INTERACTIONS OF MIDDLE-AGED JAPANESE WITH THEIR PARENTS

Japanese household structure has changed dramatically over the last two decades, especially with regard to multi-generational co-residence. In this paper, we use logit analysis to investigate the extent to which married Japanese men and women aged 30 to 59 live with their parents and, in particular, how socio-economic and demographic characteristics are associated with co-residence. For men, being the eldest child, being in a lower-status occupation, living in a small town or rural area, being in an arranged marriage, and having a parent without a spouse are all positively associated with co-residence. For women, only demographic variables matter - being the eldest child, having a husband who is not the eldest child, and having a parent without a spouse, lead to a higher probability of co-residence with own parents. For those middle-aged Japanese who are not co-residing with their parents, we analyse the frequency of seeing and telephoning their parents and find that the distance between the residences of members of different generations, as well as other socio-economic and demographic factors, affect the frequency of contact. The study is based on data from the 1988 Mainichi Newspapers/Nihon University Japanese National Family Survey. © 1991 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.