What a time to be alive. Everyone’s drinking CBD-laced coffee. The Conservatives have almost single-handedly wiped out the Mars Bar. And even though they’re on the wrong side of 25, half your mates are considering moving back in with their parents.
For one reason or another, more and more millennials are heading back to their family home, and it’s making everyone seriously depressed.
(Related: Millennials are on course to become the fattest generation ever)
While convincing mum to let you inhabit the ‘guest bedroom’ might help save some cash in the short term, researchers at the Max Planck Institute in Germany say the move comes at the expense of your mental health.
The findings, slated to be published in the Society and Mental Health journal, revealed that young adults who live independently are less depressed, financially better off, and more likely to achieve other “markers of adulthood” – getting hitched for instance.
“Economic and social independence are hallmarks of a successful transition to adulthood, and residential independence is highly valued,” says MPIDR researcher Jennifer Caputo, the author of the study. “Not achieving these goals might create feelings of failure.”
(Related: Are millennials w**kers? This study has settled the debate)
And while harrowing life events like redundancy or heartache might be the instigator, moving home “remained a significant predictor of depression, even after accounting for these factors”, the study found.
Basically, it doesn’t matter why you’re moving back home. You’re going to hate it regardless. Oh, and so will your parents.
“These moves also affect parents,” Caputo continues. “It is possible that having an adult child living at home can be disappointing, stressful, and depressing for parents too.”
Look on the bright side. There’s always the f**king Catalina wine mixer.
