Generational Change and Cultural Preferences: 1.5 and Second Generation Adults Living with Parents

Monica Boyd, University of Toronto
Stella Park, University of Toronto

This paper asks if percentages of young adults living with parents vary by immigrant generational status, and for groups that originate from countries characterized by an emphasis on individualism versus familism. 2006 Canadian census data for single (never-married) 20-34 year olds show young adult-parental co-residency rates differ considerably by immigrant generational status, gender, and origins. In general, percentages living with parents decline for across the 1.5, second and third-plus generations, and young women in each generation are less likely than men to reside with parents. Further, young men and women whose parents are born in the USA, the UK, France and Germany have levels of co-residency with parents that approximate those observed for the third-plus generation. Those whose parents are born in Italy, Portugal, China, Hong Kong, South Korea, India and Pakistan have much higher percentages residing with parents, a pattern that suggests the persistence of cultural preferences across generations.