Intergenerational Proximity: Life Course Aspects

HwaJung Choi, University of Michigan

This paper explores proximity to mother for 1984-1996 among adult children (age 23-35 in 1984). Using Panel Study of Income Dynamics, preliminary findings in this paper suggest that non-white, lower education, fewer siblings, and mother’s residence in non-rural area are significantly associated with closer proximity to mother. And, controlling after time-invariant factors, adult children’s higher education, marriage and working are significantly associated with further spatial location from mother while mother’s health problem relates closer proximity. To understand the full mechanism of how adult children’s proximity to parents is determined and how such proximity facilitates informal transfers, it might be necessary to incorporate further information on individual geographic mobility and/or to explore within-individual variations.