‘When Are the Children Going to Leave Home!’: Family Culture and Delayed Transitions in Spain

Abstract

This paper distinguishes the characteristics of recent trends towards older ages of leaving home in Spain. Based on analysis of in-depth interviews with young people and parents from Bilbao in the Basque Country, I explore how familism and family solidarity play a key role in the current trend towards delayed family formation, focusing on the postponement of leaving home. This analysis illustrates the various leaving home strategies that young Basque people adopt, and how these are negotiated with parents and other family members. The analysis of the interview data also captures the ways in which young people negotiate with and recreate family culture, both while living in and leaving the parental home. The different strategies adopted by young people are classified by a typology based on the extent to which young people recognise and conform to a prescribed cultural model of behaviour, namely leaving home to get married and (preferably) buy a property.

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