Ethnic differences in leaving home: The neighbourhood context in Finland




Schwanitz, Katrin; Kilpi-Jakonen, Elina; Seger, Aleksi

2025

INVEST Working Papers

114

1

31

2737-0534

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/c7xus

https://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/c7xus



This paper revisits how immigrant origin and neighbourhood environment intersect to shape the timing and pathways of leaving the parental home in Finland, a comparatively new migration destination. Using large-scale longitudinal data from Finnish registers for the 1990–1995 birth cohorts (N = 369,629), we analyse the dynamics of leaving home among young adults from migrant families. Our study not only provides a comprehensive account of leaving-home behaviour in Finland but also highlights specific migrant groups, such as those from former Yugoslavia and Asia, which are often underrepresented in previous research. We employ discrete-time competing-risks event history models to analyse transitions out of the parental home: leaving for independence, leaving for cohabitation, and leaving for marriage. The results reveal that young adults with an immigrant background increasingly resemble majority Finns in their leaving-home behaviour as the proportion of Finns in their neighbourhood rises—except for those with origins in the MENA region, and the Balkans and former Yugoslavia. Furthermore, we find no evidence that the neighbourhood environment affects men and women differently in their leaving-home pathways.



The research was part of the "Contexts of Youths’ Inclusion" project, funded by the Turku Urban Research Programme, and also funded by an Academy of Finland Fellowship (decision number 316247) and the Research Council of Finland Flagship Programme (decision number 320162).


Last updated on 2025-28-05 at 12:59