Parental co-residence, shared living and emerging adulthood in Europe: semi-dependent housing across welfare regime and housing system contexts

Abstract

Transitions to adulthood not only represent a key period for individual development but also contribute to processes of social stratification. Growing evidence has pointed to increased complexity, postponement and individualization in transition dynamics. Previous research has focused on trends in school-to-work transitions and family formation; however, the central role of housing represents an interrelated process that is less understood. As pathways to adulthood have diversified, many young people experience partial independence in one sphere while continued dependence in others. Semi-dependent housing, either through parental coresidence or shared living, can be an important coping mechanism. Using the EU-SILC dataset, the research investigates the role that semi-dependent living plays within emerging adulthood across varied European contexts. The data suggests that the extent and type of semi-dependent housing varies substantially across EU15 countries. The findings indicate that levels of housing independence can be partly explained by welfare regime context while the propensity for shared living appears correlated with affordability in the rental market.Although socio-cultural and economic trends play an important and interrelated role, the study argues that housing dynamics of young adulthood and the role of semi-dependent living is fundamentally shaped by the context of the housing system and welfare regime.

Young people and housing: identifying the key issues

“…The final European paper has a very specific focus, investigating the growing trend of house sharing amongst young people in Milan, Italy À a trend that is more typical in Northern European countries (Arundel & Ronald, 2015;Schwanitz & Mulder, 2015). In their qualitative research, Bricocoli and Sabatinelli (2016) identify economic constraints as the primary cause of sharing, and yet within this constrained housing context, experiences of sharing vary considerably.…”

Equity Inequity: Housing Wealth Inequality, Inter and Intra-generational Divergences, and the Rise of Private Landlordism

“…Government cuts have, for example, seen rising educational costs that combined with labour market pressures for a better educated workforce, have promoted large debts upon graduation -especially among those of more disadvantaged backgrounds (Buchmann and Kriesi 2011;Hills et al 2013) -hindering traditional adulthood transitions for many, including into owner occupation (Arundel and Lennartz, forthcoming;Arundel and Ronald 2016). While not delving here into the complex dimensions of policy and legislative approaches, broadly speaking, state institutional contexts have tended to favour labour and housing market insiders often exacerbating or upholding other dimensions of economic polarization (see Häusermann and Schwander 2012).…”

Why housing wealth and welfare?

“…Much debate has subsequently focused on the housing situations of young people (for example, McKee, 2012;Lersch and Dewilde, 2015;Arundel and Ronald, 2016;Filandri and Bertolini, 2016;Kolb and Buchholz, this volume). A specific research focus has been children's dependency on parental help and resources to become and remain home owners.…”