Why_Are_Young_People_Moving_Back_in_with_Their_Parents

Why Young People are Moving Back in with Their Parents' : A Review of the Article By Martha Straus Chanel Todd CLP-1006 Professor Starkey November 17, 2010 Page 1 The article “Why are Young People Moving Back in With Their Parents” by psychotherapy networker, Martha Straus is a thoughtful dissection on the growing trend of college-grad age adults moving back home with their parents. She opens the article with an anecdote of when she herself had moved from home back in the early 1970’s, noting that times have changed exponentially since then . In that generation, late adolescents were being prepared to “cut the cord” so to speak and stand on their own two feet when the time came. In more recent years, for a variety of reasons ( social, cultural and particularly economic) this rigid idea of success has been completely restructured, if not destroyed. Straus goes on to say that the cause of the paradigm shift began actually with letting the old parenting paradigms go. She feels that parenting should not solely focus on hammering self-sufficiency into children but rather take on a more nurturing approach tailored to the needs of each family. She refers to this new type of families that integrate baby boomer parents and young adults cohabitating (definitely or indefinitely, depending on the situation) as “bungee families”. She has categorized these families into seven basic groups : on-trackers, late bloomers, dreamers, regroupers, nurturers, high-riskers, and long-haulers. The on- trackers are described as the “new normal”, young adults who stay or move back home to save more money and gain more stability while supporting family members. Similarily, the regroupers return home under stressful situations to regain stability and to “lick their wound/summon the courage to try again”. The aptly titled late bloomers need more time to mature and work into adulthood by Page 2 their own timetables. They are usually coping with extenuating circumstances, such as Asperger’s. The more extreme version of the late bloomer appears to be the high riskers. Deemed by Straus as “emerging adults too fragile to manage life on their own”, they usually have serious problems such as addictions and problems with the law. Without a strong circle of support, people in this group are at a high risk to end up in a hospital, prison or worse. Equivalently, in terms of need of strong support, Straus identifies the long haulers. These are people with chronic physical, emotional and/or social problems whom long term care is vital to their well being. The nurturers are young adults who move back in their parents’ home with children of their own. Or, in other cases, Straus mentions a different type of nurturer, one who moves back home to take care of their own family. As with the on trackers and the regroupers, the nurturers return is meaningful. In contrast, the dreamers return or remain in the comforts of home because the real world is not parallel with their (usually artistic- musicians, poets, painters) aspirations. After explaining that every bungee family is not the same and breaking their major components, Straus mentions another major factor in the return to the nest revolution: the economy. The failing economy has made transitioning into the real world exponentially more difficult for young adults. Her research has found that most college grads are now faced with at least $20,000 worth of school loans Page 3 and a few thousand more in credit card debt. She says that they are “entering adult life paying backward, not saving forward.” She also notes that economic tribulations also probably play a role in relationship stability, hence why young adults are waiting longer to get married. In Martha Straus’ professional opinion, there are mainly two reasons for young adults moving back home: changing family dynamics and the atrocious state that the economy is in. Livescience.com seems to agree with the latter of Straus’ findings. In an article they cite that a recent survey by the Pew Research Center has found that about 11 percent of adults report living with their parents, with 4 percent of adults saying they were forced to move back home due to the recession. Ten percent of adults, ages 18 to 34, aslo say the poor economy forced them to move back in with their parents. The New York Times published an article stating that since 2000, more people in the 25 to 39 age group have been residing at home and by 2008, before the full effect of the recession was being felt, this number had increased by double-digit percentages . They also found that “Last year, 37 percent of 18-to- 29year-olds were unemployed or no longer looking for work. Ten percent of young adults, ages 18 to 34, said in the Pew survey they had moved back with their parents because of the recession. Two in 10 are full-time students, a quarter are unemployed, and about a third said they had lived on their own before returning home.” Page 4 A website called NewYorkLife.com had similar findings. Calling the trend of adult moving home “cyclical”, they report that about 40 percent of 2008 grads still live with their parents and 42 percent of the 2006 graduates surveyed said they're