Young, Free and Single?

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-viii

   PDF

2. The Destandardisation of Household Formation

   • Sue Heath, Elizabeth Cleaver

   Pages 1-10

3. Domesticity, Household Formation and Youth Research

   • Sue Heath, Elizabeth Cleaver

   Pages 11-26

4. Risk, Individualisation and the Single Life

   • Sue Heath, Elizabeth Cleaver

   Pages 27-53

5. Living in and Leaving the Parental Home

   • Sue Heath, Elizabeth Cleaver

   Pages 54-72

6. Student Housing and Households

   • Sue Heath, Elizabeth Cleaver

   Pages 73-88

7. Shared Housing, Grown-up Style

   • Sue Heath, Elizabeth Cleaver

   Pages 89-108

8. Solo Living: Who Wants to Live Alone?

   • Sue Heath, Elizabeth Cleaver

   Pages 109-124

9. Friends and Family

   • Sue Heath, Elizabeth Cleaver

   Pages 125-143

10. Negotiating Current and Future Partnerships

    • Sue Heath, Elizabeth Cleaver

    Pages 144-160

11. Redefining Home?

    • Sue Heath, Elizabeth Cleaver

    Pages 161-179

12. Conclusion: Twenty-somethings and Household Change

    • Sue Heath, Elizabeth Cleaver

    Pages 180-193

13. Back Matter

    Pages 194-225

    PDF

In the context of the ongoing destandardization of young people's lives, this book explores changing patterns of household formation amongst contemporary 20-somethings and the implications of these changes for the ways in which they relate to friends, parents and partners. The book points to the growing polarization between the experiences of graduates and non-graduates, and highlights changing expectations and attitudes towards intimacy and 'settling down' amongst these groups.

• family
• research
• youth

• School of Social Sciences, University of Southampton, UK

  Sue Heath

• National Foundation for Educational Research, UK

  Elizabeth Cleaver

SUE HEATH is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Southampton, and Co-Convenor of the British Sociological Association's Youth Study Group. Previous publications include Sociological Research Methods in Context (with Fiona Devine) and Times in the Making (editor with Graham Crow).

ELIZABETH CLEAVER is a Senior Research Officer at the National Foundation for Educational Research and is a Visiting Fellow at the University of Southampton.

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