Why do young adults coreside with their parents?
Level 3 - non-randomized controlled study
Level 3 by design analogy (observational econometric decomposition analysis, non-clinical CEBM)
OpenAlex W4389069534 · doi:10.1111/1540-6229.12467
What was done
The authors analyzed drivers of parental coresidence among adults aged 18–29. Using a Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition procedure and a Heckman selection model to endogenize marriage and childbearing decisions, they evaluated the contribution of market-level housing affordability (measured by median rent or home price to median household income ratios) to changes in coresidency rates between 2000 and 2021 compared to trends prior to 2000.
What was found
Parental coresidency among adults aged 18–29 increased by 9 percentage points between 2000 and 2021, reaching nearly one in two adults (compared to slightly more than one in four in 1960). Declines in housing affordability accounted for up to a quarter of this 9-percentage-point increase since 2000, but did not explain trends before 2000. The relationship between housing affordability and coresidence was nonlinear, with the strongest effect observed in the least affordable metropolitan areas.
Why it matters
This study identifies modern housing market cost pressures as a primary structural driver of young adults living with parents, alongside traditional demographic and labor market shifts.
Limits
The abstract does not state the sample size, dataset source, or confidence intervals. The analysis is observational and relies on market-level aggregates, leaving potential unmeasured local confounding factors unaddressed.
Cited by
- supports Fifty percent of adults under the age of 30 currently live with their parents.