For Generation Xers, there's no place like parents' home

Young people from the so-called Generation X, especially those born between 1972 and 1976, were almost three times as likely to move back into home after leaving than their baby-boomer parents, a study released Tuesday shows.

Statistics Canada used data from a 2001 survey to examine the frequency with which young people returned home over the past few decades, as well as their reasons for doing so.

The study found the tendency to return home at least once rose in each of five successive generations, starting with the first wave of baby boomers born between 1947 and 1951.

For that group, the probability of moving back in with their parents within five years of leaving was less than 12 per cent for men and 10 per cent for women.

In contrast, the chances of 1972-76 Generation Xers returning to the nest were 32 per cent for men and 28 per cent for women.

The study attributed the growing trend to a number of factors, including:

• The increasing acceptance of common-law relationships, which are more likely to break up than marriages.
• The pursuit of higher education, which tends to leave young graduates with heavy student debts.
• Financial difficulties generally, and the reduced stigma of living with your parents.
• The desire by young people for a standard of living that they find impossible to afford on their own.
• Aneed for the emotional support of parents during the stressful transition to adulthood and independence.

The study also found that the younger people were when they left home, the greater the chances they'd be back.

Men who left when they were between 15 and 17 years old were 74 per cent more likely to return than those who waited until they were at least 21.

Women in that age group were more than twice as likely to return home.