Illustration by Brad Abrahams

Coming Home Again
By Elizabeth Bland
Perspectives Editor

Senior Katie Rutherford plans on going back home to Mississippi for a month after graduation - but just for those thirty days. For her, moving back in is a temporary stopgap of sorts in between college and the "real" world.

For some young adults between the ages of 18 and 24, however, living with parents has become more of a long-term solution.

According to the 2000 census, 7.5 million, nearly 56 percent, of 18-to-24-year-old men lived at home with one or both of their parents. Forty-three percent of women - nearly 5.6 million - lived with their parents in 2000. A March 25 Newsweek article labeled this phenomenon the advent of the "adultolescent" in a recent article.

Whether hefty student loans, a lack of motivation or simply the availability of homecooked food persuades young adults to return to the family fold - numbers indicate they are returning in larger numbers than in the past.

The United States Census Bureau attributes the rise in lingering twentysomethings to changing social patterns.

The census bureau's report on America's Families and Living arrangements said, "Differences in marriage and divorce patterns by age and sex translate into very different living arrangements for young adults." The report found that only 10 percent of men and 18 percent of women in the 18-to-24-year-old age range were married and living with their spouses in 2000, while an even smaller population lived alone - just four percent.

This trend is probably not a result of massive social ineptitude on the part of young adults, though.

Angela Hattery, an assistant professor of sociology, said a combination of factors probably contributes to what sociologists term the "boomerang" phenomenon.

"The trend of students going to college and then coming back seems to be on the rise," she said. "I think that delaying marriage is one of the main (reasons). The age of marriage has gone up to 25 or 26, so it was a lot more common for people to marry after high school or college in the past."

According to the census bureau, in 1970 the median age of first marriage was 20.8 years for women and 23.2 years for men. The 2000 census found that these ages have risen to 25.1 years for women and 26.8 years for men.

The study did find that "the vast majority of men and women in 2000 had been married by their 35th birthday and by age 65, about 95 percent of men and women had been married, indicating that marriage is still very much a part of American life."

Twentysomethings economic situations may play a large part in their decision to move back home, as well. "Although we've just come out of this economic boom, it wasn't necessarily that people were making money at work. You have students graduating having maybe taken out $30,000 or $60,000 dollars in student loans. It's pretty hard to make it when you have loans that size," Hattery said.

She also cites the inclination for Americans to buy homes that are bigger than they really need.

"Twenty years ago you may have to share a bedroom, whereas now there is room for people to come back," she said.

Christy Buchanan, an associate professor of psychology, said young adults may find it hard adapting to less-sumptous living quarters.

"People have become more affluent," she said. "Children have higher expectations for their lifestyle when they're young adults than before. Most can't sustain that lifestyle on their own. They stay with parents to continue to have things they're used to having."

Though a first apartment may not be as nice as your bedroom at home, the American ideal of independence is hard to achieve when you're sleeping in your old twin bed.

Some young adults, like Rutherford, stay at home just long enough to get their life in order.

"I'm living at home for the month of July to get my possessions organized and to move into an apartment," she said. "And that is going to be hard."

"If it saves enough money temporarily to get you on your feet I can understand it, but I could never do it," Rutherford said.

"I know some people from the New York/New Jersey area who are living at home and working in the city because it's so expensive to live there, though."

Buchanan questions the American concept of independence - one that idealizes a "pulling yourself up by your bootstraps" mentality.

"Growing up and becoming an adult means moving out on your own," she said. "Parents want to be able to help them, but it's been an American concept that you help them to a certain point in young adulthood and then they're responsible for getting out on their own."

Buchanan hopes that Americans can move away from the traditional ideas of independence as necessitating separation from the family unit.

"Connections to family can go along with positive functioning, maybe we need a little more of that in our society. You don't have to move far way to show you can be your own individual," she said.

She said it's possible to have strong connections with your family and also contribute to the community as a whole. "The expectation that once you're 18 or 21 that you need to move out is something that is unique to our culture," she said.

According to Buchanan and Hattery, other cultures are much more accepting of 20-year-olds returning home to the proverbial nest.

"I've always thought that in other societies it's quite acceptable and even expected," Buchanan said. "In societies like Japanese societies, it would be unusual for a young adult to move out to before they get married, for example."

Hattery said living at home for longer is quite normal in Europe. She said, "It's extremely common in Europe. I think it's because they marry later -- in their mid-to-late twenties -- and they marry when they can afford to have their own apartment. It might take a few years to be making enough to pay for that apartment."

Students here, though, are hard to predict. Buchanan said, "Since many of our students do come from affluent backgrounds that might apply to many Wake Forest students," she said.

"On the other hand, we have a student body that is high-achieving to the extent that they are capable of getting good jobs and showing independence."

Hattery said she thinks students here will be less likely to return home for any extended period. "Just anencdotally I don't know any students who live at home," she said. "I would say it's hard to predict. A lot of students get student loans because tuition is very high, but we also have students going into grad or professional schools or the Peace Corps. Those trends go against moving back home."

Senior Cameron Kluth, like Rutherford, doesn't plan on moving back to his family home. "It hasn't entered into my plans," he said. "My relocation project finances the first two months of whatever housing I choose. So I'll be fine for funding an apartment. I plan on rooming with a fellow employee at least for the first year. Then, I'd probably go from an apartment to a townhouse and start building equity.

Young adults who choose to live at home do so despite the negative cultural connotation.

Thus, the "adultolescent" trend presents a number of interesting psychological experiences.

"I think where it becomes negative and where the stereotypes (originate) is from the image of the young adult as a 'free-loader,'" Buchanan said.

"It could potentially be negative in the long term if the reason (the young adult is back home) is due to lack of motivation," she said.

"Ultimately you need to be able to support yourself. Parents aren't going to be around forever."