More and more young adults are returning to live with their parents and this new facility is disrupting their balance and well-being, according to the results of a study published in the medical journal Social Science & Medicine.
Researchers from the London School of Economics and Political Science conducted a study with 37,000 parents aged 50 to 75 in 17 European countries. The researchers set a maximum age to avoid including children who returned home to care for their sick or aging parents.
The researchers estimated the quality of life of parents based on several criteria.
They measured “feelings of control, autonomy, pleasure and self-actualization in daily life”. The scale based on 12 indicators ranges from 12 to 48. Higher scores indicate better quality of life.
The researchers found that when a child returned to his parents, the score decreased by an average of 0.8 points; such a strong effect on quality of life and similar to age-related disability, such as difficulty walking or dressing.
“These results show that returning home is linked to a decline in the quality of life of parents when no other child lives in the parental home. Parents love their independence when children leave home, and again fulfill a nest that has become empty can be considered a violation of this stage of the life course, ”said Dr. Marco Tosi and Dr. Emily Grundy, who conducted the study.
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