%L theses_frw4688
%X Young adults' decisions about whether or not to live close to their parents reflect complex considerations. Moving away allows them to pursue educational and career goals, while staying close by, they can maintain good family bonds and exchange mutual instrumental support. Would this decision be influenced by the socioeconomic status (SES) of the parents of the young adult? Understanding this dynamic could inform policies on familial support systems and residential decisions.
This article aims to explore how two contrasting theories of the influence of parental socioeconomic status, developed to explain the age of leaving the parental home - the socialisation and feathered nest hypothesis - apply to the travel time between parents and their young adults’ residence in the Netherlands. We do so using data from the Generations and Gender Survey (GGS-II). This study examines how the separate indicators of parental SES: educational level, income, and occupational status, are associated with travel time between parents and young adults. Additionally, it analyzes whether the gender of the young adult or the urbanity of the parent’s residence influences these associations.
Our findings suggest that parental educational level is positively related to travel time. However, parental income level and occupational status seem to have less impact and the relation between parental SES and the relations seem not to be influenced by the gender of the young adult or the urbanity. These results offer partial support for the socialisation hypothesis but can also indicate that these theories don’t explain the differentiation in intergenerational distance.
%T “Leaving the nest with wings spread or rooted down” - Exploring the relation between parental socioeconomic status and the geographical proximity between young adults and their parents in the Netherlands
%A Linde van Wambeke
%D 2024