Empty Nest

Coresidence Patterns and Determinants of Nest Leaving

For parents, the experience of one’s children growing up and leaving home constitutes a normative life-course transition; parents expect that their children will one day leave the nest. In the United States and elsewhere, there are strong age-related norms regarding when children should leave the nest to establish their own households. Yet the proportion of young adults (aged 18–34) living in their parents’ homes in the United States has increased steadily in recent years, and in parts of Southern Europe, the proportion of children living with parents has reached over 60%. Researchers have sought to understand these patterns by considering the contemporary determinants of home leaving among young adults.

Increases in the proportion of young adults living with parents are often attributed to changing cultural and economic trends and a delayed transition to adulthood that characterizes the lives of many young adults in the 21st century. This prolonged transition from adolescence to adulthood includes greater pursuit of postsecondary education and increased debt, a rise in age at first marriage, decreased employment opportunities, and difficult economic conditions resulting from the Great Recession of 2008. In Europe, rates of coresidence vary greatly from country to country, and researchers highlight the role of housing markets and employment conditions in predicting coresidence rates.

On an individual and family level, many factors predict the likelihood of a child leaving the nest. In the United States, age and gender are two key predictors; older children and daughters are more likely to leave the nest than younger children or sons. Entering a 4-year college or forming a serious romantic relationship also predicts leaving the home. Children from lower income backgrounds are more likely to remain in the parental home after high school graduation. Further, young adults who report greater emotional closeness with parents are less likely to leave the home, as [Page 749]are young adults who receive less practical support from parents. Children who live in a household with other adult siblings are also less likely to leave the nest, as are young adults from immigrant families.

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