The 20 percent of adults ages 25 to 31 living with their parents are seen by some sociologists as representative of an entirely new life stage arising not out of necessity, but out of inevitability. (Pew Research Center, 2012) They see ‘emerging adulthood’ as the outcome of the vast currents of socioeconomic and implicitly cultural change that have swept in during the turn of the 21st century. (Henig 2010) Some view this cultural trend as one to keep, theorizing that this ‘time to explore’ allows better-chosen, more authentic careers. Quickly arises an irony in this situation: that institution which prevented rapid social change since the beginning of the modern era is now becoming the norm yet again to those who not so long ago were leaving
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Sometimes, it takes the form of domestic conflict: for some in the ‘boomerang generation,’ returning home is a demoralizing, dreaded financial necessity, and their parental relationship could be characterized as tensed with the constant struggle between obedience and autonomy. Others see it as a way to reconnect and be supported again by one’s family during their transition into the adult life stage, and only once it has become a reality do they run into conflict. “I was so used to being able to come and go as I please without affecting anyone else,” said 29 year old Mickey Billings in a interview with a reporter from the New York Times. (Davidson 2014) Such conflicts, however, are surprisingly less common than more harmonious relationships, even though traditional life course theories would predict them. (Source unknown--LOST) In this way, the proposed situational dichotomy between forging autonomy and conforming to parental domesticity does not to play out in actuality as often as one might expect. One reason for this is that the aspirational side of the dichotomy (the ideal of finding one’s true, autonomous self through enabled exploration) is really too far-fetched and idealized for the harsh actuality of the boomerang phenomenon: many college-graduates return home because of financial reasons, not to ‘find themselves,’ something only possible for those who can live without an income for a time. Another possibility is something more elusive: that normative culture no longer creates a tension between parents and their emerging adult
Sometimes, it takes the form of domestic conflict: for some in the ‘boomerang generation,’ returning home is a demoralizing, dreaded financial necessity, and their parental relationship could be characterized as tensed with the constant struggle between obedience and autonomy. Others see it as a way to reconnect and be supported again by one’s family during their transition into the adult life stage, and only once it has become a reality do they run into conflict. “I was so used to being able to come and go as I please without affecting anyone else,” said 29 year old Mickey Billings in a interview with a reporter from the New York Times. (Davidson 2014) Such conflicts, however, are surprisingly less common than more harmonious relationships, even though traditional life course theories would predict them. (Source unknown--LOST) In this way, the proposed situational dichotomy between forging autonomy and conforming to parental domesticity does not to play out in actuality as often as one might expect. One reason for this is that the aspirational side of the dichotomy (the ideal of finding one’s true, autonomous self through enabled exploration) is really too far-fetched and idealized for the harsh actuality of the boomerang phenomenon: many college-graduates return home because of financial reasons, not to ‘find themselves,’ something only possible for those who can live without an income for a time. Another possibility is something more elusive: that normative culture no longer creates a tension between parents and their emerging adult