The Spatial Separation of Parents and Their Adult Children

Race/ethnic Differences in Spatial Distance between Adult Children and Their Mothers

OBJECTIVE

This brief study examines race/ethnic differences in geographic distance to mothers among adults in the U.S.

BACKGROUND

Race/ethnic differences in rates of adult children living with their mothers in the U.S. are well documented but spatial distances beyond shared housing are not.

METHOD

Spatial distances between residential locations of adults 25 and older and their biological mothers are estimated using the 2013 Panel Study of Income Dynamics for Hispanics, blacks, and whites. Multinomial logistic regression models and nonlinear decomposition techniques are used to assess the role of demographic factors, socioeconomic status, and health of the child and mother in accounting for race/ethnic differences in adult child-mother proximity.

RESULTS

Blacks are more likely than whites to live with their mother and more likely to live within 30 miles but not coresident, whereas whites are more likely to live more than 500 miles away. Geographic proximity to mother is distinct for Hispanics with nearly one-third having their mother outside the U.S. Demographic, socioeconomic, and health factors account for the fact that blacks are about twice as likely as whites to live with their mother but do not fully account for large white-black differences in proximity outside the household. The single most important factor accounting for white-black differences is marital status for coresidence but education for proximity in the U.S. beyond coresidence.

CONCLUSION

New national estimates illustrate the complexity of race/ethnic differences in proximity to mothers that are not reflected in studies of coresidence.

Spatial Distance between Parents and Adult Children in the United States

OBJECTIVE

This brief report presents contemporary national estimates of the spatial distance between residences of parents and adult children in the United States, including distance to one's nearest parent and/or adult child and whether one lives near all of their parents and adult children.

BACKGROUND

The most recent national estimates of parent-child spatial proximity come from data for the early 1990s. Moreover, research has rarely assessed spatial clustering of all parents and adult children.

METHOD

Data are from the 2013 Panel Study of Income Dynamics on residential locations of adults 25 and older and each of their parents and adult children. Two measures of spatial proximity were estimated: distance to nearest parent or adult child, and the share of adults who have all parents and/or adult children living nearby. Sociodemographic and geographic differences were examined for both measures.

RESULTS

Among adults with at least one living parent or adult child, a significant majority (74.8%) had their nearest parent or adult child within 30 miles, and about one third (35.5%) had all parents and adult children living that close. Spatial proximity differed substantially among sociodemographic groups, with those who were disadvantaged more likely to have their parents or adult children nearby. In most cases, sociodemographic disparities were much higher when spatial proximity was measured by proximity to all parents and all adult children instead of to nearest parent or nearest adult child.

CONCLUSION

Disparities in having all parents and/or adult children nearby may be a result of family solidarity and also may affect family solidarity. This report sets the stage for new investigations of the spatial dimension of family cohesion.

Migration Versus Immobility, and Ties to Parents

We investigate the association between geographic proximity to parents and the likelihood of moving longer distances (e.g. at least 40 km), using British panel data from the Understanding Society study and probit regression. We also look at the extent to which this association diminishes by introducing measures of frequency of contact, interaction with neighbors and length of residence. Using a number of different models and samples, we find that living far from parents increases longer distance mobility. Seeing parents weekly and more interactions with neighbors reduce longer distance mobility, but its association with parental proximity remains substantial. The positive effect of living far from parents on the likelihood of moving longer distances is also found in subsamples of those who have lived in their current residence for 5 years or less and of the highly educated, while the negative effect of seeing parents weekly is also found in these subsamples as well as in a subsample of those living close to parents. Even though endogeneity cannot be ruled out completely, these findings show a robust association between family ties and the likelihood of moving a long distance.

Influence of Proximity to Kin on Residential Mobility and Destination Choice: Examining Local Movers in Metropolitan Areas

A growing body of research has examined how family dynamics shape residential mobility, highlighting the social-as opposed to economic-drivers of mobility. However, few studies have examined kin ties as both push and pull factors in mobility processes or revealed how the influence of kin ties on mobility varies across sociodemographic groups. Using data on local residential moves from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) from 1980 to 2013, we find that location of noncoresident kin influences the likelihood of moving out of the current neighborhood and the selection of a new destination neighborhood. Analyses of out-mobility reveal that parents and young adult children living near each other as well as low-income adult children living near parents are especially deterred from moving. Discrete-choice models of neighborhood selection indicate that movers are particularly drawn to neighborhoods close to aging parents, white and higher-income households tend to move close to parents and children, and lower-income households tend to move close to extended family. Our results highlight the social and economic trade-offs that households face when making residential mobility decisions, which have important implications for broader patterns of inequality in residential attainment.

