Leaving the Parental Home in Great Britain: A Comparative Perspective

(1992) - Alan C. Kerckhoff, James Macrae

Journal: The Sociological Quarterly
Link:: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1533-8525.1992.tb00376.x
DOI:: 10.1111/j.1533-8525.1992.tb00376.x
Links::
Tags:: #paper #Transition #Housing #Tenure
Cite Key:: [@Kerckhoff1992]

Abstract

A British birth cohort's experiences of leaving home are analyzed, and comparisons are made with leaving home patterns in the U.S. and Australia. Neither the fact nor the timing of leaving home can be understood without considering the reason for leaving. There are sharp differences between those who leave for education and those who leave to marry. The former leave earlier, come from higher status homes, have better academic records, and are more likely to return. Because, on average, women marry earlier than men, more women leave home by their mid-twenties and fewer return. All three societies show these differences, but the proportions leaving for the different reasons vary. Overall, Americans leave home earliest and are most likely to return, in part because more Americans than Australians or Britons first leave home for school. Observed societal differences are attributed to differences in the educational systems, but variations in youth employment and housing opportunities may also contribute

Notes

"tralia. Neither the fact nor the timing of leaving home can be understood without considering the reason for leavi" (Kerckhoff and Macrae 1992:282)

"sharp differences between those who leave for education and those who leave to marry. The former leave earlier, come from higher status homes, have better academic records, and are more likely to return" (Kerckhoff and Macrae 1992:282)

"Transition to adulthood has been defined in terms of five interrelated events: leaving fulltime school, entering the labor force full-time, establishing a residence independent of the family of origin, getting married, and becoming a parent. Life course analysis shows that the timing, order, and duration of some of these events influence later experiences (Hogan 1981; Marini 1984; Kerckhoff 1990" (Kerckhoff and Macrae 1992:282)

Again with a linear interpretation of events (note on p.282)

"We include school type in our analysis because of its likely association with postsecondary school activities. The nature of those activities, in turn, should be related to the timing of the departure from and the likelihood of a return to the parental home." (Kerckhoff and Macrae 1992:284)

"n and "elite,"" (Kerckhoff and Macrae 1992:284)

Always get wary with that word (note on p.284)

"Table 2" (Kerckhoff and Macrae 1992:288)

"Table 3" (Kerckhoff and Macrae 1992:289)

"n. We use multinomial logistic regression analysis (Steinberg 1986) to estimate the effect of factors that might lead to leaving home for one rather than another reason, holding all other independent and dependent conditions constant. Such an analysis requires choosing one of the conditions as the point of comparison-we use marriage. The" (Kerckhoff and Macrae 1992:291)