Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Return of Multi-Generational Homes

The Pew Research Center recently released its findings about multiple generations living in the same house together.

"As of 2008, a record 49 million Americans, or 16.1% of the total U.S. population, lived in a family household that contained at least two adult generations or a grandparent and at least one other generation, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of census data."

With a pregnant daughter, you may be a part of this demographic. Will your daughter and your grandchild be living in your house after your daughter gives birth? Or will you be raising your grandchild while your daughter lives elsewhere?

"Of the 49 million Americans living in a multi-generational family household... 6% are in a "skipped" generation household made up of a grandparent and grandchild, but no parent."

This situation, where the grandparents are raising a grandchild while the parent lives elsewhere, occurs about 7% of the time among Caucasians, 4% of the time among Latinos, 13% of the time among Blacks, and 1% of the time among Asians.

While the economy is a factor, another reason that multiple generations are living together includes the trend of young people getting married at an older age than previously.

"The typical man now marries for the first time at age 28 and the typical women at age 26. For both genders, this is about five years older than it was in 1970."

We've discussed housing issues several times in this blog. Click on the "Housing" topic link below for more entries about housing. We list discussion topics about housing in the chapter "Should She Parent Alone?" in our book "How To Survive Your Teen's Pregnancy."

1 comment:

Gwynne said...

Having survived our daughter's pregnancy and riding the rollercoaster of parenting both her and our grandson, sometimes together and sometimes apart, I would love to read more about how to co-parent and co-habitate effectively in a multi-generational home. This is by far the hardest thing I have ever been through! Your book has helped immensely thus far. Thank you!