Investigating the Relationship Between Religiosity and Psychological Distress Among Surgical Inpatients: A Pilot Study

Psychological distress may hinder recovery following surgery. Studies examining the relationship between psychological distress and religiosity in the acute post-operative setting are lacking. The present study investigated this relationship, evaluated protocol design, and explored coping mechanisms. Psychological distress of surgical inpatients was assessed using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and Rotterdam Symptom Checklist (RSCL). Religiosity was assessed using the Santa Clara Strength of Religious Faith Questionnaire. Correlations were obtained using Minitab software. Qualitative analysis identified coping mechanisms. Of eligible inpatients, 13/54 were recruited. No significant correlation was found between religiosity and psychological distress. The RSCL had a strong correlation with HADS (R = 0.82, p = 0.001). Assessment of distress was >2 min faster using RSCL compared to HADS. Relationships with pets, friends or family, and God emerged as the most common coping mechanism. Given study limitations, no conclusion was drawn regarding the relationship between religiosity and psychological distress. Weaknesses in study protocol were identified, and recommendations were outlined to facilitate the definitive study. This includes use of RSCL instead of HADS. Further study is warranted to explore how to strengthen relationships for inpatients.

Adult Children Helping Older Parents

Using the 1993 Panel Study of Income Dynamics, the authors examine help given to older parents in typical American families. Daughters and sons not in couples were more likely to help than those in couples, and gave substantially more hours. In couples, daughters were less likely to help than sons, but they helped for considerably more hours. Black daughters helped at least as commonly as White daughters, and did so for substantially more hours than either White daughters or sons of either race. Results suggest that Black sons may help less commonly than White sons. Black sons who help, however, do so for at least as many hours as White sons. Findings suggest that changes in the Black American family have not produced the notable intergenerational relations breakdown anticipated by some researchers. Results also illuminate the important role of sons in family help and suggest that changing marriage patterns may not reduce help to older parents.

Elderly Parents and the Geographic Availability of their Adult Children

Using data from the 1987 National Survey of Families and Households, this study examines the distribution and determinants of the geographic distance between elderly parents and their adult children. The majority of elderly Americans have at least one adult child living within 10 miles of their residence; for those with two or more adult children, the second-closest child is usually within 30 miles. Compared with the urban elderly, rural elders live farther from their second closest-children. Daughters live no closer than sons to their parents. The analysis shows that education and number of children are the most important factors in predicting parent-child proximity. Other factors, such as age, health, and the family size of the closest adult child, are also important.

Proximity of Couples to Parents: Influences of Gender, Labor Market, and Family

We use household survey data from the UK to study how close middle-aged men and women in partnerships live to their parents and their partner’s parents. We find a slight tendency for couples to live closer to the woman’s parents than the man’s. This tendency is more pronounced among couples in which neither partner has a college degree and in which there is a child. In other respects, proximity to parents is gender-neutral, with the two partners having equal influence on intergenerational proximity. Better-educated couples live farther from their parents. And although certain family characteristics matter, intergenerational proximity is primarily driven by factors affecting mobility over long distances, which are mainly associated with the labor market, as opposed to gender or family circumstances.

Intergenerational cohesiveness and later geographic distance to parents in the Netherlands

Although spatial proximity no doubt facilitates interaction and assistance, no research to date has addressed the extent to which children who are emotionally closer to parents choose to live nearby. Using the Netherlands Kinship Panel Study (N = 1055), this research evaluates the relationship between parent-child cohesion at age 15 (measured retrospectively among individuals 18-35 in 2002-2004) and later geographic distance between young adults and their parents in 2006-2007. Importantly, this research is the first to consider the relationship between intergenerational solidarity and young adult's later geographic proximity to parents, proximity known to contribute to exchanges of support between the generations. For both mothers and fathers, each model yielded qualified evidence of the cohesion-proximity relationship. These findings highlight a potential selection issue related to intergenerational support and contact as it is facilitated by geographic proximity.

