Young adults are returning to their parents'

Introduction

Young adults are returning to their parents' homes in record numbers. Young adults ages 23 to 40 are returning to their parents' home for at least a short period of time. Research indicates that education, occupation, and personal lifestyles all contribute to the economic hardships of young adults. This is what I believe is causing the RYAs to return home. The generation born between 1964 and 1980 faces financial difficulties just like previous generations, but parents of this generation seems more willing, almost obligated, to support their children. Many couples who have been married for many years are finding that their children who have post secondary education are returning home. Unfortunately for parents, this syndrome has become increasingly common in the past 10 years. Grown children are returning to the nest or sometimes never leaving at all. The main reason for this phenomenon is economic: young adults are moving back home because of educational opportunities or the lack of them, occupational difficulties, and personal lifestyle choices.

Discussion

The Returning Young Adult (RYA) phenomenon is a family development syndrome looked at as circular in the family's attempt to "launch" the young adult members into independence. The young adult leaves home to experience adult independent living, returns home, hopefully to leave again, this time successfully. The act of emerging from the core family home and assuming responsibilities and, finding a place in the world can often be unsuccessful financially for many young adults. According to Swartzberg, "American family young adulthood can be defined as usually beginning in the early twenties... when the young person is launched from the family of origin, and ending sometime in the early thirties, when the young adult is firmly ensconced in a job and is capable of intimacy." For the most part, the reason for the Returning Young Adult syndrome is economics.

Before analyzing the financial reasons why people in their 20s are returning to their parents' homes, researchers first determine the characteristics of this group. Burnett and Smart define RYAs: "To be a true RYA, both the individual and parents expected the child to leave home; the child actually did leave home but, because of the need for economic support, returned" . The RYA phenomenon is called the crowded nest or "boomerang effect." The number of children in the RYA generation who return to live with their parents seems surprisingly high. "About 40 percent of young adults return to their parents' home at least once. Men and women are equally likely to return home until age 25, but men are more likely to return after that age" . With almost half of the 20-something generation moving home, a family with two or more children can almost surely anticipate a RYA. Another interesting statistic is that males are more likely to live with their parents than females: "Men are more than twice as likely as females to live with their parents" . Determining the characteristics of the RYA's family is another important ...