Leaving the Parental Home: A Comparison between the United States, Taiwan and Germany

Bernhard Nauck, Chemnitz University of Technology
Chin-Chun Yi, Academia Sinica
Nadia Lois, Chemnitz University of Technology

The United States, Germany and Taiwan were chosen for a comparison of home leaving: Are mechanisms being identified in previous research valid under different socio-cultural conditions? Do the difference in kinship system (patrilineal/patrilocal vs. bilineal/neolocal) and the varying school-work-trajectory result in specific patterns of home leaving? Three large-scale nation-wide representative panel studies are used: NLSY of the US, the Taiwanese Youth Project, and the German Family Panel (pairfam). Data were harmonized post hoc to enable comparative analyses on life course transitions until the age of 30. Descriptive results showed not only strong differences in home leaving between countries, but also differences in the temporal character and the respective household composition. Multivariate analyses based on discrete time event history models demonstrated significant differences in effect sizes of various predictors for home leaving across countries, which were related to differences in the kinship structure and the institutionalization of the life course.