Volume 10 - Article 8 | Pages 197–230  

Population aging and the extended family in Taiwan: A new model for analyzing and projecting living arrangements

By Andrew Mason, Sang-Hyop Lee

Abstract

Population aging produces changes in the availability of kin with uncertain implications for extended living arrangements. We propose a highly stylized model that can be used to analyze and project age-specific proportions of adults living in extended and nuclear households. The model is applied to Taiwan using annual data from 1978-1998. We estimate cohort and age effects showing that more recently born cohorts of seniors are less likely to live in extended households, but that as seniors age the proportion living in extended households increases.
The effect of individual aging has diminished over time, however. The proportion of non-senior adults living in extended households has increased steadily because changes in the age structure have increased the availability of older kin. The model is used to project living arrangements and we conclude that the proportion living in extended households will begin to decline gradually for both seniors and non-seniors. The extended family is becoming less important in Taiwan, but it is not on the way out.

Author's Affiliation

• Andrew Mason - University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, United States of America EMAIL
• Sang-Hyop Lee - University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, United States of America EMAIL

Most recent similar articles in Demographic Research

KINMATRIX: A new data resource for studies of families and kinship
Volume 51 - Article 25    | Keywords: family, networks, solidarity, survey methodology, transmission

Between money and intimacy: Brideprice, marriage, and women’s position in contemporary China
Volume 50 - Article 46    | Keywords: brideprice, China, divorce, family, family law, gender inequalities, marriage

Pathways and obstacles to parenthood among women in same-sex couples in Spain
Volume 50 - Article 35    | Keywords: assisted reproduction, family, fertility desires, LGBTQ, parenthood, same-sex couples

Differences in mortality before retirement: The role of living arrangements and marital status in Denmark
Volume 50 - Article 20    | Keywords: inequalities, living arrangements, marital status, mortality, retirement

Losing the female survival advantage: Sex differentials in infant and child mortality in Pakistan
Volume 50 - Article 15    | Keywords: child mortality, family, gender discrimination, Pakistan, sex differentials, son preference, South Asia, survival analysis