Leaving Home: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

This article presents the results of a qualitative study that examined first person accounts of the process of leaving home in Emerging Adulthood. Thirty university students aged 21 to 26, who attended a large commuter school in a Canadian city, were interviewed individually. Sixteen had already left home to live on their own, while fourteen lived with their families but anticipated leaving home. What emerged was a model of home leaving as a gradual process, which spanned months or years and represented a significant transition. Adaptation was either facilitated or impeded by external supports as well as personal attitudes and abilities. While parents played an important role in how confidently participants experienced the transition, peers appeared to have exerted a unique and important influence as sources of information and reassurance. Implications for practice and research are identified.

How emerging adults navigate the autonomy–connection dialectic with parents via information communication technology (ICT) choices

“…Consistent with previous research on emerging adulthood (Connell & Dworkin, 2012; Mann‐Feder et al, 2014), our participants expressed a strong desire for frequent connection with their parents during this transition. This need was evident in both ICT use, with most participants reporting daily contact with their parents, and from the predominance of using a less preferred technology to make contact, with connection examples being twice as frequent as autonomy.…”

“…We know that emerging adults report not feeling like true adults (Arnett, 1994;Nelson & McNamara Barry, 2005), and that their sense of protracted adolescence is heavily influenced by continued reliance on their parents as they confront new situations, new expectations, and new relationships in adult life (Arnett, 2000(Arnett, , 2006(Arnett, , 2007Arnett & Tanner, 2006;Carlson, 2014Carlson, , 2016. Emerging adults still crave parental connection, especially because that support is vital to helping them adjust to living on their own (Mann-Feder et al, 2014). Yet expectations of independence persist as a social narrative, creating tension between emerging adults' desire to remain connected to their family of origin and their desire to enact the autonomous selfhood that is still seen as a hallmark of adulthood.…”

Are Millennials really Picking Pets over People? Taking a Closer Look at Dog Ownership in Emerging Adulthood

“…The lengthening transition to adulthood over the past several decades poses significant challenges for young people, their families, and society at large. Today, the process of leaving home not only happens much later, but also tends to be coupled with confusion and loneliness (Mann-Feder et al, 2014). Our results show that dog ownership may help strengthen the skills and capacities of young people on the path to adulthood.…”

“…Peer support is important when young people leave home, as is having a parental safety net (Mann-Feder et al, 2014), so a lack of social networks could exacerbate any challenges millennials may face when trying to care for their pets. Our results show that parents were often called upon to help with pet care responsibilities.…”

“…Nonetheless, previous research has found that supportive parents and peers can act as stabilizers in young people's adjustments to independent living (Heath & Calvert, 2013;Mann-Feder, Eades, Sobel, & De Stafano, 2014). As Côté & Bynner (2008) caution, young people more than ever require access to resources to "develop a stable sense of self rooted in the adult roles they elect to adopt" (p. 262).…”