Grandparents in Multigenerational Households

This study provides a profile of the households with coresident grandparents, using the European Community Household Panel. It identifies rising rates of coresidence with grandparents in Portugal between 1994 and 2001, and explores the nature of such trend, using an age-period-cohort approach. Households with grandparents became economically worse than the general population, with skipped-generation households in the worst situation. Multigenerational households may be formed in a particular generation’s interest. Although no formation is directly available, indicators suggest that it is the needs of the younger generations that account for most coresidence situations. One possible benefit of this type of coresidence is the provision of caring services. Very significant proportions of coresident grandparents take care of children, especially small children. Although the proportion of coresident grandparents is the highest in the North region, it is more frequent in the Lisbon (capital) region for these grandparents to take care of children. Skipped generation households are also more concentrated in the Lisbon region.