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Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 4,898), this study investigated how the share, correlates, transition patterns, and duration of 3-generation households vary by mother's relationship status at birth. Nine percent of married mothers, 17% of cohabiting mothers, and 45% of single mothers lived in a 3-generation family household at the time of the child's birth. Incidence over time was much higher and most common among single-mother households: Sixty percent lived in a 3-generation family household at least 1 wave. Economic need, culture, and generational needs were associated with living in a 3-generation household; correlates varied by mother's relationship status. Three-generation family households were short lived, and transitions were frequent. Kin support through coresidence was an important source of support for families with young children and in particular families in which the parents were unwed at the time of their child's birth.
Key Words: coresidence, family structure, Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, grandparents, multigenerational.
Vern Bengtson (2001), in his Burgess Award Lecture to the National Council on Family Relations, boldly stated: ' 'For many Americans multigenerational bonds are becoming more important than nuclear family ties for well-being and support over the course of their lives" (p. 5). Regardless of whether they are more important than nuclear family ties, multigenerational ties are an essential part of the family system (Swartz, 2009), and multigenerational family households (i.e., those in which two or more adult generations coreside) have recently increased in prevalence (Taylor et al., 2010). This article focuses on one type of multigenerational household: a three-generation family household in which a grandparent, parent, and child coreside. The share of children in threegeneration households has been increasing: In 2001, 6% of U.S. children lived in a threegeneration family household, and by 2011, 8% did (author' s calculation using data from Current Population Survey; U.S. Census Bureau, 201 1).
Despite rising trends in intergenerational coresidence, research on three-generation family households is relatively slim. In fact, research has shown that nonnuclear family relationships are often overlooked in the family literature and that about 80% of articles on families focus on couples or parents (Fingerman & Hay, 2002). This article seeks to add to the descriptive literature on three-generation family households. Given that previous...