When the Kids Come Home: Coresidence with Adult Children and Its Influence on Parental Wealth

• In Event: 422 - Section on the Sociology of the Family Paper Session. Family Inequality

Abstract

This study uses National Longitudinal Study of Youth (NLSY) 1979 cohort data from 1985 through 2012 to investigate how coresidence with adult children influences wealth levels among baby boomer parents. I apply hybrid-mixed effects regression models that partition between- and within-person variation to estimate household equivalent net worth across a set of covariates. By expanding previous research that shows a relationship between increasing economic security, limited wealth, and the rise in multigenerational households among millennials, this study offers broader implications for the interconnectivity of debt and financial hardship across generations. My results show that coresidence with adult children – particularly those over age 25 – was negatively associated with net worth in multiple ways. On average, individuals living with adult children held less wealth than otherwise similar individuals, and these individuals saw their wealth decrease once their children moved back home. Although the effects were largest for non-Hispanic white households, coresidence with adult children led to wealth declines across racial and ethnic groups.

Author

• Michelle Lee Maroto, University of Alberta