SHES LEAVING HOME - BUT WHY - AN ANALYSIS OF YOUNG-PEOPLE LEAVING THE PARENTAL HOME

In this article we use data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics to build on existing work concerning the timing and the process of leaving home to the different destinations of marriage and independent living in the United States. By using event-history techniques, we find that, among recent cohorts, the trend has been towards leaving later, particularly so for men. Moreover, young people are more likely to leave to independent living and are less likely to leave to marriage, with women leaving home at a younger age than men to both destinations. We also find substantial differences in how the different routes out of the parental home are structured by factors such as race and region, characteristics of the family of origin, the young person's own income resources, and contextual variables such as unemployment. In particular, we find that short-term changes in characteristics of family background have an important influence on the timing and destination of departures.