With the current state of the economy and all kinds of other factors, it’s becoming more common for kids who have flown out of the nest to fly right back in, meaning that more adult children are returning into their parents’ home after some time. This “boomerang move” according to a recent study has quite a significant effect on the health of parents, and it’s not looking good.
Why Adult Children Are Returning to their Parents’ Home
Nowadays, more adult children are deciding to move back into their parent’s homes for several reasons. Sometimes, it happens right after post-secondary schooling. Other times, it’s a judgment call due to life circumstances such as financial hardships, difficulties in the job market, cost of living independently, debt obligations, and other reasons you can add to the list.
At first thought, this may not seem like a bad idea. In fact, it’s practical for the adult children especially with all the struggles they’re dealing with and returning home would certainly offset some of those problems. But what about the parents? What effect does this have on them?
Before we jump into the recent study that focuses on this topic, let’s analyze the statistics among millennials in recent years when it comes to certain life milestones relative to the age that they occur.
Common Age That People Get Married, Have Children, and Own Their Homes
If living independently is less prevalent among young adults, then it only makes sense to assess the other milestones that often occur in lives. First, let’s take a look at the median age that people get married in today’s world.
The median age for marriage in 2011 was 28.7 years old for men and 26.5 years old for women, a drastic difference compared to the 1960s when the median age was in the early 20s. (1)
If the new trend is to marry later, then just imagine what that means for people who are deciding to have children and when they plan to do it. If you can guess, the average age has also gone up. In 1999, the mean age of a woman when she first gave birth was 24.9 years old. In 2014, that number rose to 26.3 years old. (2)
As for home ownership, 43% of people under the age of 35 who largely make-up the first-time home-buyer market had their own home in 2005. In 2014, this percentage went down significantly by 36%. (3)
You can see that these statistics are somewhat consistent with the idea of adult children moving back home. If they’re unlikely to pay for rent to live alone, how much more difficult would it be for them to purchase their own house. The percentage regarding the decline in homeownership under the age of 35 indeed proves that.
Now let’s take a look at the study regarding adult children moving back home and its effect on their parents’ health.
Parents Health Declining due to Children’s Return to Home
In this 2018 study, writers Dr. Marco Tosi and Professor Emily Grundy explain that multigenerational co-residence has increased as a response to high unemployment rates, poor job prospects and financial hardships among young adults. (1)
When they looked at adults below the age of 75 who had children return to their nest, the research showed a significant decline in parents’ quality of life and well-being. The paper explores multiple reasons for their children’s return, such as unemployment and partnership breakdown, two of which are in themselves distressing to parents.
Based on the parents’ quality of life scale, researchers found that the score went down by an average of 0.8 points from the range of 12 to 48, a similar effect to life if a parent were to develop an age-related disability, such as difficulties walking or getting dressed. (2)
Also, the paper concludes that “when children leave the parental home, marital relationships improve and parents find a new equilibrium. They enjoy this stage in life, finding new hobbies and activities. When adult children move back, it is a violation of that equilibrium.”
So parents, now you know what happens to your health when your kids move back home, maybe you can nonchalantly share this article with them and not feel guilty when they get the hint.
Conclusion
All kidding aside, this article is not to discourage young adults from returning to their parents’ home for whatever reason. Instead, consider it as an interesting study to keep in mind regarding the health of your parents. As much as they understand their children’s needs to move back home, they don’t realize that it affects their health.
If this is the case for you, try your best to help at home (if not financially) through other means such as chores and household duties, as a way to lessen the work that parents have to take care of in the home.
