Why Are Young People Moving Back in with Their Parents
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Why Young People are Moving Back in with Their Parents? :
A Review of the Article
By Martha Straus
Chanel Todd
CLP-1006
Professor Starkey
November 17, 2010
Page 1
The article “Why are Young People Moving Back in With Their Parents” by
psychotherapy networker, Martha Straus is a thoughtful dissection
on the growing trend of college-grad age adults moving back home with their parents.
She opens the article with an anecdote of when she herself had moved from home back
in the early 1970’s, noting that times have changed exponentially since then . In that
generation, late adolescents were being prepared to “cut the cord” so to speak and
stand on their own two feet when the time came. In more recent years, for a variety of
reasons ( social, cultural and particularly economic) this rigid idea of success has been
completely restructured, if not destroyed.
Straus goes on to say that the cause of the paradigm shift began actually with letting the
old parenting paradigms go. She feels that parenting should not solely focus on
hammering self-sufficiency into children but rather take on a more nurturing approach
tailored to the needs of each family. She refers to this new type of families that integrate
baby boomer parents and young adults cohabitating (definitely or indefinitely, depending
on the situation) as “bungee families”.
She has categorized these families into seven basic groups : on-trackers, late
bloomers, dreamers, regroupers, nurturers, high-riskers, and long-haulers. The on-
trackers are described as the “new normal”, young adults who stay or move back
home to save more money and gain more stability while supporting family
members. Similarily, the regroupers return home under stressful situations to
regain stability and to “lick their wound/summon the courage to try again”. The
aptly titled late bloomers need more time to mature and work into...
A Review of the Article
By Martha Straus
Chanel Todd
CLP-1006
Professor Starkey
November 17, 2010
Page 1
The article “Why are Young People Moving Back in With Their Parents” by
psychotherapy networker, Martha Straus is a thoughtful dissection
on the growing trend of college-grad age adults moving back home with their parents.
She opens the article with an anecdote of when she herself had moved from home back
in the early 1970’s, noting that times have changed exponentially since then . In that
generation, late adolescents were being prepared to “cut the cord” so to speak and
stand on their own two feet when the time came. In more recent years, for a variety of
reasons ( social, cultural and particularly economic) this rigid idea of success has been
completely restructured, if not destroyed.
Straus goes on to say that the cause of the paradigm shift began actually with letting the
old parenting paradigms go. She feels that parenting should not solely focus on
hammering self-sufficiency into children but rather take on a more nurturing approach
tailored to the needs of each family. She refers to this new type of families that integrate
baby boomer parents and young adults cohabitating (definitely or indefinitely, depending
on the situation) as “bungee families”.
She has categorized these families into seven basic groups : on-trackers, late
bloomers, dreamers, regroupers, nurturers, high-riskers, and long-haulers. The on-
trackers are described as the “new normal”, young adults who stay or move back
home to save more money and gain more stability while supporting family
members. Similarily, the regroupers return home under stressful situations to
regain stability and to “lick their wound/summon the courage to try again”. The
aptly titled late bloomers need more time to mature and work into...