Coresidence between Older Parents and Adult Children and Changes over Time: The Impact of Health and Socio-Demographic Factors

Vanessa Yong, Brown University

This paper examined the impact of health and socio-demographic characteristics on coresidence and changes over time in Singapore. It was hypothesized that older parents in poorer health, with less income and assets, or who are unmarried, would be more likely to transit to shared living with their adult children. The data came from two waves of panel data over a four-year period from 1995-1999 (n=1,898). Coresidence remained high and was relatively stable in the city-state despite a slight decline from 89 percent to 81 percent over the period of study. The multinomial logistic regression results did not provide evidence that health is significantly associated with living arrangement transitions. Household income, home ownership, and marital status of older parents were significant predictors of changes in their living arrangements.