"A room of their own: Historical trends in young adults living in the parental home, 1974 to 2015" <?xml:namespace prefix = o />
Since the Great Recession (2007–2009) young adults have been returning to their parents’ home in record number, fueling a belief that millennials are the boomerang generation that’s failed to launch. History repeats, however. The 1980s also witnessed a rapid rise in young adults living at home. What explains these historical trends? We use decomposition analysis and the Current Population Survey (CPS ASEC) to look at 18–34 year olds who lived in the parental home between 1974 and 2015. We focus on changes in the composition of this group and the role of population-level pressures, such as unemployment rates, housing costs and the relative size of the baby boomer and millennial cohorts. Over the last 40 years, changing cohort size and marriage behaviors have fueled the rise in young adults living at home, while this population has become more economically dependent on its parents.
