Race/Ethnicity, Attitudes, and Living With Parents During Young Adulthood

Abstract

Race/Ethnicity, Attitudes, and Living With ParentsDuring Young Adulthood Non-White young adults are more likely to live with their parents throughout their 20s, more likely to return home after going away to college, and less likely to leave again after returning. Scholars have speculated that subcultural differences in attitudes toward marriage and family play a key role in generating racial/ethnic differences in rates of coresidence with parents among young adults. Data from the National Education Longitudinal Survey of 1988 ( N = 11,228) were analyzed in order to test this hypothesis. Attitudes toward marriage and family were significantly associated with coresidence, especially among young men, but did not substantially account for racial/ethnic differences in living arrangements. Among young non-White women and young Black men, higher rates of coresidence were related to differences from Whites in socioeconomic or marital status (and sometimes both) that were largely independent of differences in attitudes toward marriage and family.A substantial number of young adults live with at least one of their parents. At least 10% of 25-to 34-year-olds, over 3.9 million individuals, lived with a parent or guardian in each year from 1983 through 2011 (U.S.

Family Influences on Hooking Up and Dating Among Emerging Adults

“…For instance, with only one exception students who lived at home reported doing so due to financial constraints and not personal or cultural preference. Similar here is Britton (2013), whose longitudinal study of youth from eighth grade through the age of 26 of found that attitudes toward family did not explain racial/ethnic variation in rates of co-residence.…”

“…This influence is especially likely among college-attending emerging adults who do not leave home, but live with or near family throughout their young adulthood. In fact, co-residers comprise a substantial and perhaps growing proportion of students enrolled in institutions of higher education in the U.S., which makes the study of family relationships and their impact on emerging adult development an important area of study (Britton 2013;Pew Research Center 2013).…”

“…Yet not all students attend residential schools or leave home to attend college. Residential location is not randomly distributed among all emerging adults, however, but varies systematically across race/ethnicity, nativity, and socioeconomic background, with working class, immigrant, and minority young adults more likely to live with or close to family (Allison and Risman 2014;Britton 2013;Ovink and Kalogrides 2015;Pew Research Center 2013). Assumptions of family independence thus reflect the focus on white, classprivileged emerging adults who attend residential campuses that has characterized much research to date, to the neglect of diverse student populations of varied living situations (Arnett 2003;Hall et al 2014;Syed and Mitchell 2013).…”

Parent-Child Relationships at the Transition to Adulthood: A Comparison of Black, Hispanic, and White Immigrant and Native-Born Youth

“…Studies of racial/ethnic differences in the transition to adulthood often ignore immigrant status, largely because few data sets contain sufficient samples of first-and second-generation immigrant youth (for exceptions, see Britton 2013; Treas and Batalova 2011). It is important not to conflate immigrant and racial/ethnic differences.…”

Age Relations and Family Ties Over the Life Course: Spanning the Macro–Micro Divide

“…Middle-age and older parents often help with housing. Growing numbers of adult children, especially sons and non-Whites, are living with their parents (Britton, 2013;Marshall, 2011;Roberts, 2013). Terms like "boomerang kids," the "crowded nest," and the "refilled nest" are now familiar, reflecting how common this trend has become.…”