All in the Family? Investigating Household Extension among Immigrant and U.S. Born Families

• In Event: 054 - Section on the Sociology of the Family Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 14. Multigenerational Family Living

Abstract

In 2009, over 51 million Americans lived in multigenerational families and the poverty rate among these households was 11.5%, compared to 14.6% for all other households (Kochhar and Cohn 2011, Taylor et al. 2011). For a large share of American adults the goal of independent living has been threatened by the unstable economy. Intergenerational support is a necessity for many households given a growing elderly population, occupational insecurity for working adults, and overall economic instability leading to a shrinking middle class. I will utilize a mixed-method approach to address important questions about the nature of extended households before and during the recession period. Preliminary analysis of Current Population Survey data from 1994 to 2010 indicate that among working-age adults, household extension is not uncommon: over one-third of sampled Asian and Latino individuals reside in extended households (32% and 35% respectively), with non-Hispanic Blacks not far behind (28%). Extended living arrangements are especially common among first generation immigrants, with the highest proportion of coresidence found among Asians, followed by Latinos. Household extension also appears to have an effect on individuals’ occupation type. More individuals who live in non-extended households hold managerial and professional occupations than individuals in extended living arrangements, which is consistent across all race groups. The opposite is true of service-type occupations—there are more individuals in extended households who hold these jobs than individuals in non-extended households. Findings from surveys and in-depth, semi-structured interviews with extended household members in the Sacramento and San Francisco areas are forthcoming.

Author

• Emerald Thai Han Nguyen, University of California-Davis