Over the last several decades, increasing proportions of young adults are leaving their families at younger ages, before they marry, to set up an independent residence. However, we have lacked data to systematically assess the timing of leaving home, rates of returning homes, and linkages to age at marriage. We also have no information about how nonfamily living in early adulthood affects other family relationships. Nonfamily living for young adults typically requires parental subsidies, thus altering intergenerational supports. In addition, the fact that current young adults have experienced nonfamily living in their transition to adulthood may affect their attitudes about living with a dependent parent. This project is designed to fill these knowledge gaps. We propose to (1) Examine changes in leaving home patterns among young adults over the last half century in the United States. We will examines these trends for the total population and for major population subgroups. (2) Model changes in the determinants of leaving and returning home over the last half century, with particular focus on change during the 1970s and 1980s. This analysis will clarify the extent to which new patterns of living arrangements in young adulthood involve changes in interhousehold financial flows. (3) Model whether nonfamily living in early adulthood affects attitudes toward later coresidence with a dependent parent. We will use three data sets for the analysis. The new National Survey of Families nd Households allows us to link trends in young adults' homeleaving with intercohort variation in economic and social patterns and provides the basis for analyzing effects on attitudes about coresidence with a dependent parent. Detailed analysis of two recent cohorts--The National Longitudinal Survey of the High School Class of 1972 and High School and Beyond--provide analytic richness for comparing the changing determinants of leaving and returning home in the most recent decades.
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