IS THERE A SOCIOECONOMIC DIMENSION TO EXTENDED FAMILY LIVING AMONG BIOLOGICALLY CHILDLESS ELDERLY WOMEN 60+ IN LATIN AMERICA?

• Published in: International journal of sociology of the family Vol. 40; no. 2; pp. 247 - 267
• Main Author: DE VOS, SUSAN
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Serials Publications 01-10-2014
• Subjects: Argentina; Brazil; Censuses; Coresidence; Costa Rica; Educational attainment; Elderly; Elementary schools; Extended Family; Families; Females; Home Ownership; Households; Intergenerational Relations; Older adults; Primary education; Socioeconomic status; Socioeconomics; Ecuador; Venezuela; Colombia; Argentina; ASW, Costa Rica; Brazil; Mexico; Chile; Latin America
• ISSN: 0020-7667; 0973-2039; 0020-7667

This study asks whether there is a socioeconomic dimension to extended family living among biologically childless elderly women 60+ in eight Latin American countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, and Venezuela. We use educational attainment and home ownership to indicate socioeconomic status, and estimate the same multivariate logistic regression model in each country separately and all together using census data. We find that education has a universally negative effect when the contrast is between completion and more than completion of primary school, but that home ownership has a positive effect in six of the eight countries. Findings are discussed in light of notions about coresidence, intergenerational relations, marital status, power and privacy, and point to the need for further research.