Motivation to leave home during the transition to emerging adulthood among Turkish adolescents

Abstract

Although the age of leaving home has increased during the past few decades, senior year in high school remains a significant period during which many adolescents consider moving out, especially to attend university. However, the role of personal, practical and familial factors on adolescents' motivation to leave home prior to the actual transition are still unknown. The current study investigated adolescents' motivation to leave home while they still lived with their parents and its association with adolescentreported personal and practical circumstances, and parent-child relationship quality. Participants were 558 Turkish senior high school students (62% female), all living with their parents in Istanbul, Turkey. Results showed that just above one third of the adolescents (38%) wanted to leave home after high school. Boys, adolescents from high SES and nonintact families were more likely to be motivated to leave home. Satisfaction with living situation, parental support for home-leaving, and importance of practical and personal circumstances influenced adolescents' motivation to leave home. The adolescent-mother relationship was differently related to adolescents' motivation compared to the adolescentfather relationship. Conflict with both parents, but only fathers' warmth was associated with motivation to leave home above and beyond all practical and personal circumstances.

Social inequality in the association between life transitions into adulthood and depressed mood: a 27-year longitudinal study

“…This group of adolescents also tended to move out earlier than their peers. Together, these findings are similar to other studies which shows that higher SES adolescents are more motivated to move out and tend to do so earlier than their lower SES peers ( 77 – 80 ). This higher motivation to live on one's own could reflect the greater decrease in depressed mood experienced afterwards.…”

“…It has been suggested that this could be due to higher partner preferences (e.g., higher educational credentials and better income) among higher SES youth, but also parents expecting more thoughtful decisions in terms of partner choice ( 85 , 86 ). Another factor could be that a negative family climate and conflictual relationships with parents (both of which are common among lower SES) are motivating factors for moving in with a partner early on ( 77 , 87 ).…”

Parent-Child Relationship, Well-Being and Home-Leaving during the Transition from High School to University

“…Regarding home-leaving, research shows that what matters more for well-being is that emerging adults' living situations reflect their personal and autonomous motivation [27]. In high school, adolescents already differ in the extent to which they are motivated to leave home after they graduate [32]. However, some students may not have another option but to move out to attend university.…”