Parental Coresidence, Young Adult Role, Economic, and Health Changes, and Psychological Well-being

Abstract

Despite recent concern surrounding increases in parental coresidence during young adulthood, questions about the relationship between this demographic shift and the well-being of young adults have received little scholarly attention. This paper uses survey data from National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) to examine the relationship between parental coresidence transitions and depressive symptoms as well as whether these patterns are contingent on changes in economic resources, self-rated health, and transitions surrounding college graduation, work, marriage, and parenthood. The analyses reveal that those returning to a parental home after experiencing residential independence report an increase in depressive symptoms relative to their stably independent peers, even after accounting for other mental health–linked changes that predict these residential patterns and evaluations of relationships with parents. The findings highlight the implications of the trend toward parental coresidence for current young adults’ mental health.