Human Ecology Research

The Korean Home Economics Association (대한가정학회)
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Coresidence between Unmarried Children in Established Adulthood and Older Parents in Korea: Relationship Characteristics and Associations with Life Satisfaction

35세 이상 성인자녀와 부모의 동거: 세대관계 특성과 생활 만족도의 관련성

  • Kim, Hyeji (Department of Child Development and Family Studies, Seoul National University) ;
  • Lee, Jaerim (Department of Child Development and Family Studies and the Research Institute of Human Ecology, Seoul National University)
  • 김혜지 (서울대학교 아동가족학과) ;
  • 이재림 (서울대학교 아동가족학과 및 생활과학연구소)
  • Received : 2021.05.02
  • Accepted : 2021.07.16
  • Published : 2021.08.30
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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine which aspects of coresident intergenerational relationships were associated with the life satisfaction of unmarried children in established adulthood and of their parents. In this study, the coresident relationship characteristics included support exchange, emotion, interference-conflict, and perceptions of coresidence. Data were collected from (a) 250 never-married adults who were 35+ years old and lived in Seoul with at least one parent aged 75 years or younger and (b) 250 older adults who were 75 years old or younger and had at least one unmarried child aged 35+ years living in the same household. Our multiple regression analysis of unmarried children showed that the adult child's financial support, the adult child's psychological reliance on parents, the parent's psychological reliance on the child, and relationship quality were significantly related to higher levels of life satisfaction. In contrast, the parent's daily interference, daily conflicts, and anticipation of future care of parents were related to lower levels of life satisfaction. Second, the characteristics that were positively associated with the parent's life satisfaction were the parent's instrumental support, relationship quality, the coresident child's daily interference, positive perceptions of intergenerational coresidence, and expectation of future care of parents. In contrast, the parent's financial support, daily conflicts with the child, and taking intergenerational coresidence for granted were negatively related to the parent's life satisfaction. This study advances our understanding of coresidence between unmarried children in established adulthood and their older parents by focusing on the multiple aspects of intergenerational coresidence.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

We appreciate Younshil Choi, Miai Sung, and Saeeun Choi who generously allowed us to use their valuable dataset.

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