Intergenerational Coresidence and Economic Opportunity of the Younger Generation in the United States, 1850-2000

In the mid-nineteenth century, about 70 percent of persons aged 65 or older resided with their adult children; by the end of the twentieth century, only about 16 percent did so. According to the consensus of scholarly opinion, the simplification of the living arrangements of the aged during the twentieth century resulted primarily from an increase in the resources of the aged, which enabled increasing numbers of elderly to afford independent living. My analysis supports a different interpretation: the evidence suggests that the decline of the multigenerational family occurred mainly because of increasing opportunities for the young and declining parental control over their children.