Parental Homes as Feathered Nets: Home-Leaving Trajectories of Young People in China

Research on young people’s transition to independent living has focused primarily on the stay/leave dichotomy, an approach increasingly inadequate for capturing the prolonged, reversible, and complex nature of contemporary transitions. This is particularly salient in East Asia, where intergenerational coresidence is a long-standing norm that is now being reshaped by shifting socioeconomic pressures and evolving youth aspirations. Existing research on East Asian societies has often examined the living arrangements of married couples, thereby offering limited insight into the diverse experiences of young individuals. To address these gaps, the authors use nationally representative longitudinal data and sequence analysis to examine distinct home-leaving trajectories, capturing variations in pace and pathways, among both single and married young individuals in China. The results show that difficulties in school-to-work transition and entry into parenthood are positively associated with extended coresidence with parents or returning to parental homes after initial leaving. The findings suggest a “feathered net” effect, whereby the parental home acts as a safety net. These findings underscore how residential trajectories are intertwined with other key life-course transitions and reveal how intergenerational living arrangements adapt to constrained socioeconomic opportunities within the Asian context, in which family is vital in welfare provision.