Millennials are often painted as slackers, as underemployed debt-burdened wayward souls who have hunkered down in their parents’ basement.
The Wall Street Journal reports that this assumption is not fully true. While some 18-to-34-year-olds can’t afford their own home or apartment, others simply enjoy living at home. Many Millennials are close with their parents and satisfied with their living arrangements.
And really, what’s the rush to move out?
We may be witnessing a restructuring of the life course: As the length of lives gets extended, the stages of life are likewise being recast. Social scientists have heralded the advent of an entirely new stage of life between adolescence and adulthood, often called “emerging adulthood.” The reasons that young people are taking longer to acquire the trappings of adulthood—marrying, settling into careers, buying a home later—can be attributed to developmental shifts as much as anything else.
Nearly one-third of 18-to-34-year-olds live with a parent, according to Pew Research.
