“Leaving Home Ain't Easy:” The timing and pathways of young immigrants’ home‐leaving transitions

• Published in: The Canadian review of sociology 2023-05, Vol.60 (2), p.276-301
• Main Authors: Haan, Michael, Cheng, Wanyun, Yu, Zhou
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adaptation; Canada; Competing risks models; Decision making; Emigrants and Immigrants; Employment; Ethnicity; Housing; Humans; Immigrants; Life transitions; Minority Groups; Panel data; Parents & parenting; Race; Residences; Transitions; Young Adult; Young adults
• ISSN: 1755-6171; 1755-618X
• DOI: 10.1111/cars.12435

Leaving the parental home to live independently has long been a marker of one's transition to adulthood and a sign of immigrant adaptation to the host country. The timing and pathways of home‐leaving are important for both the housing trajectories of young adults and the overall housing demand of immigrant receiving areas. However, young adults—immigrants or not— have increasingly been delaying this transition, opting instead to stay in the parental home for an extended period of time. In this paper, we conceptualize home‐leaving as a decision made over time—influenced by individual, family, and contextual factors—and use panel data collected in the 2011 and 2017 Canadian General Social Survey (GSS). Through both a Cox proportional hazard model and a competing risk model, we examine the timing of exit from the parental home, the determinants of this exit, and the variable rates of independent household formation across immigrant, non‐visible, and visible minority groups. We find, although the relationship is not always linear, generational status, as well as race and ethnicity, play an important role in not only the timing, but also the destination of home leaving, while age at arrival is particularly salient for racialized immigrant groups. Young immigrants of visible minority background are generally less likely to leave their parental home, even though immigrants to Canada are selected for their ability to succeed in Canada. RÉSUMÉ Quitter le domicile parental pour vivre en autonomie a longtemps été un marqueur de passage à l'âge adulte et un signe d'adaptation des immigrants au pays d'accueil. Le moment et les parcours du départ à la maison ce sont tous importants pour les trajectoires de logement des jeunes adultes et aussi pour la demande globale de logements des zones d'accueil des immigrants. Toutefois, les jeunes adultes, immigrés ou non, retardent de plus en plus cette transition, optant plutôt pour un séjour prolongé chez leurs parents. Dans cet article, nous conceptualisons le départ du domicile comme une décision prise au fil du temps, influencée par des facteurs individuels, familiaux et contextuels et utilisons des données de panel recueillies dans le cadre de l'Enquête sociale générale (ESG) canadienne de 2011 et 2017. Utiliser le modèle de Cox à risques instantanés proportionnels et d'un modèle à risques concurrents, nous examinons le moment de la sortie du domicile parental, les déterminants de ces sorties et les taux variables de formati