Religious artwork lines the interior walls of the establishment that, from the outside, looks indistinguishable from any other building.
Aadit Patel begins to pray to the statuettes of Hindu gods that populate the Shri Mandir temple in San Diego, but his trip is more than that of religious enlightenment.
Next to him is a link to his Indian culture, a spiritual guide from the older generations and a member of his family’s household; his grandmother.
The third-year aerospace engineering student’s household contains three generations living under a single roof. But while he has been accustomed to such living conditions for his entire life, multi-generational households in the United States have only recently been a growing trend.
Since 1980, the share of Americans living in multi-generational households, or households that contain more than two generations, has grown by 33 percent to a total of 49 million Americans, according to a new study by the Pew Research Center.
In a major trend away from the nuclear family of parents and children that is so common among Americans, these multi-generational households have quickly spread and become more commonplace among American families over the last three decades.
According to the study published in March, this trend shift was due to a wide array of factors, from the rising share of immigrants in the population to the rising median marriage age.
This cultural shift has achieved an even greater boost by the recent high unemployment and increasing foreclosures, with the number of multi-generational households growing by 2.6 million from 2007 to 2008, according to the report.
As economic insecurities continue to spread, many Americans may begin to experience growing households as older generations join younger ones under the same roof.
But some, such as Patel, believe this increase in household size may be beneficial for American families.
“I think the family structure is stronger in my family compared to other households,” Patel said. “There is that extra sense of unity when (my grandmother) is here.”
With two working parents in Patel’s family, his grandmother is integral in maintaining a strong family bond for the Patel family. Not only does she help with minor cooking and chores around the house, but she also helps to maintain a strong relationship between the family and their culture and religion.
Patel is led in his prayers by his grandmother. He listens as she tells stories from the Bhagavad Gita, the sacred Hindu scripts recognized as some of the most important texts in the history of literature and philosophy.
“She could just as easily ask my parents to take her to the temple, but I feel like she thinks spirituality and religion help us bond,” Patel said.
And Patel is not the only one who has benefited from living in a multi-generational household.
Third-year psychology student Anjuman Shah found that the presence of more family members in her household has benefited her development.
“(My grandmother) has helped me develop my language skills so I stay in touch with my culture,” Shah said. “She’s like my third parent.”
For both Patel and Shah, their family generations were united under a single household in response to immigrating to a new land and an adjustment to the cultural differences between India and the United States.
But the cultural, religious and historical benefits that such households have brought for immigrant families may soon influence a changing population.