CO-RESIDENCE IN THE EARLY 20TH-CENTURY - ELDERLY WOMEN IN THE UNITED-STATES AND THEIR CHILDREN

A quiet demographic revolution has occurred during the twentieth centu ry in the United States: the decline in intergenerational household sh aring. Why were these living arrangements so common for older women ea rly in the century? We examine the characteristics of adult kin who sh ared intergenerational households in 1910. Two nationally representati ve samples, of elderly mothers and their co-resident biological adult children were taken from the 1910 Census P.U.S. and linked to test gen eral hypotheses relating to the determination of living arrangements. We find that kin availability influenced co-residence in two ways: by increasing the pool of children available and by facilitating strategi c processes of kin selection based on quality of children. As kin avai lability increased, mothers chose security (especially the retention o f headship) and a child's lack of competing obligations.