Boomerang Kids A Growing Phenomenon In The U.S.

20:31

February 17, 2012

Many young adults are moving back home to live with their parents (AP)

Boomerang kids. You think your children are off to pursue their own futures and next thing you know, they're moving back in their bedrooms. It's long been an established social norm in many parts of Europe, but now the trend is growing right here in the United States.

More and more 20- and even 30-somethings are moving in with their parents in order to make ends meet, advance their careers, and basically just get by.

Becky Schaffer, recently profiled by PBS NewsHour, is living in Newton. She moved back in with her parents after graduating from college.

But Schaffer doesn't feel like she's the only one. And according to sociologist and Johns Hopkins University Dean Katherine Newman, Schaffer's social circle isn't unique. In her new book, "The Accordion Family: Boomerang Kids, Anxious Parents, and the Private Toll of Global Competition," Newman explores the trend from a global perspective, visiting families from Italy to Japan and again, in Newton, Mass.

You can read an excerpt of Newman's book here:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/81965254/Newman-Book-Excerpt

Guests:

Katherine Newman, Johns Hopkins University dean of the Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts and Sciences and author of "The Accordion Family: Boomerang Kids, Anxious Parents, and the Private Toll of Global Competition"

This segment aired on February 17, 2012.