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In Western culture the Boomerang Generation refers to the generation of young adults graduating from high school and college in the 21st century. They are so named for the percentage of whom choose to share a home with their parents after previously living on their own—thus boomeranging back to their parents' residence. This arrangement can take many forms, ranging from situations that mirror the high dependency of pre-adulthood to highly independent, separate-household arrangements.

The term can be used to indicate only those members of this age-set that actually do return home, not the whole generation. In as much as home-leaving practices differ by economic class, the term is most meaningfully applied to members of the middle class.

Introduction

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The parental expectation of having an "empty nest", traditional in the United States and some other industrialized cultures, has increasingly given way in the 1990s and 2000s to the reality of a "cluttered nest" or "crowded nest". The latter term was popularized by Kathleen Shaputis's 2004 book The Crowded Nest Syndrome: Surviving the Return of Adult Children, which takes a critical view of the trend.

University of Western Ontario professor Roderic Beaujot discusses the phenomenon of delayed home-leaving at length. He cites Canadian census statistics showing that, in 1981, 27.5% of Canadians aged 20–29 lived with their parents; in 2001, the figure had grown to 41%. In the United States the proportion of adults ages 20 to 34 living with their parents has increased from 9% in 1960 to almost 17% in 2000. However, US Census Bureau data also suggest that the rate at which adult children have been living with parents has been steady since 1981. The U.S. Census Bureau reported a 5 percentage point increase in the number of young men (ages 24–34) living with their parents for the period between 2005 (14%) and 2011 (19%). For the same period, the number of young women living with their parents increased from 8% in 2005 to 10% in 2011.

The coming of age of this generation coincided with the economic downturn starting with the collapse of the stock market bubble in 2000. This led to rising unemployment until 2004, the same time this generation was entering the workforce after high school or college graduation. Additionally, in the new economy, where globalisation-induced phenomena like outsourcing have eliminated many jobs, real wages have fallen over the last twenty years, and a college degree no longer ensures job stability. Additionally, with the financial crisis of 2007-08 hitting much of the world, many young people were either laid off or could no longer afford to live on their own. Moving back home allows them the option of unpaid internships and additional schooling without the burden of paying rent at market rates (or paying rent at all).

An increase in divorce rates as well as a delay in initial marriage are other contributing factors in young adults returning to reside with their parents.

This generation differs from previous ones in that many members expect to remain with their parents for some years while maintaining their own social and professional lives. Home-leaving remains a priority for most in the Boomerang Generation, though financial burden (and the comforts of financial stability in their parents' homes) often delays the fruition of that goal.

Trend

The phenomenon of boomeranging/delayed home-leaving has generated considerable inquiry and debate, including academic studies at reputable universities; full-length books, such as The Hands-On Guide to Surviving Adult Children Living at Home by Christina Newberry; articles in national newspapers; documentaries, such as Generation Boomerang; and major motion pictures, such as Failure to Launch (2006) starring Matthew McConaughey.

Support

Economic instability is the primary justification for this phenomenon, as articulated in Kimberly Palmer's 2007 U.S. News & World Report article "The New Parent Trap: More Boomers Help Adult Kids out Financially". In particular, the term Boomeranger has been used to draw reference to those Gen-Xers and Gen-Yers of the Boomerang Generation who have either returned to an earlier, more modest lifestyle or have simply moved back home with parents and other loved ones, in response to the Great Recession. Where the young person and his/her parents can tolerate the arrangement, it provides tremendous financial relief to the young person. Such co-residence can be a valuable form of insurance, particularly for youths from poorer families. It may also provide non-negligible income to the parents, though in many cultures, the boomeranger retains all or nearly all of their disposable income for discretionary income purchases.

Though inter-generational cohabitation is terra incognita for many in modern industrialized Western societies and therefore challenging, those who attempt it can benefit from the experience. The arrangement tends to force all involved to communicate and negotiate in ways they did not when the children were pre-adults. In the best case, this can lead to healthy adult relationships between parents and children.

This can benefit parents when they reach old age. In societies where it is common for children to live with their parents into adulthood, such as Asian and Hispanic cultures, children more frequently take care of aging parents rather than devolving the responsibility on a third party, such as a nursing home. Whether the Boomerang Generation will follow suit remains to be seen, as the older Baby Boomer generation ages. The recession has also affected the Baby Boomers as well, perhaps even more so than their children, as many lost significant investments and savings intended for retirement. In this case, the cohabitation of parents and their adult children could be mutually beneficial in terms of easing the financial burden. While the boomerangers may live rent free, it is common for them to take on other financial responsibilities in return, such as groceries or utilities.

In 2014, 20% of adults in their 20s and early 30s were residing with their parents, which is twice the amount of the previous generation. Though there are many reasons cited for the need for parental support, one of the greatest contributing factors is said to be student loan debt. 45% of 25-year-old college graduates currently owe $20,000 or more. For some families, the financial instability of the mid-2000s caused a decrease in funds allocated for higher education, therefore decreasing parental financial contributions and causing the need for more loans to cover educational costs. And while student loans are more frequently taken out in the student’s name, some parents who took out loans are facing substantial debt and are now relying on their adult children to provide financial assistance while they pay them off.

