Family, geographical distance and residential (im)mobility behaviour in China

Abstract

This study investigates how the residential locations of extended family members influence residential (im)mobility behaviour in the urbanizing and industrializing context of China. It engages with how residential mobility as family adaptive strategies are structured by traditional family beliefs, welfare systems and structural modernization processes. For younger adults who have parents but no adult children, when they co-reside with their parents, they are more likely to move rather than staying put. But they usually move short distances within the county rather than outside the county. This mainly implies a process of moving out of the intergenerational households and establishing their independent households. The presence of their parents at the county scale also deters them from moving outside the county. These young adults seem to be bounded within the county by family ties. Besides, when they have siblings within the county, they are more likely to move outside the county than within the county; siblings near their parents may allow other siblings to move away for job and education opportunities, indicating a responsibility-sharing theory. For older adults who have young adult children but no living parents, they are more likely to move outside the county when their nearest adult child(ren) is outside the county, a strong implication of moving towards their adult children. For those who have both living parents and adult children, they are more likely to stay put or to move locally within the county, rather than moving out the county, when their parents are at the county scale.