Intergenerational Coresidence in China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan: Comparative Analyses Based on the East Asian Social Survey 2006(1)

INTRODUCTIONOnce married, adult children are expected to live secarately from their parents in Western ccuntries where autonomy is valued. On the centrary, adult children in East Asia are expected to take care of their aging parents ky living together (Martin, 1990) . Indead, the estimated percentage of seniors vto live with their children or grancthildren around 1990s is 26% in Europe and 19% in North America, vfereas the figure in East Asia is 70% (united Nations, 2005) . Given this high percentage of aging parents vto live with their adult children in East Ma, UB current poetize of iitercpneraticnal cnresidaxe will be investicpted in this paper . litercpneraticnal coresicexe in this study is defined as a living arrangent in vhich adult children live with their aging parents.Western studies often explain inter generational coresidence by focusing on demographic factors and socioeooxmic noeds and resources, but such a living arrangement in East Asia has bean considered as a sign of unique cultural norms (Won & Lee, 1999) . Confucian values, shared by nany East Asians, enphasize filial piety . One of UB adult children in a family is expected to fulfill this obligation ky living with their parants after their marriage. However , this norm is strongly cpncter -biased, feple are more liteLy to expect sons, not cfeghters, to perform such duty . tetiaiady, UB first son ina fenily and his wife are expected to perform this role in Scuth Ksrea and Japan.Nevertheless, coresidance rates betvean adjlt children and parants in East Ma are felling, althxgh they rerain higher than W estem ccuntries. Eigure 1 shews the percentages cf seniors aged 65 or ever vto live with their children based on census data (or data frcm equivalent gcverrnental surveys) in China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan after 1980. Every society experienced a decline in the intergenerational coresidence rate. Notably , South Korea experienced the nest rapad (fedine. Because the social veLfare system in East Asia vas formulated uncer the assurption that family void provide elderly care, this transition has caused major concern regarding elderly care and veLfare (Martin, 1990; Kan et al . , 2001) .In addition, the percentages of individuals vto prefer intergenerational coresicence are declining in a similar fashion. In Japan, the percentage of pecple aged 20 or over vto preferred to live with their own children vtei they got old chopped from 46.1% in 1983 to as low as 18.0% in 2006 (Ministry of Haalth, Labour and Welfere, 2008) . In SaOi Roea, tie percentage of the elderly vto preferred to live with their children cte^ped from over 70% in 1980s to 47% in 1994 (Kirn & ifee, 1997) . Ih Taiwan, the percentage of voien aged between 20-39 years old vto vented to lire with their narried sens vtei they got old declined frcm 56% in 1973 to 45% in 1986 (Weinstein et al., 1S91) .Following this behavioral and attitudinal change tcverd inbei^neraticnal ooresictae, recent studies in each East Asian society actively examine current status and determinants of irtercpnerational coresidaxe. Ps seen in the literature review in the section below, tee is a ctearth of eipirical studies that directly empare current crnditicns in East Asia, although factors other than cultural norms have been found to be linked to interganeraticnal coresicfexe in each East Asian society . lterefhre, to what extent each East Asian society deviates firm cultural noms based en Confucian values is still unclear .Using East Asian Social Survey 2006 data, the purpose of the present study is to investigate the relative position of China, Japan, South Roea, and Taivai by directly and systematically ocnparing the current crrditicn and determinants of intergeneraticnal coresidaxe. Specifically, behavioral and attitudinal descriptive statistics about inter generational coresidence among the four societies will be compared, and the determinants of inbergeneraticnal considence will be examined using multivariate logistic regression. …