Journal Article

Exiting and Returning to the Parental Home for Boomerang Kids

Sandberg-Thoma, Sara E., Snyder, Anastasia R., Jang, Bohyun Joy

2015

Overview

Young adults commonly exit from and return to the parental home, yet few studies have examined the motivation behind these exits and returns using a life course framework. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, the authors examined associations between mental health problems and economic characteristics and exits from (n = 8,162) and returns to (n = 6,530) the parental home during the transition to adulthood. The average age of the respondents was 24 years. The authors found evidence that mental health and economic characteristics were related to home leaving and returning. Emotional distress was associated with earlier exits from and returns to the parental home; alcohol problems were associated with earlier returns to the parental home. The findings regarding economic resources were unexpectedly mixed. Greater economic resources were linked to delayed exits from and earlier returns to the parental home. The implications of these findings for young adults are discussed.

• Publisher: Wiley Subscription Services, Inc,The National Council on Family Relations,Blackwell Publishing Ltd
• Subject: Adulthood / Adults / Alcohol Abuse / Delayed / Economic Problems / Economic resources / Educational Attainment / Emotional distress / Family studies / Health Problems / home leaving / home returning / Independent Living / Life course / Life Stage Transitions / Life transitions / Marriage / Mental disorders / Mental Health / Motivation / National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 / Of General Interest / Parent-child relations / Parents / Parents & parenting / Psychological Distress / Respondents / Socioeconomic factors / transition to adulthood / Young Adults