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3 DOMESTIC CIRCUMSTANCES
This chapter will discuss the characteristics of respondents. First, it will examine the number of respondents who had a child or children at the time of the survey. Second, the association between main activity, qualification and parental social class and having children or not is explored. Living arrangements will then be discussed followed, lastly, by leaving the parental home.
3.1 Children
By 2005, 2% of the cohort (4% of females and 2% of males) reported that they had one or more child. This is lower than comparator cohorts of 19 in 1999 (5%) and 19 in 2001 (3%), and suggests that the number of young people with children at 18-19 is declining 3. Amongst respondents with children 90% said their child/children lived with them. Women were significantly more likely to have their child/children living with them than men, (98% of females compared with 50% of males - note however the small numbers on which these percentages are based, see Table 3-1).
Table 3-1 Respondents who had children by gender
Respondents who had a child | Male | Female | Total |
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Children by Spring 2005: | % | % | % |
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Yes, living together | (50) | 98 | 90 |
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Yes, living elsewhere | (50) | 2 | 10 |
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Base (weighted) | 14 | 63 | 77 |
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Base (unweighted) | 9 | 52 | 61 |
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Those who were in full-time higher or other full-time education at the time of the survey were the least likely to have children (0%). Not surprisingly, the majority of respondents who were looking after the home or family also had children (80%), 7% of those in the other category had children (this category included those who had taken a year out, were travelling or doing voluntary work).
Table 3-2 Children by main activity
All respondents | Full-time job | GTP | Full-time higher education | Other full-time education | Part-time job | Out of work | Home/ Family | Other | Total |
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Children by Spring 2005: | % | % | % | % | % | | % | % | % |
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Yes | 1 | 2 | 0 | - | 1 | 2 | 80 | 7 | 98 |
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No | 99 | 98 | 100 | 100 | 99 | 98 | 20 | 94 | 2 |
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Base (weighted) | 843 | 283 | 1126 | 326 | 272 | 251 | 54 | 46 | 3201 |
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Base (unweighted) | 707 | 208 | 1530 | 279 | 246 | 150 | 40 | 51 | 3211 |
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There was a clear relationship between the propensity to have children and a young person's parental social class. For example, 1% of respondents who were from a professional social class had children compared with 6% from routine & semi-routine social backgrounds. Interestingly respondents whose parents worked in intermediate occupations or were self employed were the least likely to have a child.
Table 3-3 Children by social class of respondent's parents
| Social class of respondent's parents |
|---|
All respondents | Higher managerial & professional | lower professional & managerial/ higher technical & supervisory | Intermediate occupations & self employed | lower supervisory & technical | routine & semi-routine occupations | Total |
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Children by Spring 2005: | % | % | % | % | % | % |
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Yes | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 2 |
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No | 99 | 98 | 100 | 97 | 94 | 98 |
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Base (weighted) | 339 | 1087 | 668 | 457 | 415 | 2966 |
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Base (unweighted) | 451 | 1270 | 645 | 392 | 298 | 3056 |
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The association between having children and levels of truancy was also significant, with those who had never truanted being less likely to have children than those who truanted several days or weeks at a time (1% compared with 11% and 6%).
Table 3-4 Children by truancy
All respondents | No - never | Yes - A lesson here and there | Yes - A day here and there | Yes - Several days at a time | Yes - Several weeks at a time | Total |
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Children by Spring 2005: | % | % | % | % | % | % |
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Yes | 1 | 3 | 2 | 11 | 6 | 2 |
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No | 99 | 97 | 98 | 89 | 94 | 98 |
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Base (weighted) | 1828 | 646 | 500 | 163 | 71 | 3208 |
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Base (unweighted) | 2109 | 567 | 415 | 90 | 36 | 3217 |
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3.2 Living arrangements
At the time of the survey:
85% of respondents said they were living with their parent(s);
3% were living on their own;
1% were single parents;
1% were living with their partner;
1% were living with their partner and child;
6% were living with friends/flatmates; and
3% were living in some other arrangement.
Young men were more likely to live with their parents (89% compared with 81% of women). This difference of 8% is a slight drop from the equivalent age cohorts in 1999 and 2001 where the differences between men and women were 11% and 10% respectively. Young women were more likely to be living with friends/flatmates than young men (6% compared with 9%). Over half (54%) of respondents who had children were living with their parents.
Table 3-5 Living arrangements by gender and children
All respondents | Men | Women | With child(ren) | No children | Total |
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Living arrangements, Spring 2005: | % | % | % | % | % |
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With parents | 89 | 81 | 54 | 86 | 85 |
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On own | 2 | 3 | - | 3 | 3 |
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Single parent | - | 1 | 20 | - | 1 |
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With partner only | 1 | 2 | - | 1 | 1 |
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With partner and child | 0 | 1 | 22 | - | 1 |
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With friends/flatmate(s) | 6 | 9 | - | 8 | 7 |
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Other | 2 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 |
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Bases (weighted) | 1633 | 1594 | 76 | 3140 | 3227 |
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Bases (unweighted) | 1353 | 1877 | 61 | 3162 | 3230 |
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Respondents whose main activity was a GTP were most likely (93%) to be staying with their parents. Around four fifths (79%) of young people whose main activity was full-time higher education were living with their parents.
