时代周刊文章 - 副本.doc

1 Show Me the Way to Go Home First Maggie, then 20, asked Stepmom and Dad if she could store a few boxes with them in Washington while she looked for another place to live. Then Maggie said she would like to move in to be with her boxes until her boyfriend Joe bought a condominium. Next Maggie asked whether Joe could move in temporarily until the condo deal was closed. When Lucy and Pablo Sanchez returned home from vacation last Christmas, they found their small living room crammed with his boxes and a second welcome mat next to their own on the front porch. Lucy Sanchez immediately did what any loving but put-upon parent would do: I had a migraine, she says. Such tales are becoming abundantly familiar as American parents are forced to make room for their adult children. There is a naive notion that children grow up and leave home when theyre 18, and the truth is far from that, says Sociologist Larry Bumpass of the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Today, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, 59% of men and 47% of women between 18 and 24 depend on their parents for housing, some living in college dorms but most at home. In 1970 the figures were 54% and 41%. Also, 14% of men and 8% of women ages 25 to 34 are dependent on their parents for housing, compared with 9.5% and 6.6% in 1970. This is part of a major shift in the middle class, declares Sociologist Allan Schnaiberg of Northwestern University. He should know: Schnaibergs stepson, 19, moved back in after an absence of eight months. Analysts cite a variety of reasons for this return to the nest. The marriage age is rising, a condition that makes home and its amenities particularly attractive to young people, say experts. A high divorce rate and a declining remarriage rate are sending economically pressed and emotionally battered survivors back to parental shelters. For some, the expense of an away-from-home college education has become so exorbitant that many students now attend local schools. Even after graduat