Three eras of young adult home leaving in twentieth-century America - 1 - Statistical Data Included

Journal of Social History, Spring, 2002 by Myron P. Gutmann, Sara M. Pullum-Pinon, Thomas W. Pullum

This article divides the history of coming of age in the U.S. in the twentieth century into three distinct time periods: one that ran from 1880 until World War II, one that started in the 1940s and continued until the 1960s, and a third that began by 1970 and was clearly still in evidence in 1990. The story is based on data that recorded whether young people were living with one or both of their parents at the time of each of the decennial censuses of the U.S., from 1880 through 1990. (2) We focus on the ages at which young men and women left home based on census data, and we interpret those levels and trends in terms of the broad social conditions in which they lived. In doing so we see that during the twentieth century, the process by which young people passed from dependence to independence underwent major changes.

The news here is in the history of home-leaving ages up until the time of the second world war. Virtually all earlier studies assert that the age of home-leaving was declining from as early as it could be measured until 1970. Our results say otherwise. From 1880 until 1940 for males and 1950 for females, the age at leaving home did not decline, it rose (see Figure 1). The decline came later. Led by men in 1940, the generation of the Second World War experienced a sharp decline in the age at which they left home, one that continued for everyone until 1960 and for white men and women until 1970. Beginning with 1970, the age of home-leaving rose again, reaching relatively high levels by 1990. These patterns hold generally for white and black Americans, and for males and females, but we will show later that there are significant differences among these four groups. (3) In the 1940s turnaround, for example, all four groups had varying experiences. Among other differences, trends for blacks are less well defined t han for whites, so that the ups and downs are less pronounced.

This research makes use of census data that document relationships within each household. We focus on young people aged 15 to 29, because those are the ages at which most Americans made the transition from living with their parents to living away from their parents. Our approach is shaped by the fact that the census is a static document that records living arrangements on a given date. These data do not capture the transition from living with at least one parent to living away from both parents. Nor do they indicate whether an adult has left home, then returned in later years. Nevertheless, the census allows us to examine the characteristics of persons who are living with a parent or not living with a parent, and then ask whether the characteristics of those who are living at home or away have changed over time, or whether they differ between groups.

The most important of the characteristic differences between young people at home and those living on their own is their age. We say that young people left home "later" in 1940 than in 1920 because the average ages of those still at home in 1940 were greater than those of 1920, after taking into account the overall age distribution of the population. Other important characteristics, in addition to race and sex, are the region in which people lived, whether they were foreign-born or native-born, whether they were single or married, whether they lived on a farm or not, and whether they had migrated out of their region of birth. These are not the only personal attributes that shaped the home-leaving experience, but the reliable census data that exist about these characteristics allow us to tell an important story about the history of home-leaving in the U.S.

The process of home leaving for young adults is closely related to becoming an independent adult, and the motivations that have caused young people through the twentieth century to leave the parental home have varied. Leaving home may occur as a result of parental mortality, increased personal or financial opportunities outside the home, or social expectations or rules requiring that the young person live away from parents. While the wording is over-simplified, we can describe these two groups of processes as either involuntary or voluntary separation of children from their parents' home. Involuntary home-leaving occurs when both parents die or when poverty leads to the disintegration of the family household. In contrast, children may leave their parents' home voluntarily when they choose to attend school or work away from home, join the military, or when they marry or otherwise establish an independent household separate from that of their parents. Over the century, the prevalence of what we describe as inv oluntary home-leaving has decreased, largely due to a decline in the likelihood of becoming an orphan between the ages of 15 to 29. The more complex and socially driven reasons for leaving home, however, are important to the leaving home process throughout the twentieth century.

The history of home-leaving in the U.S. since 1880 largely reflects changes in social conventions, family relationships, and individual characteristics. During the Long First Half of the Twentieth Century, one of the most important factors in the rising age of home-leaving was declining adult mortality, which led to declining rates of orphanhood. High rates of immigration into the U.S. up until the 1920s also influenced the age at which young people left home, because young adults who immigrated by themselves during the peak years were necessarily away from the home of their parents. Finally, social change that led to decreased child labor and increased schooling in the first decades of the century led to later home leaving.