Table 3-6 Living arrangements by activity status
Activity status | Full-time job | Government Training Scheme | Full-time Higher education | Other Full-time education | Part-time work | Out of work | Looking after home/family | Other | Total |
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Living arrangements, Spring 2005: | % | % | % | | % | % | % | % | % |
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With parents | 88 | 93 | 79 | 91 | 89 | 85 | 55 | 81 | 85 |
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On own | 3 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 3 |
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Single parent | 0 | - | - | - | - | 1 | 22 | - | 1 |
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With partner only | 2 | 1 | 1 | - | 1 | 3 | 4 | - | 1 |
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With partner and child | 0 | - | - | - | 0 | 2 | 15 | 2 | 1 |
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Friends/flatmate(s) | 3 | 1 | 16 | 4 | 2 | 1 | - | 6 | 7 |
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Something else | 3 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 3 |
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Bases (weighted) | 845 | 284 | 1127 | 326 | 272 | 257 | 55 | 47 | 3213 |
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Bases (unweighted) | 709 | 208 | 1531 | 280 | 246 | 151 | 40 | 51 | 3216 |
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Around two thirds (69%) of respondents lived in accommodation owned by their parents or the people they lived with, 1% owned their accommodation, 19% lived in rented accommodation, 11% lived in university halls of residence and the remaining 1% were living in other types of accommodation.
[Table not shown]
3.3 Leaving the parental home
Seventeen percent of respondents said at some point they had moved away from their parents' home (note that students who lived away from their parental home during term time but returned during non-term times were instructed to answer no to this question). Females were more likely to have left home than males (20% compared with 13%).
One third of respondents who had left home had moved between August 2004 and October 2004 which is likely to reflect the start of a higher/further education course. Around one quarter (28%) said they had moved in October 2003 or later, which could be to take up employment or commence a higher/further education course once completing secondary school education. There was no significant variation by gender in the date at which respondents had left home.
Table 3-7 When moved from parent's home by gender
Respondents who had moved away from their parents' home | Male | Female | Total |
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When (first) moved away from parents' home: | % | % | % |
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October 2003 or earlier | 24 | 30 | 28 |
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November 2003 - July 2004 | 22 | 21 | 22 |
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August 2004 - October 2004 | 33 | 33 | 33 |
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November 2004 or later | 21 | 16 | 18 |
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Bases (weighted) | 213 | 323 | 536 |
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Bases (unweighted) | 180 | 342 | 522 |
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Over half (56%) of respondents who said they had left their parental home had moved back at some point, with no significant variation by gender. Respondents who were most likely to move back home were those whose main activity at the time of the survey was out of work (75%).
[Table not shown]
Over four fifths (84%) said that since leaving secondary school they had moved house to attend an education/training course, 8% had moved to take up a new job, 6% because of an existing job, and 2% to look for work. Females were more likely to leave home to attend an education/training course (88% compared with 80%) and males were more likely to leave because of an existing or new job (17% compared with 10%).
[Table not shown]
3.4 Items in the home
Respondents were asked whether they had various things in the place where they were staying. Around nine in ten said they had a room of their own (89%), a good place where they could study or read (87%), a computer not used for just games (82%), and around three quarters (74%) had access to the internet from their home. Comparison of these findings with the previous cohort of a similar age (19 in 2001) highlights how accessible computers and the internet have become in the last four years with the number of respondents who have a computer (not just for games) and access to the internet increasing by 26% and 21% respectively.
The availability of these items varied according to respondent's activity status in Spring 2005. Those whose main activity was looking after the family or home were notably less likely to have access to each item than those in all other groups. Not surprisingly, students were most likely to have access to computers and the internet (92% and 84% respectively).
Table 3-8 Items in the home, by activity status
All respondents | Full-time job | GTP | Full-time education | Part-time work | Out of work | Looking after home/family | Other | Total |
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Item in the home: | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % |
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Room of own | 89 | 91 | 91 | 88 | 92 | 74 | 94 | 90 |
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Good place to study/ read | 91 | 94 | 92 | 83 | 84 | 75 | 89 | 90 |
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Computer (not just games) | 83 | 83 | 92 | 75 | 72 | 57 | 80 | 85 |
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Access to internet | 76 | 76 | 84 | 71 | 54 | 44 | 82 | 77 |
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Bases (weighted) | 815-843 | 269-280 | 1424-1454 | 259-267 | 231-251 | 52-54 | 45-46 | 3098-3195 |
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Bases (unweighted) | 686-709 | 198-206 | 1789-1812 | 234-242 | 139-148 | 39-40 | 50-51 | 3137-3207 |
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3.5 Key points
- The proportion of respondents who had a child by 18/19 in 2005 had declined when compared with previous cohorts of the same age; 2% in 2005, 3% in 2001 and 5% in 1999. This suggests that the number of young people with children at 18-19 is declining.
- Young people who truanted for several days or weeks at a time were more likely to have a child at 18/19 than those who did not (1% compared with 11% and 6%).
- The number of respondents who had a computer (not just for games) and access to the internet had increased by 26% and 21% respectively when compared with 19 in 2001.
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