Leaving the Home
Despite the fact that most of these young adults were in their twenties, a large number still lived in the parental home. Eighteen (23.1%) of the participants had never lived away from the family home, although it is important to note that a number of these participants either were still in high school or had just graduated and were preparing to leave home for college at summer’s end. Of the remaining 60, 32 (41.0%) were currently living away from the family home, and 19 generally lived elsewhere when college classes were in session but were temporarily living at home during summer or winter break. Finally, nine (11.5%) of the participants lived out of the family home at some point during the interval, but were currently living at family home at the time they completed the questionnaire for some reason other than a break from college classes. Many participants moved in and out of the family home, and between apartments and dorms, during college and immediately afterward.Most young adults felt the transition from living at home to independent living went reasonably well (mean = 5.6, SD = 1.4 on a 7-point scale, where 1 indicates it went ‘poorly’ and 7 indicates it went ‘very well’). In general, they found they were relatively ready to live away from home (Mean = 2.7, SD = 1.5). However, they also found the transition to be somewhat stressful (Mean = 5.1, SD = 1.6). Parents believed their youths did well in the transition to young adulthood (Mean = 5.4, SD = 1.8) but were not always sure that their youths were mature enough to be away from home (Mean = 2.9, SD = 1.7). The parents reported that they themselves experienced significant stress as their adolescents were making this transition (Mean = 3.8, SD = 1.4).