Research project Parental co-residence among young adults: Social conditions, experiences and aspirations
How do young adults who live with their parents experience and make sense of their housing situation, and what hopes do they have for their future housing? How do they manage and negotiate their relationships with family members and others close to them in relation to their living situation?
Young adults have found it increasingly difficult to secure a home of their own over the past decade. Many young adults now live with their parents, but their experiences and perspectives on their housing situation are rarely heard. The project therefore explores the experiences of young adults aged 20–30 who live with their parents, focusing on how they experience their housing situation and the thoughts and hopes they have for their future housing.
Over the past few decades, the Swedish housing market has undergone partial deregulation and privatisation, contributing to growing inequality in access to housing. Young adults are among those who face particular difficulties in establishing themselves in the housing market. The proportion of young adults living with their parents has increased and many are living at home involuntarily. At the same time, research shows that young adults’ experiences of living with their parents vary and that living with parents can have both positive and negative consequences.
Existing research, however, is dominated by survey studies that identify broad social and demographic patterns in young adults’ living arrangements. There is a lack of more nuanced and in-depth research into young adults’ own experiences and hopes regarding living with their parents. The project therefore draws on qualitative interviews with young adults aged 20–30 who live with their parents. To examine how housing situations relate to the local environment and different social circumstances, the project includes young adults living in metropolitan areas, medium-sized towns and rural areas. We also recruit participants from different socioeconomic backgrounds and with different genders and ethnic backgrounds.
The project provides new knowledge about the housing and living circumstances of young adults who live with their parents. Among other things, it sheds light on the barriers and opportunities this group encounters in the housing market and on how relationships between generations are negotiated in households where adult children live with their parents.