Considerations in the Decision to Leave the Parental Home: Anticipated Consequences and Normative Expectations

From the standpoint of rational choice theory, an individual's behavior is the outcome of a conscious and deliberate decision process. However, critics of this theoretical approach have stressed that more attention should be directed to the effect of social norms. A model that integrates the notions of anticipating individuals and the concept of social norms is the theory of reasoned action by Ajzen and Fishbein. This model will be used as a theoretical basis for the study on the demographic transition of leaving the parental home. To track down the arguments that adolescents use in considering whether to stay home or leave the parental home, compositions of high school students are analyzed. The aim of the analysis is to unravel the possible consequences young adults associate with leaving home as well as the normative expectations that prevail in their social environment. In a subsequent survey, it is determined which of the detected consequences and norms can be regarded as modal salient beliefs.