YOUTH 2020 - The position of young people in Slovenia

Young people, housing, and sustainable environment  199 and economic conditions, is young Slovenians’ late separation from their parents. The so-called LAT phase (Living Apart Together), which marks young people’s extended stay with their parents (Rener, Švab, 1996; Ule, 2009; Mulder, 2009), results from a mixture of changes in socialisation (changes in the relationship between young people and their parents), economic conditions (real estate prices), specific spatial policies (small number of non-profit and rental housing), and historical bases (dispersed and relatively low urbanisation) of the Slovenian settlement system (Uršič, Hočevar, 2007). The consequences of this shift towards the later onset of independence for young people have already been registered in the Youth 1995 and 2010 surveys and continue with similar characteris- tics in the Youth 2020 survey. The long-term financial, social and emo- tional dependence of young people on their parents is observed (Mitch- ell, 2000; Lavrič and Klanjšek, 2010), and only extraordinary (financial, partner, work) circumstances influence a faster shift in youth independ- ence (De Jong Gierveld et al., 1991). Despite the still strongly noticeable LAT phase in Slovenia, from the point of view of housing and housing preferences, some changes have occurred in young people’s value orien- tations, which in the long run may indicate a gradual change in this trend, where young people are more integrated into global trends along- side the growing need for a greater degree of internationalisation. These slight changes in living and housing conditions indicate the multifaceted nature of the issue of young people’s late independence and are analysed in the following chapters through a number of dimensions of the Mladi- na 2020 survey. Despite the still strongly noticeable LAT phase in Slovenia, from the point of view of housing and housing preferences, some changes have occurred in young people’s value orientations, which in the long run may indicate a gradual change in this trend, where young people are more integrated into global trends alongside the growing need for a greater degree of internationalization.