The stay at home generation

Reports on the recent study “The Stay at Home Generation” from Vegas, the youth market research division of Synovate; it is based on in‐depth interviews with young adults in the UK, the USA and Canada. Outlines results from the Survey of English Housing which show that no fewer than 58 per cent of Englishmen aged 20‐24 live at home with their parents, as do 42 per cent of Englishwomen the same age, while 6.8 million people aged over 18 live at home and include working‐class youth, students and ex‐students alike. Discounts the explanation for this that young people cannot afford their own homes. Points out instead that the average number of children per female has fallen to 1.5, and that the divorce rate has increased: these changes, which are producing “beanpole” families in place of the traditional family tree, encourage parents to devote far more attention to their children and to create home environments that are hard to leave. Concludes that, as a result, today’s young people are much less mature and independent than the previous generation, and less rebellious also; parents now aspire to be their children’s best friends and opinion formers, and are likely to be involved in their children’s purchases.