Childhood Family Structure and Routes Out of the Parental Home in Sweden

Abstract

Leaving home at a very young age, particularly when not in conjunction with attending school away from home, appears to have a variety of negative consequences for the trajectory of young adults into successful career patterns and stable families. In this article, we examine the relationship between childhood family structure and nest-leaving patterns in the Swedish context. To our knowledge, this has never been done before. Analyses show that individuals from disrupted childhood families leave their parental home earlier than other young adults. The present state of knowledge is extended with analyses of the impact of adding a stepparent and of family conflict, and we distinguish between young adults leaving home to enter a union, to attend school, or to form a household of their own.