Parent‐adolescent relationship quality as a predictor of leaving home

Abstract

Introduction: Leaving home is a significant life transition that effects both emerging adults and their families. The age of leaving home has been increasing across industrialized societies, and children remain dependent on their parents for a longer time. The present study investigated the association between parent-adolescent relationships and timing of leaving home over a timespan of six years: From middle adolescence to emerging adulthood. Methods: Data came from three cohorts of two longitudinal studies in the Netherlands (N = 1100). At the start of the study, participants had a mean age of 16.41 (SD=.71), and approximately half of them (n = 547) were male. Adolescents completed questionnaires on parent-adolescent relationship quality. The impact of positive and negative relationship characteristics on timing of leaving home were examined separately for mothers and fathers. Results: Survival analysis results showed that higher levels of mother's and father's warmth, and higher levels of power attributed to father, but not mother, predicted later timing of leaving home. Higher levels of parental autonomy support predicted earlier timing of leaving home. Conflict with parents was not associated with timing of leaving home, except in the fatherdaughter relationship. Only, the effect of parental warmth on timing of leaving home remained robust when controlling for age, gender, education level, and SES. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that certain parent-adolescent relationship characteristics contribute to the increase in age of leaving home. Parents may be able to prepare their children for a self-sufficient living by balancing warmth and autonomy support they provide during adolescence. Leaving home is a significant life transition since it clearly marks the individuation process for emerging adults (Arnett, 2004). While the age of leaving home has been increasing across industrialized countries, it also shows great diversity (Seiffge-Krenke, 2013), and its determinants are multifaceted. Studies have reported associations between leaving home and cultural background (Kleinepier & De Valk, 2017), gender (Blaauboer & Mulder, 2010), family resources (De Jong Gierveld, Liefbroer, & Beekink, 1991), and other developmental tasks associated with emerging adulthood (Seiffge-Krenke, 2009, 2010), but only few looked at the relation between leaving home and parent-adolescent relationship quality. From a life-course perspective, leaving home is a developmental task that affects not only the emerging adults but the whole family. According to the 'linked lives' principle of this perspective, individuals in a family unit are interdependent (Elder, Johnson, & Crosnoe, 2003), and leaving home is a family decision (Goldscheider & Goldscheider, 1998). The timing of leaving home is therefore expected to be closely associated with parent-adolescent relationship quality. Little research, however, examined how earlier parent

Family context, life transitions, and subjective well-being from age 18 to 50 years.

“…Children may leave home earlier to get away from unsupportive parents, and/or less supportive parents may encourage their children to leave early. Although we found no studies examining how parent-adolescent conflict and parent support influenced marital and parenthood timing, several showed more robust associations with home leaving than seen in our analyses (e.g., Akın et al, 2020; Gillespie, 2020; Seiffe-Krenke, 2006). The current study assessed transitions later into the life span, up to the 40s, compared to prior research with participants in their early 20s (Akın et al, 2020; Seiffe-Krenke, 2006) or 30s (Gillespie, 2020).…”

“…Although we found no studies examining how parent-adolescent conflict and parent support influenced marital and parenthood timing, several showed more robust associations with home leaving than seen in our analyses (e.g., Akın et al, 2020; Gillespie, 2020; Seiffe-Krenke, 2006). The current study assessed transitions later into the life span, up to the 40s, compared to prior research with participants in their early 20s (Akın et al, 2020; Seiffe-Krenke, 2006) or 30s (Gillespie, 2020). In this sample, 12% left home between ages 26 and 29 (their later 20s), and 10% left home in their 30s or 40s.…”

“…Seiffe-Krenke (2006) found that those who left home on time had more frequent conflict with parents and more parental support for autonomy in adolescence compared to those who left late or had not left home by age 25. Recent research found higher parent-adolescent closeness (Gillespie, 2020) and warmth (Akın et al, 2020) predicted an earlier age of leaving home, but parent-adolescent conflict did not. The combination of conflictual and supportive ties with parents may both foster the desire for autonomy and facilitate the development of skills needed to realize that autonomy by leaving home when the time comes.…”

“…Those with at least one parent who obtained a university degree are twice as likely to obtain a university degree compared to those whose parents did not earn a university degree (Krahn et al, 2018), and completing university leads to a later age of marriage and parenthood (Oesterle et al, 2010). The association between parental SES and home leaving is not as clear as more educated parents may have the financial capacity to help their child establish an independent residence earlier (e.g., Akın et al, 2020), or the attainment of higher education for the children of parents with higher SES may delay their departure from home (Gillespie, 2020). Research with the ETS, however, found those from higher-SES families were more likely to delay life transitions (Krahn et al, 2018), leading us to anticipate higher parental education would be associated with a later age of home leaving, marriage, and parenthood.…”

Leaving the family home to start university: How is home-leaving related to family environment and attachment?

“…Leaving home is a normative transition (Lane et al, 2017): a step toward adulthood (van den Berg et al, 2018) that marks the individuation process (Arnett, 2004) and redefines the family's role and status (Kins et al, 2014). Literature findings emphasize the influence of the parents-child relationship, family relationships, and attachment on leaving home (e.g., Akın et al, 2020;Flanagan et al, 1993;Kins et al, 2009;Mayseless, 2004;Mendonça & Fontaine, 2013;Seiffge-Krenke, 2006van den Berg et al, 2018). However, no authors have yet investigated home-leaving at a given time such as going to university.…”