Leaving Home by Gender and Destination in Southern Europe: New Ways, Old Ages

Alberto Del Rey Poveda , University of Salamanca
Mikolaj Stanek, University of Salamanca
Jesús García Gómez , Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Centre D'Estudis demogràfics (CED)

This article examines the pathways young people take when leaving home in Spain, differentiating between departures to live with a partner, marriage or cohabitation, or without one. We analyse the effects that personal and family characteristics and various life-course events have on the home-leaving pathways of men and women. The analysis is based on data from Spain’s 2018 Fertility Survey, to which discrete-time survival models and competitive risk models are applied. The results reveal a major transformation in these pathways between generations, with women recording a greater diversity of situations. The traditional pathway involving marriage has lost ground in favour of departures to cohabit a partner or live without one. The changes have been reinforced by access to higher levels of education, particularly amongst women. Finally, the formation of a stable partnership while living in the parental home favours leaving home to get married, while reducing it for cohabiting with a partner or without one. Finding a job and building a career favour all kinds of departures amongst men, while amongst women they reduce home-leaving to get married, and increase it for cohabiting with a partner or living without one.

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 Presented in Session P1. Postercafe