The Economic Organization of Extended Family Households by Race or Ethnicity and Socioeconomic Status

• Published date: 01 February 2018
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12445
• Author: Adriana M. Reyes
• Date: 01 February 2018

A M. R University of Michigan

The Economic Organization of Extended Family

Households by Race or Ethnicity and

Socioeconomic Status

This study examines differences in the amount of

economic support or mutual benet derived from

extended family living arrangements by studying

differences in monetary contributions to essen-

tial household expenditures across family units

in extended family households. Using the 2008

Survey of Income and Program Participation,

multivariate regressionand selection models are

estimated to assess racial differences in fam-

ily contributions toward household expenses in

extended family households. Extended family

households have very unequal monetary con-

tributions toward household rent and utilities,

although Hispanics have less unequal mone-

tary contributions when compared with other

racial groups.Hispanic and Asian extended fam-

ily households experience decreasing inequal-

ity in nancial contributions as the income of

each family increases, whereas no relationship

between nancial contributions and income is

found for Whites or Blacks. This suggests a dif-

ferent cultural orientation to extended family

living arrangements for Asians and Hispanics

when compared with non-Hispanic Whites.

The proportion of the population living in

extended family households has steadily

Population Studies Center, University of Michigan, 426

Thompson, Ann Arbor, MI 48104 (reyesam@umich.edu).

Key Words: ethnicity, family economics, intergenerational,

race.

increased from 12% in 1980 to 18% in 2012,

with even higher rates among racial and ethnic

minority groups (Fry & Passel, 2014). Despite

this increase in extended family households,

information on the economic organization

within these households is relatively sparse.

Higher rates of extended family households

among minority and impoverished groups have

often been attributed to economic necessity,with

little attention paid to the extent the economic

need was of all members in the household or just

some members of the household. As the number

and proportion of people living in extended fam-

ily households has increased, the heterogeneity

in the factors that precipitate their formation

as well as the differences in expectations that

accompany their formation have undoubtedly

changed. For example, the extent to which

these households are formed in response to

chronic versus episodic vulnerability among

low-income families is unclear. Economic moti-

vations for extended family households could

be to make living arrangements more affordable

or to assist family members in need. Although

society has seen an increase in the incidence

of residential phenomena such as cohabitation

and extended family living arrangements, the

economic organization of these households in

which complex familial relationships evolve

is not well understood (Cherlin, 2010). Nor

is it clear the extent to which organizational

difference may reect differences in socio-

economic status, racial differences in cultural

expectations, or some combination.

Journal of Marriage and Family 80 (February 2018): 119–133 119

DOI:10.1111/jomf.12445