MULTILOCALITY IN THE LATER PHASES OF FAMI LY-LIFE - GENERATIONAL PROXIMITY AND DISTANCE

In contemporary society, intergenerational co-residence has become a t ransitory phase of the life cycle, and family life among adults primar ily takes place among persons living in separate households. This deve lopment has led to the dominance of the concept of the,,''multilocal f amily.'' The spatial organization of the intergenerational family is d etermined by the mobility of family members, which can result from lif e-cycle events,as well as factors such as education and the nature of the labor market. In the present article, we use data on (former) West Germany from the German Socio-Economic Panel to examine the geographi cal structure of the family in later life, especially after adult chil dren have left the parental household. The data demonstrate a strong g eneral tendency for parents and adult children to live near one anothe r, although geographical proximity varies according to educational lev el, occupational prestige, and the age and marital status of the paren ts. Evidence is found for intergenerational solidarity in that geograp hical distance between parents and adult children declines as parents become older, but also due to critical life events.