Parental Coresidence Transitions and Psychological Well-being among Contemporary Young Adults in the United States

• In Event: 2224 - Emerging Issues in Mental Health

Abstract

Despite recent concern surrounding increases in parental coresidence during young adulthood, questions about whether and how this demographic shift impacts the well-being of young adults have received little scholarly attention. Drawing on theoretical insights about the life course and social stress, this paper uses survey data from Add Health to examine the relationship between parental coresidence transitions and psychological well-being, as well as whether these patterns are contingent upon other transitions. The analyses reveal that those returning to a parental home after experiencing residential independence report more depressive symptoms than their stably independent peers, even accounting for other mental health-linked adult role transitions that predict these residential patterns and evaluations of relationships with parents. There is little variation in the association between parental coresidence and depression by transitions into and out of other markers of adulthood. The findings highlight the implications of parental coresidence for current young adults’ mental health.

Author

• Jennifer Caputo, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research