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Older Adults Without Close Kin In The United States, Rachel Margolis, Ashton Verdery

Sociology Publications

Objectives: We document the size and characteristics of the population of older adults without close kin in the contemporary United States.

Methods: Using the Health and Retirement Study, we examine the prevalence of lacking different types and combinations of living kin, examine how kinless-ness is changing across birth cohorts, and provide estimates of kinless-ness for sociodemographic and health groups.

Results: In 1998–2010, 6.6% of U.S. adults aged 55 and above lacked a living spouse and biological children and 1% lacked a partner/spouse, any children, biological siblings, and biological parents. Kinless-ness, defined both ways, is becoming more common among adults in …