong positive relation to co-resident households. Female elderly are more prone to co-residing than male elderly but this adherence becomes very small when their spouses are still alive. Increases in age also tend to increase the elderly's coresidence tendency. Better educated elderly and those who are more mobile (non-natives and foreign born) have a much weaker propensity for co-residence. Cultural regions are also significant in identifying the residential patterns of household structures among the elderly.</p> <p>For the household head perspective, sibling status is the most important determinant for co-residence with elderly parents. Surplus children are very weak candidates for sharing living arrangements with parents. Non-natives and better educated household heads also share a negative co-residence tendency. The existence of spouseless parents strongly enhances the co-residence propensity especially when these parents are mothers. As parents' age(s) increases, so does the household heads' propensity for co-residence. When both household heads and their spouses are employed in family-oriented work, the co-residence propensity strengthens.</p>