Leaving the Parental Household in Contemporary Japan

Abstract

Demographic analysis of young people leaving the parental house- hold in Japan was attempted based on the nationally representative sample survey data available. Life table analysis showed that males leave the parental household at an earlier age than females in spite of differences in age at marriage. Cohort comparison revealed that the delay in young people leaving home has been taking place since the 1970s. Decomposition analysis showed that this trend is not only a result of the delay in marriage but also a result of the decline in the number of young people leaving home before marriage. Cross- sectional analysis indicated that an important cause for the latter trend was the increase in the number of young people growing up in metropolitan areas, which in turn resulted from the rapid urbanization in Japan before 1970. The living arrangements of young people are determined by two life events— leaving the parental household and marriage. Coincidence or sequences of these two events are of special interest. Young men and women who leave the parental home before marriage experience a period of living alone or in an insti- tutional context such as a student dormitory. Those who leave the parental home for the first time at marriage move from the status of dependent child into that of the couple-only household. Those who marry but do not leave the parental home form an extended household, as in the case of the eldest son in the tradi- tional household formation pattern of Japan. Although there are many quantitative demographic analyses of marriage in Japan (for example, Hirosima 1999; Kaneko 1995; Otani 1993; Shirahase 1999; Tsuya and Mason 1995; Wada 2000), demographic studies of young people leaving the parental household are rare. 1 This paper examines leaving the parental home as an important proximate determinant of household formation, using nationally representative sample survey data.

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