Photo by Kinga Howard on Unsplash
Photo by Kinga Howard on Unsplash

More young people are living with their parents into adulthood, and it's not good for their mental health

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Peer-reviewed: This work was reviewed and scrutinised by relevant independent experts.

Observational study: A study in which the subject is observed to see if there is a relationship between two or more things (eg: the consumption of diet drinks and obesity). Observational studies cannot prove that one thing causes another, only that they are linked.

People: This is a study based on research using people.

The rate of young adults who are living with their parents into their adulthood has increased by about 18% in the past 20 years and this is associated with poorer mental health, according to Australian researchers. The team used a large Australian housing, income and work database to look at the amount and types of young people staying with their parents. They say the amount of young people staying at home has increased most sharply among those outside major cities, older adults, women and low-income groups. The researchers say living with parents was associated with poorer mental health, but this association differed depending on the young person, with those aged 18-21 likely to have better mental health if they still lived at home. The association between living with parents and poorer mental health was strongest among the groups who had seen the highest increase in living at home over the study period, the researchers say.

Journal/conference: PLOS ONE

Link to research (DOI): 10.1371/journal.pone.0294248

Organisation/s: The University of Melbourne

Funder: "This work was supported by the Australian Research Council (https://www.arc.gov. au/), under grant number DP190101188. This grant was awarded to the project “Closing the housing gap: A spotlight on intergenerational inequalities”. All authors have contributed to this project. There was no additional external funding received for this study”.

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