Aging Parent-Adult Child Coresidence

Data from the National Long-Term Care Survey, a sample of Medicare beneficiaries, indicate that the probability of coresiding with children is elevated by parents' advanced age, failing health, and absence of a spouse, and children's characteristics are also important predictors of coresidence.

Abstract

Several recent studies have concluded that coresidence between aging parents and their adult children is caused by the children's dependency needs, whereas parental characteristics are irrelevant. We argue that these studies are based on samples that contain insufficient proportions of elderly parents who possess the characteristics that eventuate in coresidence. Such elders, however, represent a large and important segment of the elderly population. Data from the National Long-Term Care Survey, a sample of Medicare beneficiaries, indicate that the probability of coresiding with children is elevated by parents' advanced age, failing health, and absence of a spouse. At the same time, children's characteristics (marital status and employment status) are also important predictors of coresidence.