Adolescents Leaving Parental Home: Psychosocial Correlates and Implications for Conservation

Authors: An L.¹; Mertig A.G.²; Liu J.²

Source: Population and Environment, Volume 24, Number 5, May 2003 , pp. 415-444(30)

Publisher: Springer

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Abstract:

To disclose the interplay between psychosocial antecedents of adolescents' decisions to leave their parental home in an ecologically sensitive region, we used structural equation modeling to analyze data from in-person interviews of members of 220 households in Wolong Nature Reserve for giant pandas (China). We further divided our data into two sub-samples by gender to test the hypothesis that model parameters differ for females and males. Our findings indicate that parental attitudes/behavior, peer behavior, and perceived availability of material/non-material resources play a critical role in adolescents' home-leaving decisions. This study demonstrates an important link between psychosocial factors and biodiversity conservation.

Keywords: leaving parental home; Structural Equations Modeling; giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca); conservation; Wolong Nature Reserve (China)

Language: English

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Michigan State University, 13 Natural Resources Building, East Lansing, MI 48824-1222; anli@msu.edu 2: Michigan State University

Publication date: 2003-05-01