Mediating Factors of Family Structure and Early Home-leaving: A Replication and Extension of van den Berg, Kalmijn, and Leopold (2018)

Abstract

Young adults from non-intact families are more likely to leave the parental home at an early age than are young adults from intact families. While this association is well established in the existing literature, the underling mechanisms remain puzzling. In a recent investigation with prospective data from the SOEP (van den Berg et al. in Eur J Popul 34(5):873–900, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10680-017-9461-1), a large share of the effect of family structure on early home-leaving remained unexplained, in particular for stepfamilies. This study draws on longitudinal data from the German Family Panel (pairfam) to replicate and extend the analyses of van den Berg et al. (Eur J Popul 34(5):873–900, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10680-017-9461-1). The quality of the stepfather–child relationship, as well as parental monitoring and support, is added to existing analyses. However, an extended assessment of social resources does not seem to substantially help explain the association between family structure and early home-leaving.