›› South Carolina Young Adults Count State Report

Family Appendix A: Leaving Home

Higher parental income is negatively related to marriage as an early pathway from home, but is positively associated with the greater likelihood of launching late leavers to independent living (White and Lacy, 1985). Adequate financial resources can give parents greater capacity to influence their children in the direction they desire (Axinn and Thornton, 1992).

Young adults who stay at home until marriage generally complete less education than those who leave home to live independently or join the military. White and Lacy suggest that young adults who are content to move from parents to marriage are more traditional and less achievement-oriented. Parent-child coresidence is usually for the benefit of the child. Dubas and Peterson found that young adults who still live at home will be least likely to make the transition to adulthood (Graber and Dubas, 1996). When children leave home for whatever circumstances, they have substantially less parental oversight of their activities. However, the extent to which living away from home deprives young adults of either instrumental or social support from their parents is undemonstrated (White and Lacy, 1985). Boyd and Pryor argue that high housing costs along with low wages have "trapped" many young adults in their parents' homes (1989). One study found that better-off parents subsidize their children's departure in order to achieve greater privacy (Avery et al., 1992).

< Back to Index of Appendices.
> Family Appendix B: Living Circumstances