Sociology- Leaving Home Analysis

HHS 4M

Leaving Home Survey – Analysis

A survey was tallied among 25 students at John Cabot Catholic Secondary School in Mississauga, Ontario. This was led by students of the ‘Individuals and Families in a Diverse Society’ course. The purpose of this study is to determine if and when the students are ready for independence. In my opinion, I think more students who are planning to pursue post-secondary will want to stay at their parents’ home until they are married or settled enough in their career than those who will want to move out at a younger state. Based on the results from the survey, many students plan to purse post-secondary once they graduate from high school. More students strive to go to university at 73.08% and college at 15.38% than workforce at 0% and undecided at 11.54%. The reason I think more students want to go to university/college is because in high school, the educators push the students and expect them to graduate and become successful in anything they want to do in life. And usually this can be obtained through university or college. All in all, it’s the influence around the students that make them want to go to post-secondary. Also from the survey, more children plan to remain living with their parents/guardians once they go to post-secondary at 69.23% compared to those who want to live on residence at 30.77%. In truth, living on campus can be truly expensive ranging from $2,000 to $15,000. While some students can afford that kind of money by working part-time jobs, having scholarships, or it’s simply coming out of their parents’ bank; there are others who can’t afford it and would rather stay home and commute long distances to school instead. Another from the survey is that more students are having their post-secondary paid by their parents at 65.38%, while paying it by themselves, other and undecided at 11.54%. This shows that mainly students in high school are depending on their parents. To those children who are paying for tuition by themselves indicates that they can be independent enough to live on their own since they are not dependent on their parents, and they’re making their own money. Being dependent on your parents means that you’re not dependent on yourself yet. That can be a huge reason why students nowadays stay home longer- they depend on their parents too much. One more reason why students are not leaving home is because they may have haven’t formed an identity from their family. If you formed an identity, it’s easier for you to see yourself living on your own, and being independent in the future. On the survey, the results show 50% on both yes and no. Based on the results of the survey, my hypothesis was proven correct where more students choose to leave home at a later age (once they get married or get settled in their career) because of costs, dependency, ethnicity, etc. While some kids are itching to move out once they get money, more are enjoying the life of spending their money on material things like cars, a social life, designer clothes- and not spending it on bills, rent, etc. Possibly that’s a reason too for adolescents who will not leave their parents’ home. Children who had gone away to college or university and tasted freedom before returning were felt to be more likely to treat the parental home like a (free) hotel.