The Impact of Children Leaving Home on Parents' Well-being: A Comparative Analysis of France and Italy

Do parents suffer when a child leaves their home or do they feel better and freer? In this perspective, an international comparison of the effects of the event (children leaving the parental home) on parents can give us new insights into the role of the intergenerational link in children’s transition to adulthood. The comparison concerns France and Italy. Using data from the European Community Household Panel (ECHP), parents who experienced the departure of one child (from one wave to another) are compared with parents who did not experience this event. We found that the departure of a child from home has two strikingly different impacts on Italian and French parents: the formers show a relevant deterioration of their satisfaction, and, in some circumstances, of their self-rated health. For the latter, instead, we register a relevant improvement in mothers’ satisfaction (especially with leisure time) but even a surprising improvement in fathers’ health after the departure of a daughter.