Leaving and Returning Home: A New Approach to Off‐Time Transitions

Abstract

Objective This study offers a new approach to off‐time transitions and applies it to the link between leaving and returning home. Background It is no longer uncommon for young adults to return after having left the parental home. Previous research has mostly examined returning home in isolation from leaving home, although these two transitions are closely intertwined. Method Using longitudinal data from the German Socio‐Economic Panel Study, the authors examine the link between leaving and returning home in a two‐step model. The model captures home leaving in a selection model and links off‐time leaving to the subsequent risk of returning home. This measure of off‐time leaving is sensitive to specific individual circumstances. Results The findings show that the new measure of off‐time leaving is a better predictor for returning home than age at leaving home. Young adults who leave home more off‐time are more likely to return home. Experiences after leaving home significantly mediate part, but not all of the effect of off‐time home leaving on returning home. Conclusion The processes of leaving and returning home are linked: Off‐time time home leavers are more likely to return home than on‐time leavers. Implications The findings contribute to research on returning home and the life course by demonstrating the importance of previous transitions. The new measure of off‐time transitions could also be applied to other life course outcomes.

Stepfamily Effects on Early Home‐Leaving: The Role of Conflict and Closeness

“…Zooming in on separated families, we provided more insight into the role of stepfamily experiences on leaving home. In line with some previous studies, we demonstrated that young adults who grow up with a stepparent are more likely to leave home at a young age compared to young adults from single-parent families (Aquilino, 1991;Blaauboer & Mulder, 2009;Cooney & Mortimer, 1999;Goldscheider & Goldscheider, 1989van den Berg et al, 2018avan den Berg et al, , 2018b. Using recently collected data from the Netherlands that included an oversample of young adults from separated families and stepfamilies, we used detailed measures for both dependent and independent variables.…”

“…Little is known about explanations for early home-leaving among young adults from stepfamilies. One previous study found that having a partner and residential mobility account for about 20% of the difference in early home-leaving between step-and two-parent families (van den Berg et al, 2018a(van den Berg et al, , 2018b. Two early studies suggest that compared to young adults from single-parent families, young adults from stepfamilies are more likely to leave because of friction than because of a wish to live independently or to live with a partner (Kiernan, 1992;Young, 1987).…”

“…We focused on children whose parents have separated, excluding children from two-parent or widowed families. Children from widowed families differ substantially from children from separated families and are more similar in their home-leaving behavior to children from two-parent families than to those from separated families (van den Berg et al, 2018b). Individuals were excluded if information was missing on whether parents had a new partner in youth (n = 14), the financial situation in youth (n = 128), or the age at leaving home (n = 10).…”

Timing of Departure From the Parental Home: Differences by Immigrant Generation and Parents’ Region of Origin

“…Both linguistic incorporation and cultural norms vary by immigrant origin (Bean & Stevens, 2003) such that Latin-origin immigrant parents are among the least likely to be English proficient, and therefore may be more likely to rely on their children for linguistic brokering. In the United States, approximately 30% of Spanish-speaking foreign-born are English proficient (speak it "well or very well"), compared with nearly 50% among those who speak a language other than Spanish at home (U.S. Census Bureau, 2017). Furthermore, immigrants originating from Latin American countries are among the most likely to speak a language other than English at home (Portes & Rumbaut, 2006).…”

Leaving Home, Entering Institutions: Implications for Home-Leaving in the Transition to Adulthood

“…A large multidisciplinary body of research has extensively detailed the many facets of this transition including its timing and prevalence and changes therein associated with broader social shifts such as women's entry into the labor force (e.g. van den Berg, Kalmijn, and Leopold 2018). These studies have focused nearly exclusively on parental co-residence and family/household formation, with limited engagement of the implications of contact with institutions such as the military, the criminal justice system, and postsecondary education on this milestone.…”