9412377 ROGERSON This project will investigate intergenerational relations in the U.S. be focusing on living arrangements of elderly persons and their geographic proximity to their adult children. Proximity and living arrangements are often critical in determining access to caregiving and support among members of each generation. Increased life expectancy, the aging of the baby boom generation, and small family sizes suggest a need to further understand these dimensions of family behavior. Employing panel data from the 1988 and 1993 National Surveys of Families and Households, static models as well as transition models will be analyzed to capture a fuller picture of the living arrangements and proximity between adult children and their parents during the study period. A rational choice perspective will be utilized to develop and test models of: (1) the choices of living arrangements of elderly persons, (2) the structure of hierarchical relationships among living arrangement alternatives, and (c) changes in individual living arrangement choices. Finally models of intergenerational accessibility will be developed, including the establishment of a proximity/living arrangement typology and an evaluation of transitions in family accessibility states. This project will contribute to theoretical understanding of intergenerational relations from both a geographical and a sociological perspective. The results of the study will also have important implications for our understanding of the future well-being of an aging population. The research will be conducted by an interdisciplinary team that will construct a better synthesis of this important phenomenon.
