Village Development and 20-Year Change in Multigenerational Living Arrangements of Older Adults in Rural China

• In Event: Family Ties Across the Life Course and Across the Globe

Abstract

In this investigation we use 20 years of data to examine how multigenerational living arrangements of older adults in rural China have changed according to the developmental level of the village in which they reside. Drawing on neo-modernization theory proposed by Ruggles and colleagues, we hypothesize that coresidence with children and grandchildren will decline in the first two decades of the 21st century, and that this decline will be slower in more developed rural villages compared to less developed ones. Village development was measured across 64 villages based on 27 local service amenities and infrastructure features. We use eight waves of data from the Longitudinal Study of Older Adults in Anhui Province, China between 2001 and 2021. A discrete-time transition model with three residential outcomes (child only, grandchild only, both child and grandchild) is estimated for 6,754 person-observations. Results indicate that three-generation households were more common in the most developed compared to the least developed villages, and this trend was more evident across time. Results are discussed in terms of the maintenance of filial interdependence and state-directed policies to strengthen communities in rural China. The seemingly paradoxical enhancement of traditional multigenerational living arrangements as a consequence of modernization suggests the continued importance of this household type—at least in the relatively recent aftermath of rural reforms—as a viable and precedented cultural strategy for meeting the needs of vulnerable family members.

Authors

• Merril Silverstein, Syracuse University

• Tianqi Zhou, Syracuse University

• Xiaoyu Fu, Syracuse University

• Ying Xu