Intergenerational Coresidence as a Family Strategy in Economic Crisis

Abstract

This study focuses on whether and how the nation-wide economic crisis would affect the propensity of intergenerational coresidence. It is hypothesized that family members of different generations would utilize their resources in the face of tremendous economic hardship. In such process, living arrangement may appear as one of realistic strategy. The analysis, based on the pooled data set from elderly surveys in 1994 and 1998 in Korea, reveals that the elderly with more economic resources are less likely to live with children. However, the positive effect of economic resources of the elderly on coresidence is much larger in 1998 than in 1994. Such result suggests that economically affluent elderly parents may choose coresidence to help their children who may have lost jobs or may be at the risk of unemployment. This finding provides a different angle from which living arrangement in later life should be approached.