She’s leaving, he’s not: family background and gender differences in leaving home decisions among siblings

Gender and socio-economic background are key factors influencing the timing of the transition to adulthood; however, their composite effect is difficult to identify, as gender differences are developed within the family context. Drawing on data from two waves (2009, 2016) of an Italian nationally representative survey, we use information on children of parents aged 50-75 (N= 28,244) to analyse gender differences in home-leaving age among higher- and lower-educated families. We compare estimates from Cox proportional hazards and sibling fixed-effects models. Our findings show that gender differences in higher-educated families are less marked than in lower-educated families; gender differences remain significant when we account for family characteristics shared by siblings. In Italy, parental education is associated with delays in home-leaving among daughters, not among sons. This study illustrates how sibling comparisons can help disentangle heterogeneity in life course transitions, and how families contribute to the reproduction of inequalities in demographic behaviours.