Opposition

Critics of the practice of boomeranging worry about the negative effect this trend has on the financial and social independence of the children.

Those who return home from the unrestrictive nature of college dorm life may have difficulty readjusting to their parents' domestic expectations. Where living space is shared, gatherings with friends can be limited in frequency or scope. Dating is similarly constrained and can be impaired by the stigma of the young adult's perceived inability to function independently of their parents.

See also

• Freeters
• Emerging adulthood
• Generation Z
• Kidult
• Millennials
• MTV Generation
• NEET
• Parasite single
• Quarter-life crisis
• Sampo generation
• Twixter
• Waithood

References

1. Reed, Jim. "'Boomerang' generation back home". BBC News.
2. Sharon Jayson Analysis: 'Boomerang' generation mostly hype USA Today 3/14/2007
3. MICHELLE HIRSCH,The Boomerang Generation: More Reasons to Move Back Home Archived December 4, 2010, at the Wayback Machine June 12, 2010 The Fiscal Times
4. ^ Shaputis, Kathleen. The Crowded Nest Syndrome: Surviving the Return of Adult Children. Clutter Fairy Publishing, 2004. Print. ISBN 978-0-9726727-0-2
5. Delayed Life Transitions: Trends and Implications Archived 2007-08-07 at the Wayback Machine accessed on June 9, 2007
6. Fields J. and L.M. Casper, America's families and living arrangements, 2000, US Census Bureau, Current Population Reports, as cited in Nijole Benokratis, Marriages and Families, 6th edition, Pearson, 2008, p.371
7. Families and Living Arrangements, table AD-1 accessed on June 9, 2007
8. Boomerang generation: U.S. Census shows more young adults moving in with parents
9. Jobs moving overseas Archived 2012-11-13 at the Wayback Machine accessed on January 29, 2007
10. U.S. underestimates jobs lost to outsourcing, labor experts assert Archived September 16, 2006, at the Wayback Machine from Cornell News accessed on January 29, 2007
11. Job outsourcing 'serious problem' from the Washington Times accessed on January 29, 2007
12. Bureau of Labor Statistics grossly underestimates U.S. jobs lost to outsourcing Archived September 9, 2006, at the Wayback Machine from Cornell News accessed on January 29, 2007
13. Amid Plenty, the Wage Gap Widens Archived 2014-02-22 at the Wayback Machine from the Milken Institute accessed on January 29, 2007
14. When It Comes to Pay, It Helps to Be the One Signing the Checks from the New York Times accessed on January 29, 2007
15. Is Youth Worse Off Than Two Decades Ago? Archived September 10, 2006, at the Wayback Machine from the Parliament of Australia accessed on January 29, 2007
16. Is Job Stability in the US Falling? Reconciling Trends in the Current Population Survey and Panel Study of Income Dynamics from the Social Science Research Network accessed on January 29, 2007
17. Marcotte, Dave E. (1999). "Has Job Stability Declined?: Evidence from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics". American Journal of Economics and Sociology. 58 (2): 197–216. doi:10.1111/j.1536-7150.1998.tb03467.x. JSTOR 3487712.
18. College graduates in non-college jobs: Theory and evidence Archived 2010-06-16 at the Wayback Machine accessed on January 29, 2007
19. Goldfarb. "Who Pays for the Boomerang Generation?" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-01-20.
20. Sussman, Anna Louie (2015-07-29). "'Boomerang' Millennials Get Cozy at Home". WSJ. Retrieved 2017-04-04.
21. Newberry, Christina. The Hands-On Guide to Surviving Adult Children Living at Home. Nuru Guides, 2012. Print. ISBN 978-0981390055
22. Palmer, Kimberly. "The New Parent Trap: More Boomers Help Adult Kids out Financially." U.S. News & World Report, Dec. 12, 2007
23. Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, Moving Back Home: Insurance Against Labor Market Risk, March 2010
24. Brandon (2011-10-31). "The Recession's Impact on Baby Boomer Retirement". usnews.com. Archived from the original on 2011-11-02.
25. Parker, Kim (2012). "The Boomerang Generation Feeling OK about Living with Mom and Dad" (PDF). Pew Social Trends. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-12-28. Retrieved 2017-04-04.
26. Davidson, Adam (2014-06-20). "It's Official: The Boomerang Kids Won't Leave". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-03-28.
27. Lewin, Tamar (2012-11-11). "Some Parents, Shouldering Student Loans, Fall on Tough Times". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-03-28.
28. Schoenberger, Chana R. (2017-03-03). "Should Parents Use Retirement Savings for College Tuition?". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2017-03-28.
29. "Home stretch: What happens when twentysomethings move back in with". The Independent. 2012-04-22. Retrieved 2017-04-04.

• Cultural generations
• Young adult
• 2000s neologisms