Generation Y has bred a population of liberal individuals who opt to live their lives according to their own rules. So here's a finding of a recent research that will probably take some of you by surprise: Nowadays, young people tend to live more with their parents than their partners.
A study by Pew Research Center found out that people from ages 18 to 34 years old still live with their parents. For some millennials, this isn't old news because when the Great Recession happened, the choice to live with parents than partners became practical (via NPR).
While in the past, marriage was regarded as the ultimate end, it is now only deduced to a possible option for millennials. At present, only 32.1 percent of Americans live in their parents' house. Although not a record high percentage, this is the first time that living with parents topped the other living arrangements with 31.6 percent for those who get married, 14 percent living alone and the rest living with another family relative or a nonfamily member (via NPR).
Factors That Led To The Shift Of Living Arrangements
According to the study as per The Washington Post, factors that cause the popularity of this living arrangement are the lack of economic opportunities combined with low wages, pricey house mortgages and incurred student debts, high cost of education, culture and changing life views. These affect the decision of young people to start their own families.
Education is a contributing factor. According to the research, those who graduated with lower education levels live more with their parents while those who are highly educated live with their partners. This is largely because the latter is more economically secure than the former.
The new trend is also culturally influenced. It has been found that young blacks and Hispanics tend to live more with their parents than whites. Nevertheless, in 2014, 30 percent of whites preferred to live with their parents just below the 36 percent of minorities with the same living arrangement (via The Washington Post).
Another reason is the many options that millennials have aside from marriage. According to Stanford University Sociology professor, Michael Rosenfeld as per The Washington Post, people used to marry young which caused them to separate from their families and live with their partners at an early stage of their lives.
As opposed to today, liberal views on birth control, as well as the small triumphs of the fight to gender equality make women more confident to step into the workforce. They opt not to marry and have their own families to focus on their careers.
This new popular arrangement significantly affects overall economics and demography. When young people marry at an older age, their chances of having babies lessen. There would be changes in birth rate as well as differences in spending allocations (via The Washington Post).
Living With Parents Is More Comfortable
Nonetheless, the new popular living arrangement also comes with some perks. Living with parents are for some simply more comfortable than living with partners, friends or alone.
"[There is] an increasing acceptance that it takes longer to grow up than it used to," Clark University research professor Jeffrey Jersen Arnett told Bloomberg. "There's a lot of good will between parents and children in this generation...boomers have succeeded in having these relationships with their children, that by the time they're in their twenties, it is almost like friendship. It will never be quite like friendship, but it's a lot closer to that than it was in previous generations."
Do you live with your parents, with your partner, a friend or alone? What living arrangement would you rather have? Make your voice heard below in our Comments section.
