Different pathways out of the parental home: A gender perspective

The aim of this study is to show that, because of socialisation process that develop normative conceptions of behaviours and attitudes that are appropriate for each sex category, men and women tend to choose different pathways out of the parental home. Using retrospective data from the LIVES Cohort survey, a panel survey of 1691 respondents that started in autumn 2013 in Switzerland, a competing risk analysis model has been developed. This approach examines the effects of sex and other independent variables, such as age, ethnic origin, family structure during childhood and place of residence on the propensity to leave home to live alone, to live with a partner or to share a residency with roommates. The results show that in comparison with men, women have a higher likelihood of leaving home to start a union. This confirms the idea according to which the diverging paths taken by men and women during their transition to adulthood can be considered as an anticipation of the roles they are expected to fulfil later in life or of the behaviours they feel is viewed by others as the right and socially accepted way to behave. Finally, there is some evidence that the impact of age, ethnic origin, family structure and place of residence on the different pathways out of the parental home varies according to sex. As a consequence, even though these independent factors have a significant impact on the departure from the parental home, it seems that sex overlaps this effect.