still living at home. This article also goes on list a series of success factors, such a charging rent and setting a time limit to help run cohabitation as smoothly as possible. A few of these suggestions are similar to Martha Straus’. About.com has a quiz titled “Are you ready for your grown children to move home'” also provides a list of suggestions and tips to ease this transition periods. “Some 60% of young adults end up moving back home, at least temporarily” is one of the few yet vaguely alarming statistics provided by this article. They also cover a topic that hasn’t been touched on by previous articles- health insurance or the lack thereof, and the importance that everyone, particularly unstable twenty-somethings have it. CNNMoney.com subscribes to this theory, reporting that nearly a third of 18- to 24-ear-olds don't have health insurance, and a quarter of those who are 25 to 34 go without. The article also indentifies the failing economy as the reason behind young adults falling back onto parents’ for housing and support, ending with a resounding quote of “High debt levels are taking their toll on young adults' net worth”. A family oriented website called TroubleWith.com has an article discussing this topic as well. They say that “the latest census figures indicate that more than 80 million so- called “empty nesters” now find themselves with at least one grown child living at home.” They refer to these adult children as the “boomerang” generation and go on to Page 5 discuss ways (similar to Straus’, NewYorklife.com and About.com ) to cope with what is described as a “blow to the self esteem” by backpedaling into their parents’ homes. In my personal opinion, I definitely believe that the economy has a lot to do with young adults moving back into their parents’ homes. Housing prices and debt are going up while unemployment rates are going down. What also seems to be “going up” is a public fascination with wealth and celebrities, which in my opinion has indirectly affecting the amount of debt young people are getting themselves into. They turn on the TV, see glamorous clothes and cars and break their backs/budgets to obtain the unobtainable . I feel like something of an expert on the subject of young people returning to the nest because I am currently going through the same situation! My family is a prime example of what Martha Straus calls a bungee family. If I had to categorize myself as one or more of her groups, I would say that I am a mixture of the nurturer, the regrouper with a bit of the dreamer mixed in. At age 18, I moved out of my mother’s home in Miami to Jacksonville to begin a career with Citibank. By my 19th birthday, I had my own apartment and brand new car all on high interest loans. I became pregnant a few months after, which coincidently was when the economy started becoming increasingly worse. Subsequently, I moved back in my mother’s home with a bouncing baby girl to regroup, deciding to go back to school in hopes of becoming a world-renown make-up artist and journalist. Through my research, I have learned the importance of Page 6 setting realistic goals and following through with them as opposed to settling into what Straus refers to as the dreamer. Some of the articles have also helped me relate to what my mother is going through by having my daughter and me move back into her somewhat empty nest (my adult brother has never moved out of the house). I will incorporate this research into my own life and be more effective at communicating and focusing on making wise decisions to benefit my daughter and me in the long run. After all, I’m too big stay in this nest forever. Works Cited Live Science Staff. “Boomerangers: Young Adults Moving Back Home.” LiveScience.com. November 24, 2009. LiveScience.com. November 17, 2010 < http://www.livescience.com/culture/091124-boomerangers-move-home.html >. Sam Roberts. "Facing a Financial Pinch, and Moving in With Mom and Dad." The New York Times March 21, 2010. November 17, 2010 < http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/22/nyregion/22singles.html >. Unknown. “Adult Children Moving Back Home: Don’t Let ‘Boomerang Kids Derail Your Goals.” NewYorkLife.com. November 24, 2009. New York Life Insurance and Annuity Company. November 17, 2010. < http://www.newyorklife.com/nyl/v/index.jsp'vgnextoid=d0bd47bb939d2210a2b3019d221024301cacRCRD >. Jackie Burrell “Everything You Need To Know When Grown Children Move Home.” About.com .Unknown . The New York Times Company. November 17, 2010. < http://youngadults.about.com/od/movinghome/tp/movinghome101.htm >. Jean Chatzky. “Your Adult Kids Are Back Now what'.” CNNMoney.com. December 19, 2006. CNN Fortune and Money. November 17, 2010 < http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/moneymag_archive/2007/01/01/8397391/index.htm >. Roberta Brand. “When Adult Children Move Back Home.” TroubleWith.com . 2009. Name Focus of the Family. November 17, 2010.< http://www.troubledwith.com/Relationships/A000000843.cfm'topic=relationships%3A%20parents%20and%20adult%20children >. Straus. “Why are Young People Moving Back in With Their Parents'” Alternet.org . August 25, 2010. Alternet.org . November 17, 2010. < http://www.alternet.org/story/147821/ >.