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ABSTRACT
Transitions to adulthood not only represent a key period for individual development but also contribute to processes of social stratification. Growing evidence has pointed to increased complexity, postponement and individualization in transition dynamics. Previous research has focused on trends in school-to-work transitions and family formation; however, the central role of housing represents an interrelated process that is less understood. As pathways to adulthood have diversified, many young people experience partial independence in one sphere while continued dependence in others. Semi-dependent housing, either through parental co-residence or shared living, can be an important coping mechanism. Using the European Survey on Income and Living Conditionst, the research investigates the role that semi-dependent living plays within emerging adulthood across varied European contexts. The data suggests that the extent and type of semi-dependent housing varies substantially across EU15 countries. The findings indicate that levels of housing independence can be partly explained by welfare regime context while the propensity for shared living appears correlated with affordability in the rental market. Although socio-cultural and economic trends play an important and interrelated role, the study argues that housing dynamics of young adulthood and the role of semi-dependent living is fundamentally shaped by the context of the housing system and welfare regime.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. Historical data from the USA, for example, show very high levels of shared living during the 1800s and early 1900s through the common practice of taking in ‘lodgers’, although this fell out of favour through the second half of the twentieth century, both in practice and in social acceptance (Modell and Hareven Citation1973). While acknowledging the historical precedent, this article focuses on contemporary dynamics of co-residence and sharing among young people's transitions.
2. Eastern European countries were not included in this analysis because of several data years missing as well as still being transition economies in which housing markets function very differently (e.g. super high homeownership rates and high volatility) with less clear classification of these cases within the current welfare regime literature.
3. While not a perfect overlap, this was the closest age range available in the comparable data sets.
4. The indicator remains imperfect as it is not available for the precise age group examined and there is some variation in the data years and availability across the countries. Nonetheless, it provides the best comparative indicator available on the relative affordability of private rental.
5. Other variables were tested for the housing system but considering multicollinearity tests, rental housing appeared as the best variable in capturing the key dimensions of the housing system influencing semi-dependent housing outcomes.
6. Previous analyses by the author (see Lennartz, Arundel, and Ronald Citation2015) looked at tenure among young Europeans and it is acknowledged that tenure is an important component of housing status, however, herein the focus is on housing variegation in terms of dependency conditions (independent living versus semi-dependent arrangements).
7. Due to the data limitations in defining all kinship relationships, other relatives would also be included as ‘extra adults’ in the household, such as cousins and nephews. Grandparents and siblings would also be included where the parents are not also household members or aunts and uncles when grandparents are not also included in household.
8. For example, siblings and/or grandparents when parents are not there, aunts and uncles when both parents and grandparents are not present.
9. Post-hoc tests such as Tukey–Kramer or Games-Howell were not used as the UK represents the only Liberal case. A MANOVA was carried out including both sharing and co-residence proportions as the dependent variables. The results of the MANOVA corroborated the significant ANOVA results (p < .0005; Wilks' Λ = 0.029; partial η2 = 0.829), however, there were issues with the assumption of linearity and separate ANOVAs were deemed more appropriate.