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The Psychological Well-being of East Asian Youth pp 223–242Cite as

When Young Adults Leave Home: Dependency or Autonomy?

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Part of the book series: Quality of Life in Asia ((QLAS,volume 2))

Abstract

This chapter analyzes the patterns of leaving home among Taiwanese young adults in their early 20s. It also examines the association between the experience of leaving home and individual autonomy. It argues that autonomy and dependency are not mutually exclusive. Instead, the concept of interdependency describes young adults’ transitional process better. Based on the different experiences Taiwanese young adults have when leaving home, we construct three home-leaving categories – leaver, stayer, and returner. Drawing from longitudinal survey data of the Taiwan Youth Project, we observe the dynamic process of leaving home in early adulthood. The results suggest that there are differences in rates of leaving home during early adulthood based on gender and area. In addition, young adults from white-collar families are more likely to leave home (as opposed to staying or returning home) than those from blue-collar families. However, a parental preference for coresidence does not play a significant role in explaining leaving home behavior for young adults in their early 20s. Finally, both leaving home status and financial independence enhance the likelihood of autonomy and lower the sense of dependency.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See http://www.typ.sinica.edu.twfor details.

  2. 2.

    The datasets used here are J3W5, J3W6, J3W7, and J3W8 on youth samples and J3W7 on parent samples.

  3. 3.

    It takes four complete waves of data to establish the leaving home status categories. Due to data attrition from each wave of the survey, imputations are made for each single wave of data. W5 and W6 data are imputed from information provided by parents’ survey on W6, where parents were asked whether and when the child had ever left home; W7 data are imputed from the same wave of the parents’ survey, where parents were asked whether the child was currently living at home; W8 data are imputed from W7 students’ survey, where students were asked whether they were planning to graduate from colleges and enter military service in the following year. If the answer was yes, the missing data on leaving home statuson W8 are coded as “leaving home.”

  4. 4.

    This category includes a small percentage of samples that have migrated to areas outside of Taipei and Yilan.

  5. 5.

    If information of home area in wave 7 is not available, missing data are imputed by the location of the initial sampling stratum.

  6. 6.

    Parent’s job primarily measures the father’s job. If the information is missing, it is then imputed by mother’s job.

  7. 7.

    Both measurements are taken from data of wave 8.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, Soochow University, No. 70, Linhsi Rd, Shihlin, Taipei, 11102, Taiwan, ROC

    Lang-Wen Huang

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  1. Lang-Wen Huang
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Correspondence to Lang-Wen Huang .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Research Fellow, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan R.O.C.

    Chin-Chun Yi

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Huang, LW. (2012). When Young Adults Leave Home: Dependency or Autonomy?. In: Yi, CC. (eds) The Psychological Well-being of East Asian Youth. Quality of Life in Asia, vol 2. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4081-5_11

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