Although “failure to launch syndrome” is not an actual diagnosis in the DSM, it is a
common way to describe an adolescent who is struggling with the transition to
adulthood. Typically, failure to launch describes someone unable to leave the parental
home and support themselves.
Instructions:
Review the article “Failure-to-Launch and Boomerang Kids.”
In your opinion, why are young adults more frequently remaining at home or returning
home? In your response:
• Discuss the psychological and socio-economic factors that contribute to “failure
to launch.”
• Apply Bowen’s family systems theory to explain how psychological and socioeconomic factors impact the development of independence.
• Why you believe there is such a significant difference between previous
generations (in the 1970s) and recent generations’ “failing to launch.”
• Do you believe there are gender differences that impact “failure to launch?”
Explain your answer.
• How might the occurrence of unforeseen current events (i.e. COVID-19
pandemic, climate change) contribute to this phenomenon. Explain your answer.
This is the passage
The percentage of young American adults residing in their parents’ home has increased markedly over recent years, but we know little about how sociodemographic, life-course, and parental characteristics facilitate or impede leaving or returning home. We use longitudinal data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics’ Transition into Adulthood survey to examine the determinants of leaving and returning home among youth who turned age 18 between 2005 and 2011. Findings from eventhistory models show that while leaving and returning home is to some extent a function of normative life-course transitions, characteristics of the parental home (e.g., presence of coresident siblings, mother’s educational attainment) and the degree of family connectivity (e.g., emotional closeness to mother, instrumental help from family) also play important roles. Experiencing physical, including sexual, victimization drives young adults both out of, and back into, the parental home. Having parents in poor physical health encourages young adults to move back home. Overall, the results suggest that a comprehensive explanation for both home-leaving and home-returning will need to look beyond life-course transitions and standard economic accounts to encompass a broader array of push and pull factors, particularly those that bond young adults with their parents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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