Abstract
Households that include adult children may arise out of collective necessities, not just the needs or shortcomings of the adult child. Therefore living in the parental home does not necessarily preclude the transition to adulthood. An analysis of household income in the 1980 U.S. Census demonstrates that while parents on average contribute a larger share of household income than their adult child does, some parents and children share a need for joint living arrangements. The parental characteristics associated with such needs include an older householder, a female householder, and income close to or below the poverty line.
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This is a revised version of a paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, New York, August, 1986. A post-doctoral training grant from the National Institute on Aging (1-T32-AG00151-01) carried out at the Population Studies Center, University of Michigan provided some of the support for this paper. Deborah Freedman, Barbara Hirshorn and Frances Goldscheider provided helpful comments; However they are not responsible for any errors.
Jill S. Grigsby is Associate Professor of Sociology, Pomona College, Claremont, CA91711. She received her Ph.D. from Princeton University and includes family living arrangements and population aging among her research interests.
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Grigsby, J.S. Adult children in the parental household: Who benefits?. J Fam Econ Iss 10, 293–309 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00986864
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00986864