Wu, Jiawei and Grundy, Emily (2023) ‘Boomerang’ moves and young adults’ mental well-being in the United Kingdom. Advances in Life Course Research, 56. p. 100531. DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.alcr.2023.100531
Wu, Jiawei and Grundy, Emily (2023) ‘Boomerang’ moves and young adults’ mental well-being in the United Kingdom. Advances in Life Course Research, 56. p. 100531. DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.alcr.2023.100531
Wu, Jiawei and Grundy, Emily (2023) ‘Boomerang’ moves and young adults’ mental well-being in the United Kingdom. Advances in Life Course Research, 56. p. 100531. DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.alcr.2023.100531
Abstract
Background In the UK and many other contemporary Western populations, attaining and maintaining residential independence is an important marker of a young person’s successful transition to adulthood. However, employment precarity, partnership breakdown, and difficulties in affording housing may mean that some young adults are unable to maintain residential independence and ‘boomerang’ back to co-reside with their parents. Although a growing body of literature has explored how such counter-transitions affect parents’ mental well-being, little is known about effects on the mental health of the young returnees and whether any such effects vary by gender or socio-economic characteristics. Data and methods We use data from 11 waves (2009–2020) of the UK Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS) and focus on young adults aged 21–35 (N = 9714). We estimate fixed-effects models to analyse the effect of returning to the parental home on changes in young adults’ mental well-being measured using scores on the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) and the Mental Component Summary (MCS) score of the Short Form Health Survey (SF-12). Results Over the period of observation, 15% of young adults made one or more moves back to the parental home. The fixed-effects analysis showed that returning to the parental home was associated with a reduction (improvement) in GHQ score, although effects were small and did not vary by gender, employment status, partnership status, or presence of a co-resident biological child. No associations were found with changes in MCS score. Conclusion Although cross-sectional results from the UK have shown that the mental health of young adults living with parents is worse than that of young adults living independently, we found no evidence that returning to the parental home was associated with a deterioration in young adults’ mental health. On the contrary, returns home were associated with a slight reduction in depressive symptoms suggesting that the benefits of parental support may outweigh possible negative impacts of inability to maintain residential independence. Further research in other settings is needed to assess the extent to which these findings reflect the UK context.
Item Type: | Article |
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Uncontrolled Keywords: | Boomerang moves; Mental Health; Transition to adulthood; UKHLS; Young adults' living arrangements |
Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences Faculty of Social Sciences > Institute for Social and Economic Research |
SWORD Depositor: | Unnamed user with email elements@essex.ac.uk |
Depositing User: | Unnamed user with email elements@essex.ac.uk |
Date Deposited: | 15 Mar 2023 16:38 |
Last Modified: | 07 Aug 2024 20:14 |
URI: | http://repository.essex.ac.uk/id/eprint/35213 |
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