Geographic Proximity of Adult Children and the Well-Being of Older Persons

This article aims to contribute to the discussion of how adult children affect the well-being of their older parents by investigating the importance of living in close geographic proximity. We investigate whether having children at all, and/or having them geographically proximate, contributes differently to the well-being of older persons living with and without a partner. We enriched survey data for the Netherlands ( N = 8,379) with municipal register data and regressed life satisfaction of persons aged 65+ on having children and three different measures of geographic proximity. Having children contributes to the well-being of older men with a partner. There is evidence for a positive association between proximity of children and parental well-being, in particular for widowed and separated mothers and for separated fathers. Our findings suggest that close proximity may be a condition under which adult children can significantly add to the well-being of widowed and separated mothers and separated fathers.

Intergenerational proximity and the residential relocation of older people to care institutions and elsewhere

We investigated the extent to which the geographic proximity of adult children affected the relocations of older people in the Netherlands in 2008. A major contribution of this study is the examination of the differentiation between relocation to care institutions and elsewhere. Data from the Dutch population register linked to complementary datasets were analysed for nearly one million inhabitants aged 75 and above, using multinomial logistic regression models to estimate the effects of intergenerational proximity and of other factors on the propensity to relocate to an institution and elsewhere. An interaction of proximity with partnership status as an indicator of the presence of an important care provider was considered. We found that older people were less likely to move elsewhere when their children were living very close by, and were more likely to do so when their children were living farther away. Having children living close was negatively associated with the likelihood of moving to a care institution. Very close proximity had an additional negative effect on the propensity of older people with a partner to relocate elsewhere whereas the negative effect was less for older people without a partner on moving elsewhere. Our findings did, however, show that (recently) widowed people were more likely to move elsewhere when their children were living more than 40 kilometres away.

Moving Considerations

Residential proximity is an important indicator of family members’ availability to provide assistance to each other. We investigate proximity-enhancing moves by older parents and their children and the reasons for such moves. Using the 2000–2004 waves of the Health and Retirement Study, we fit multinomial logit models examining 2-year residential transitions for parents and children living 10 or more miles apart at baseline. Our results show that family members collectively adjust intergenerational proximity to facilitate mutual support. Despite the common assumption that older parents move closer to their children to receive assistance, more than two thirds of all proximity-enhancing moves are made by adult children. While greater anticipated longevity raises the probability that older parents will move closer to their children, parents’ anticipated longevity does not influence children’s moving decisions. Including individual variability in anticipated longevity in the life course framework helps account for relocation that precedes declines in health or increases in the need for support.

The impact of out-migration on the inter-generational support and psychological wellbeing of older adults in rural China

This paper examines the impact of the out-migration of adult children on older parents' inter-generational support and psychological wellbeing in rural China. The sample comprised 1,237 older Chinese people aged 60 or more years in the rural province of Anhui, China, who completed baseline and follow-up questionnaires in 2001 and 2003, respectively. The differences between older parents with and without migrant children in 2001 in their support and psychological wellbeing in 2003 were examined using independentt-tests, as were changes over the two years in support and wellbeing. Multiple regression models were used to examine the impact of baseline out-migration on the psychological wellbeing of older parents at follow-up. The results showed that, compared to parents without migrant children in 2001, the parents of migrants had significantly more monetary support, less instrumental support, and a lower level of depression in 2003. Such differences may be attributed to different support resources and health status, but the regressions revealed that when the positive effect of inter-generational support was taken into account, older parents with more migrant children tended to have significantly more depression and lower life satisfaction. The findings point to the importance of continued inter-generational support after out-migration in maintaining parental wellbeing.

Intergenerational support of Chinese rural elders with migrant children: do sons' or daughters' migrations make a difference?

