Sharing or Limiting the Wealth? Coresidence, Parental Support, and Wealth Outcomes in Canada

This paper examines the relationship between coresidence with adult children, wealth, and economic security using data from the 1999-2012 Canadian Survey of Financial Security (SFS). The results, obtained via propensity score matching and linear regression, show that coresidence with and parental support for adult children is negatively associated with non-home assets and positively associated with debt levels among Canadian households. Further analyses suggest that these relationships stem from differences in financial assets, retirement savings, student loan debt, and credit card balances. By linking theories of economic insecurity, social capital, and life course studies, this study demonstrates how changing trajectories among young adults and financial hardship can influence broader household resources and stability.