Husbands and Wives Living in Nuclear and Stem Family Households in Japan

Abstract

This article explores living arrangements of middle-aged married couples living in Tokyo. Data were drawn from 645 married couples with at least one school-aged child. Twenty-five percent of couples in the sample lived with either spouse's parents. It was found that a married couple is likely to live with the parents if their marriage was arranged, the husband is the oldest son, and/or the wife is the oldest daughter without brothers. Neither the husband's income, the wife's employment status, nor the respondents' attitude toward filial responsibility is strongly related to their living arrangements. The husbands' life satisfaction is highest when they live with their parents-in-law while the wives' life satisfaction is lowest when they live with their in-laws. Emphases are placed upon the difference between patrilocal and matrilocal stem family households as well as between nuclear family households, and upon the imbalance in the exchange relationship between the two generations resulting from industrialization and subsequent social changes.