Universiteit van Amsterdam
Faculteit der Maatschappij- en Gedragswetenschappen
Amsterdam Study Centre for the Metropolitan Environment AME
Nieuwe Prinsengracht 130
1018 VZ Amsterdam
The study of nest leaving in the European context appears particularly relevant in explaining recent retards in family formation and fertility, as to explain recent changes in household composition. In southern countries, there is an important link between postponement of departures, low incidence of household formation and family living arrangements out of the parental home. In North-western Europe, co-residence situations are characterised by an early pattern of home leaving parallel to the importance of living alone or in unmarried cohabitation, suggesting the expansion of a phase of non-family living.
This article presents some insights of a Marie Curie fellowship project designed to study home leaving in two European countries, the Netherlands and Spain, representing different contexts in terms of housing, welfare provision, employment and educational opportunities for young people. A description of main developments concerning nest leaving processes is presented in historical perspective as well as for the period of the eighties, examining both study cases with data derived from the Dutch Housing Demand Surveys (WBO 1981, 1985/1986, 1989/90) and Spanish Sociodemographic Survey (ESD 1991). Exploratory analysis allows to detect basic differences in timing of residential transitions out of parental home and patterns of union formation, which may be further related to contextual elements. In the project, this is done by directing the attention towards differences in housing market context as well as to the existence of distinct family models in Europe. In addition, the characterisation of first housing attainment further contributes to consider the effect of particular housing structures on nest leaving processes.