The importance of geographical scale in explaining return migration of young adults to the parental home and to the parental neighbourhood

Olofsson, Jenny, Sandow, Erika, Findlay, Allan and Malmberg, Gunnar , Mcgowan, Teresa (ed.) (2017) The importance of geographical scale in explaining return migration of young adults to the parental home and to the parental neighbourhood (ESRC Centre for Population Change Working Paper Series, 85, 85) University of Southampton. ESRC Centre for Population Change 36pp.

Abstract

This paper makes two original contributions to research on the return migration of young adults to the parental home. First it argues that the numerical significance and complexity of return moves by young people to their parental home (boomeranging) is greater than has previously been recognised. Secondly we show that the determinants and associates of return migration vary significantly when analysed at two different geographical scales – the parental home and the parental neighbourhood area. We compare boomerang mobility behaviour in Sweden to work undertaken previously in the United Kingdom. By using longitudinal data (1986 to 2009) on four cohorts of young adults we find that boomeranging to parents’ home is an increasing mobility behaviour in Sweden associated with economic vulnerability, such as leaving higher education or entering unemployment, and partnership dissolution. While returning to parents’ home can offer financial support in times of life course reversal, we found gender differences indicating a larger independence among young women than men. Returning to the parental neighbourhood is found to be a much wider phenomenon than return to co-residence with parents, involving migration decisions of more economically independent young adults.

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Contributors

Editor: Teresa Mcgowan

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