Are you better off living with your parents and are your parents better off living with you?

Talk by Miss Natalia Permyakova, University of Southampton With an increasingly ageing population and lack of affordable housing across Europe, many families experience multiple changes in their living arrangements. Common scenarios include: coming back to the parental home after divorce or financial issues; parents moving in to receive informal care from adult children or provide help with grandchildren. All of these and many other reasons for intergenerational co-residence are present in the UK context. The UK picture is similar to Western Europe but is in contrast to Eastern European countries, which have a high share of intergenerational households. What are the implications of intergenerational households for the well-being of both older parents and adult children? On the one hand, living in a small living space, providing financially and taking care of those in need can be burdensome. On the other hand, when sharing a living space, generations are more likely to support each other physically and emotionally, which can boost self-esteem and well-being. This talk will introduce the importance of ageing and informal caregiving for both younger and older generations, taking into account the effects of different socio-economic contexts across Europe. This talk was part of the Hope & Hops: the science of society event organised by NCRM, CPC and ADRC at the University of Southampton. This event was included in the the ESRC Festival of Social Science 2017. bit.ly/HopeAndHops