Leaving home in Denmark: a comparison of differences between Turks, Somalis and Danes

The paper focuses on ethnic differences in the timing and patterns of leaving the parental home. Leaving home is a key transition in the life course of the individual, and extensive research has been conducted on the timing and patterns of leaving it. However, ethnic differences in these patterns have attracted less attention thus far. This study provides empirical knowledge from Denmark on such differences by comparing Turkish and Somali immigrants, Turkish descendants and Danes. Event history analyses were conducted on extensive Danish registers, estimating Cox regression models for the event of leaving home. Results showed that while some differences disappeared when controlling for covariates, others persisted, thus indicating ethnic differences in home-leaving patterns. A strong link between leaving home and marriage was substantiated for Turks, but not for Somalis. The home-leaving patterns of Somalis were much more similar to those of Danes. Overall, Turkish descendants were similar to Turkish immigrants but with some differentiation. The analyses identified the existence of ethnic differences in home-leaving patterns but also found evidence of a shift towards less traditional patterns, i.e. straight-line assimilation.