UNLOCKING MOTIVATIONS AND INFLUENCES FOR YOUNG ADULTS RENTERS: EFFECTS OF FAMILY RELATIONS ON ADULTHOOD TRANSITIONS WITHIN SINGAPORE'S HOUSING MODEL

Abstract

If young adults in Singapore face several structural obstacles to moving out of the parental home before marriage, why is there a growing minority of young adults who depart from the normative housing pathways of public housing homeownership to pursue independent living arrangements through private rental housing? Invoking semi-structured interviews involving ten respondents aged between 26 to 35 years old, this thesis seeks to uncover the motivations and influences for young adults transitioning out of the parental home to residential independence. Through the examination of individual-level forces vis-a-vis larger structural and cultural factors, the interviews and four ideal types uncovered suggest that individual characteristics such as socioeconomic capital and the state of family relations have important influences in shaping the timing and pace of young adult transitions out of the family home. Furthermore, young adults from the typology presented occupy various positions on a spectrum of agency in terms of their level of individualism, attachment to the concept of filial piety and family collectivism. These individual-level factors need to be balanced by explanations that draw upon broader aspects of social structure such as the housing system, social class and welfare policy. Fundamentally, this thesis argues that this group of young adults represent not only a significant force underlying various necessary transformations in Singapore’s housing model but also a demographic challenge to Singapore’s family-welfare policy, social cohesion and national stability.