Coresidence with Aging Parents in Contemporary Rural and Urban China: Attitudes and Behaviors

Zhenmei Zhang, Michigan State University

Coresidence with aging parents has been a cultural norm in China. It has also been the primary means through which aging parents’ material, physical, and emotional needs were met. Using the 2002 Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (parents’ questionnaire) and its companion data set- the 2002 Dynamic Family Social Survey (adult children’s questionnaire), we created 4,003 matched parent-child pairs to examine current attitudes towards coresidence and correlates of coresidene in rural and urban China. Our preliminary results show that adult children who are more educated and who own their house/apartment are less likely to agree with patrilocal residence. As for correlates of coresidence, those who own their houses/apartments are significantly less likely to coreside with their parents in both urban and rural areas. Those who have higher income and live in larger houses/apartments in urban areas are more likely to coreside; whereas the more educated are more likely to live with parents in rural areas.