The Decision Making Process of Leaving Home: A Longitudinal Analysis of Italian Young Adults

Giulia Ferrari, Università Bocconi
Alessandro Rosina, Università Cattolica, Milan
Emiliano Sironi, Università Cattolica, Milan

The age at leaving the parental home is particularly high in Italy as compared to the other Western countries. This study examines the determinants of the realization of intentions to leave the parental home, focusing on Italian young adults in a pre-crisis period and aiming at understanding which factors ease or impede the actual exit. Referring to the Theory of Planned Behavior, we consider the issue of leaving the parental home as a mid-term decision-making process. We use data from the longitudinal survey “Family and Social Subjects”, carried out by Istat (Italian National Institute of Statistics) in 2003 and 2007. Our provisional results suggest that the determinants of actual behavior differ significantly by gender: Females’ realization is favored by their employment status, past experiences of autonomy and parental union instability. Males are instead more likely to success if they are highly educated and have a partner.