This article investigates how the out-migration of adult children affects monetary, instrumental, and emotional support of Chinese rural elders over a 5-year interval, and whether the gender of migrant children makes a difference in such relationships. With a sample of 1,006 older parents (60+) in rural Anhui province, the result of hierarchical regression analyses showed that support from adult children was mainly needs based. Declining income of older parents related to increased monetary support. Experiencing widowhood and difficulties with instrumental activities of daily living was associated with higher probability of receiving instrumental support. Beyond expanding parental needs, only the out-migration of sons led to more monetary and emotional support among elders over time. Implications for policy, social work practice, and future research are discussed.

Intergenerational contact beyond the dyad: the role of the sibling network

In this paper we aim to reach beyond the dyadic perspective on intergenerational contact and examine the influence of the sibling network on parent-child contact. We include aggregate sibling network characteristics as well as the adult child's position in the network vis-à-vis siblings, and use data from the Netherlands Kinship Panel Study (2002-2004 NKPS; N = 4,601 dyads). Regarding aggregate network characteristics results show that having sisters, having stepsiblings, increasing geographical distance between siblings, and decreasing levels of network cohesion are associated with less contact per parent-child dyad. Regarding the position of the adult child vis-à-vis his or her siblings, results show that having geographically or emotionally closer siblings has a negative effect on parent-child contact. The impact of differences in emotional distance among siblings is stronger when the analyses are limited to parents in poor health. Suggestions for future research are made.

Population distribution and redistribution of the baby-boom cohort in the United States: recent trends and implications

Over 70 million people were born into the baby-boom cohort between 1946 and 1964. Over 65 million of these individuals are presently alive, and thus the cohort continues to exert a powerful influence on regional population change in the United States. In this article, we examine the recent and current geographic distribution of the baby-boom cohort. In 1990, the members of the cohort comprised a particularly high proportion of the population in a small number of dynamic metropolitan areas. We also highlight the recent migration trends exhibited by this cohort; these trends are potentially important early indicators of the retirement-related migration patterns that the cohort might follow. The spatial redistribution of the cohort has many implications, including potentially significant consequences for intergenerational relationships and caregiving. Also highlighted in the article are the temporal and geographical implications for intergenerational caregiving. There has been much attention given to the "sandwich" generation, with its members having dual caregiving responsibilities to both parents and children. A more appropriate designation may be the "stretched" generation, because caregiving seems to extend over a long period. In particular, many members of the baby-boom cohort are beginning to care for their aging parents just as they finish child rearing.

Proximity of adult children to their parents in Great Britain

Much of the authors' knowledge of kin interaction and exchange in Britain is partial, in that it is based on studies of co-resident groups and excludes consideration of kin "beyond the household". It is known that there have been large declines in intergenerational co-residence, raising fears that family bonds have weakened. It is also commonly assumed that family members are less likely to live in close proximity than in the past. In this paper the authors examine one important aspect of kin relationships--proximity of adult children to their parents--using nationally representative data from 1986, 1995, and 1999. The analyses presented focus on: differences between 1986, 1995, and 1999 in proximity of adults to their parents; sociodemographic characteristics associated with variations in proximity, and temporal differences in the pattern of these variations. The paper concludes with an assessment of some of the policy implications of the findings.

Using survival analysis to study spatial point patterns in geographical epidemiology

The spatial K-function has become a well accepted method of investigating whether significant clustering can be detected in spatial point patterns. Unlike nearest neighbor-based methods, the K-function approach has the advantage of exploring spatial pattern across a range of spatial scales. However, K-functions still have a number of drawbacks. For instance, although K-functions are based on inter-event distances, they only use a count of the number of point events within successive distance bands. This represents data aggregation and information loss. Secondly, and perhaps more significantly, K-functions are based on a cumulative count of point events with distance. This feature raises the possibility that the investigation of pattern at different scales is compromised by the dependency of any one count to previous counts. This paper proposes a new approach to the analysis of spatial point patterns based upon survival analysis. Although typically used in the temporal domain, there is no reason why survival analysis cannot be applied to any positively-valued, continuous variable as well as time. In this paper, survival analysis is applied to the inter-event distance measures of bivariate spatial point patterns to investigate the 'random labeling' hypothesis. It is shown, through both a controlled data situation and empirical epidemiological applications, that such an approach may be a very useful complement to K-function analysis.