Failures-to-launch and boomerang kids: Contemporary determinants of leaving and returning to the parental home

TY - JOUR

T1 - Failures-to-launch and boomerang kids

T2 - Contemporary determinants of leaving and returning to the parental home

AU - South, Scott J.

AU - Lei, Lei

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © The Author 2015.

PY - 2015/12

Y1 - 2015/12

N2 - The percentage of young American adults residing in their parents' home has increased markedly over recent years, but we know little about how sociodemographic, life-course, and parental characteristics facilitate or impede leaving or returning home. We use longitudinal data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics' Transition into Adulthood survey to examine the determinants of leaving and returning home among youth who turned age 18 between 2005 and 2011. Findings from eventhistory models show that while leaving and returning home is to some extent a function of normative life-course transitions, characteristics of the parental home (e.g., presence of coresident siblings, mother's educational attainment) and the degree of family connectivity (e.g., emotional closeness to mother, instrumental help from family) also play important roles. Experiencing physical, including sexual, victimization drives young adults both out of, and back into, the parental home. Having parents in poor physical health encourages young adults to move back home. Overall, the results suggest that a comprehensive explanation for both home-leaving and home-returning will need to look beyond life-course transitions and standard economic accounts to encompass a broader array of push and pull factors, particularly those that bond young adults with their parents.

AB - The percentage of young American adults residing in their parents' home has increased markedly over recent years, but we know little about how sociodemographic, life-course, and parental characteristics facilitate or impede leaving or returning home. We use longitudinal data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics' Transition into Adulthood survey to examine the determinants of leaving and returning home among youth who turned age 18 between 2005 and 2011. Findings from eventhistory models show that while leaving and returning home is to some extent a function of normative life-course transitions, characteristics of the parental home (e.g., presence of coresident siblings, mother's educational attainment) and the degree of family connectivity (e.g., emotional closeness to mother, instrumental help from family) also play important roles. Experiencing physical, including sexual, victimization drives young adults both out of, and back into, the parental home. Having parents in poor physical health encourages young adults to move back home. Overall, the results suggest that a comprehensive explanation for both home-leaving and home-returning will need to look beyond life-course transitions and standard economic accounts to encompass a broader array of push and pull factors, particularly those that bond young adults with their parents.

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84951798763

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84951798763#tab=citedBy

U2 - 10.1093/sf/sov064

DO - 10.1093/sf/sov064

M3 - Article

SN - 0037-7732

VL - 94

SP - 863

EP - 890

JO - Social Forces

JF - Social Forces

IS - 2

ER -