Coresidence with Parents and Intergenerational Transfer of Economic Resources: A Focus on the Characteristics of Unmarried Adults

Abstract

This paper examined the proportion of adults under 50 (19-49 years old) living with their parents, and the economic transfers unmarried adults provide to, and receive from their non-coresiding parents. Of the surveyed, 30.1% lived with their parents; 64.1% of unmarried people lived with their parents. Having examined whether, when and why people choose to become housing-independent, this study finds that leaving the parents’ home for a home of their own is not an age-specific normative requirement, but a selection dependent on three life events: marriage, higher education, and employment. The rate of coresidence with parents was lower in men and in those with educational attainment of a four-year college degree or higher, and in those in full-time employment. Access to economic resources and sociocultural support are related to unmarried adults' residential independence. In the relationship with their non-coresiding parents, the respondents were more often transfer providers than they were receivers, and unmarried adults in full-time employment provided financial resources to their parents just like married adults did to theirs.