This study examined how intergenerational exchanges with sons and daughters predicted older parents’ likelihood of co-residing with a son prior to death in a rural area of China’s Anhui Province. Our investigation drew on theories of contingent co-residence, modernization, and social exchange, conceptualizing co-residence as having practical and symbolic importance in rural Chinese culture. The sample included 470 older parents, reported as deceased during 2001–2009, and their posthumous informants. We used logistic regression to assess intergenerational support and cohesion as predictors of co-residence with a son just prior to death. Older parents who provided instrumental support to, and received instrumental support from, sons and had better emotional relationships with sons were more likely than their counterparts to co-reside with a son at the end of life. Living with sons demonstrates filial piety for older parents at the end of life, but its realization is sensitive to intergenerational transactions.

Demographic and social trends lead to a variety of micro-level and internal structural contexts that influence caregiving in families with older members. The results of macro-level changes have received little focused attention in the aging literature, where much of the caregiving research has addressed issues within the context of traditional family structure. Yet the conventional nuclear family model is increasingly uncommon as new, pluralistic models of family life are emerging in contemporary society. The majority of elder care is provided by relatives, albeit with varying patterns of involvement and responsibility across family structures. Both conventional and pluralistic families face challenges in meeting the care needs of their oldest members, leaving some older adults at risk of having unmet needs. Additional research on family risk and resilience related to the care of older relatives is warranted, particularly with respect to pluralistic models of family life.