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Intergeneration Cohabitation

For Americans, moving out of your parents' house and living on your own is the final step in the process of "growing up". It means that you can set your own schedule and determine your own priorities. Your life becomes your own to live. Today, economic pressure and ethnic diversity are challenging this perception and making it more socially acceptable for adult children to live at home.

Furthermore, the ability to move out and establish your own household generally means you have established yourself economically. A certain level of responsibility and wealth are required to maintain a household. Most people believe that once an adult child moves out, they no longer require any assistance from their parents.

This perception worked well for the "baby boomers" because they lived in a time of economic prosperity. It was quite possible in the 1960's to "work your way through college" By attending classes part time and working full time, you could not only pay your tuition but your living expenses as well. Those adult children who continue to live at home are generally seen to have "failed to grow up".

Intergeneration cohabitation is clearly not just a demographic dinosaur; it's a cultural taboo. ... That shame has its roots in the 19th century, when the leaving-home ethic helped promulgate a national priority: Encouraging some of the young to leave the nest was the obvious way to domesticate the West. But as our economy grew more sophisticated and our geography more negotiable, our rationale for leaving evolved, too. The justification now centers not on economics, but on psychological growtha (Boo 1992)

The economics of establishing a household today are very different. As the cost of buying a home has increased and people have become more transient, the cost of renting has increased as well. Most people who attend college acquire large amounts of student loans, the payments for which cut heavily into an entry-lev...

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Intergeneration Cohabitation. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 02:28, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1696296.html