To Leave or Not to Leave? Familism and the Alignment of Preferences in the Transition to College

This study assesses the degree of alignment of preferences to live at home while attending college between students and parents. Previous research has identified that a familistic orientation toward the family adversely affects Latino students from applying and attending college (Desmond and Turley 2009). Using data from the Educational Longitudinal Survey (ELS), I measure the alignment preferences between students and parents across all race-ethnic groups and find that Latino students and parents are more likely to state it is 'very important' to live at home while attending college. And yet, Latino families are less likely to align on their preference that it is 'not important' while whites are overwhelmingly represented in this category and furthermore align on this disposition. Future research will utilize these alignment relationship to understand how they lead to differentiated pathways to postsecondary education.