Living arrangements, family solidarity and life satisfaction of two generations of immigrants in Israel

Abstract

This paper reports a study of the relationships between shared and separate living arrangements and the life satisfaction of two generations of migrants from the former Soviet Union to Israel, adult children (the younger generation) and their elderly parents. An attempt was made to identify the social, familial and personal factors that affect life satisfaction, and special attention was devoted to inter-generational family solidarity and to informal and formal social support. Data were collected from a stratified random sample of 425 respondents – 248 in the older generation and 177 in the younger. The results show that for both generations, contrary to expectations, life satisfaction was higher when the two generations lived in separate rather than shared households. Affectual solidarity was positively associated with life satisfaction for both generations, but functional solidarity for the older generation only. Among the older generation, the subjective evaluation of health contributed most to the explained variance; while among the younger, standard of living and employment contributed most. For both generations, family solidarity and social support had little impact. The findings are discussed in relation to the structural and economic factors that influence co-residence and which differentially affect the two generations.