Multigenerational Households

Prevalence of Multigenerational Households

Historically, multigenerational households have been associated with family businesses, especially farming and shopkeeping, and current multi-generational households are often associated with shared business or vocational interests. Historians have argued about whether multigen-erational households were ever dominant in Western society, with a general consensus that households often contained boarders and apprentices, but that coresidence was limited to certain periods of life such as early marriage and widowhood. Today, there is a strong preference for relatively healthy elders to live independently and not reside with their children. Coresidence between adult children and their elderly parents has become less common over the decades. Currently the expansion of household structures has been in many more single people living alone. With the increase in longevity, determinants such as health problems, death of former caregivers, financial hardship of both the old and the young, and loneliness, there may be a renewed need for coresidence. When there are few supports for the elderly family care, transfers or sharing of property may encourage such shared living arrangements. The underlying inheritance and in vivo transfers of material resources including housing and other financial instruments may support some members sharing a common residence or location and providing care and support across the generations, especially if supported in the legal structure.

Tradition of Multigenerational Households

The traditional family referred to in much of the multigenerational household literature has been the stem family that has one adult child and one side of the parental generation coresiding and often working together. In many places, the stem family includes the oldest son and his nuclear family living with his parents. In China, the multigen-erational house design was usually a single or double hollow square courtyard that provided some separation among the families living there and most commonly included the eldest son's family and any younger or unmarried siblings of his. In Asia in general, the adult children's sense of moral obligation to care for their parents stems from their deep respect and gratitude. There is a belief that parents deserve to be cared for in their elder years by their children as a form of repayment. This filial piety combined with reciprocal affection facilitates the inner workings of the family support system allowing care and security for the elderly parent.

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