Changes in young people's discourses about leaving home in Spain after the economic crisis

Abstract

The increasing complexity of young adults’ leaving-home trajectories, combined with the effects of the economic recession, has led to an upturn in academic interest in this question. Nevertheless, the impact of the economic recession on young adults’ housing imaginary has yet to be extensively addressed. This article analyses the way social discourses on leaving home evolved before and after the economic downturn. Using a diachronic, qualitative design to compare discussion groups from 2007 and 2014 in Spain, a relevant change can be observed: flexible patterns of leaving home appear that were previously rejected or only mentioned by upper-middle class young. Our findings highlight the way that expectations, values and norms about leaving home have altered, opening the debate about how Spanish young people will approach this transition in the future, but also how they did in the past.