Durban - More young adults are choosing to keep living at home with their parents for longer, rather than bear the cost of living by themselves.
There has also been an increase in young adults who moved out during their youth, moving back.
Nicola Cooper, a lifestyle, pop and youth culture trend analyst at Flux Trends in Joburg, said this trend would continue to grow worldwide. “In China it has been recorded that some may stay in their parents’ home until the age of 45. Some of the reasons are lack of employment, a harsh economy and the high cost of property.”
She said among reasons young adults finally did move out of their parents’ home, could be societal or parental pressures.
“Although this might be a reason for them to move out, we are seeing more and more cases of building an additional property on the existing property so there is a sense of privacy and freedom yet it is not as costly as moving out and paying heavy rent.”
There has also been an underlying notion that parents take care of their children, and their children return the gesture when their parents are no longer able to look after themselves in their old age. However, different cultures have different ways and beliefs. Cooper explains this.
“Parents of different cultures and from a diversity of economic backgrounds will usually deal with the situation of their adult children being at home differently.
“I do believe that we, as a society, need to understand the economic hardships. The struggle to maintain a stable income which allows for renting or buying property will have a strong societal ripple effect for which no single person can be responsible. I would encourage empathy and patience in these situations. However, if your kid is just being a scrub then by all means give them that extra push.”
According to Wisconsin Public Radio, the US is experiencing the same trend, and in a recent New York Times article titled “It’s Official: The Boomerang Kids Won’t Leave”, it shows that nearly 45 percent of 25-year-olds have outstanding loans, with an average debt above $20 000 and hence can not afford to live on their own.
A psychology professor at Clark University in Worcester, Jeffrey Arnett, who studied emerging adults for 20 years and recently released a book titled Getting to 30: A Parent’s Guide to the Twentysomething Years states in the same article that he doesn’t believe there is any problem with young adults moving back home.
“Even if you’re not having trouble, why should you not live at home if that’s acceptable to everyone involved?” he asked.
“Many people have this view that if kids are still home beyond the age of 20, that there’s something wrong with them. Other assumptions people make are that the parents are too involved or controlling, or that it is some kind of economic tragedy,” he said.
While any of those scenarios may be true for some families, Arnett doesn’t think the arrangement should be viewed so negatively.
He has recently coined the phrase “emerging adulthood” for the life phase that now comes between adolescence and adulthood. His research finds that despite the challenges emerging adults face, and how older generations may look at their situation, those emerging adults are optimistic about the future.
“Stop dumping on them because they need parental support,” Arnett said in the article. It doesn’t mean they’re lazy. It’s just harder to make your way now than it was in an older and simpler economy.”
Sunday Tribune