Partially patriarchy? Coresidence of young adults with their parents in the least affordable city

The parent–adult child coresidence has attracted rising research attention. Intergenerational coresidence in Western societies is found as a negotiation of resources and needs between family members, while the coresidence in East Asian societies has long been seen as a traditional norm. As a global Asian city, Hong Kong is a distinct hybridization of Chinese and Western cultures. It is also the least affordable city with extremely high living costs. Nevertheless, the government provides subsidized public rental housing, and its share is more than 30% of all types of housing. Drawing on the 5% of the latest Hong Kong Population By-census, this study examines how the traditional norms and resources associated with whether young adults (age 21–40) live with their parents in parent-headed and child-headed households in the context of available public housing and high living costs.
The results show that compared with other housing types, young adults in public rental housing are more likely to live in a parent-headed household. More importantly, in public rental housing households, males are more likely than females to be the household head. The study suggests that while the parent-headed and son-headed coresidence reflects a traditional norm of patriarchy, it relates to the public housing policy. The patriarchal norms expect sons are the permanent members of the family and daughters will move out after marriage. According to the policy, the rest family members can continue staying in the public housing. However, the male household dominance is not observed in the subsidized sale flats and private housing. Instead, young adults with better education and higher income are more likely to be the head in the coresidence with parents. This study shows that the transformation of the parent-child relationship in a global city relates to the interplay of cultural norms, resources, and housing policy.