Better alone than badly accompanied? Intention and realization of leaving the parental home in Italy.

Abstract: This thesis studies young people’s transition from living in the parental home into leaving it, with a particular attention at the intentions. The focus of the thesis is on the decision-making process to leave the nest. The aim of this research is to add a quantitative understanding of how the intention contributes to the the realization of this phenomenon. Covariates linked between young people and their parents are introduced in the analysis. Ajzen’s "Theory of Planned Behaviour" is used as theoretical background for the study. The focus is on Italy, using the Italian Gender and Generations Survey (GGS) of 2003 and 2007, as primary data source. A comparison with France, Germany and Poland is made for describing the panorama of intentions. The analysis is presented through the results from a Exponential Regression model and a Competing Risk model. The results show that the higher risk of leaving the parental home are associated with the intention to have a child contributing to leaving the parental home for starting a union. In addition, the risk of leaving the parental home to live alone, is higher for students who plan to attend higher education.