Parental cohabitation and mental well-being amongst young adults in the world's densest population with least affordable housing: Evidence from the FAMILY cohort

Abstract

Background Owing to rapidly raising property prices, living with parents is the most common living arrangement among young adults in urban areas. Studies for “full nest syndrome” or “boomerang children” have demonstrated that moving back in with parents was associated with more depressive symptoms. On the other hand, studies have suggested that living with parents was not associated with mental health in several countries where inter-generational households could potentially provide more social support among household members. We examined whether delayed residential independence might adversely impact mental health of young adults.

Methods The cross-sectional study was conducted from 2009 to 2011 in Hong Kong SAR, China – a highly urbanized city with the least affordable housing in the world. The analytic samples were 3612 young adults. Outcomes of interest were depressive symptoms and mental well-being.

Results Co-residence with parents under self headship was associated with young adults’ fewer depressive symptoms (β = -0.157, 95% confidence interval [CI] = -0.311 to -0.003) and better mental well-being (β = 1.342, 95% CI = 0.522 to 2.162).

Limitations This is susceptible to reverse causation, whereby young adults with poorer mental health may be more likely to stay or move back into their parental home.

Conclusions Our findings showed that young adults co-residing with parents as the household head were associated with fewer depressive symptoms and better mental well-being compared to living with parents under their parental headship.