"It's a really large change and
evolution on that front," said Rosemary Bender, director general
for social and demographic statistics at Statistics Canada.
Experts say many factors are at play,
including immigrant cultural customs, shifting attitudes toward
premarital relationships and parents' compassion for children
recovering from unions gone sour or poor career choices.
But observers of the so-called boomerang
phenomenon say the overarching reasons for the growing number of
adults living at home are economic.
In some cases, the returning offspring -
or the offspring that never left - may be struggling to pay off
student loans or find work that can cover the skyrocketing costs
of real estate.
This is particularly true in urban
centres where the proportion of young adults living at home is
highest. In Toronto, for instance, almost 58 per cent of adults
in the age range live with their parents. In Vancouver, more
than half do, a five-percentage-point upward shift from 2001.
"People are not looking at this
situation with horror, nor are they passionately embracing it.
It has become normal," said Monica Boyd, a professor of
sociology at the University of Toronto, who has studied the
issue.
"I think parents have realized that it
is important to help launch the kids, and parents and kids will
often view the return home or the staying home as part of a
family project that ultimately will successfully launch the
children."
Sisters Janine Myers, 25, a teacher, and
Alana Johnston, 23, a comedian, are both relying on family
residences until their financial situation improves enough to
set out on their own. Neither pay rent, but say they do chores
to earn their keep.
Ms. Johnston moved in with their
grandmother in Toronto after returning from a two-year stint
studying comedic acting in Chicago that she said honed her funny
bone but left her broke.
"I came back with no money but I wanted
to be here so I could work," said Ms. Johnston, who performs
stand-up comedy in the Toronto area. "I don't get paid a lot so
I'm trying to save money. A lot of my friends are doing it
because we know it will pay off down the road."
Ms. Myers is temporarily living with
their parents in Orangeville, Ont., while her husband finishes a
graduate degree in England. He is scheduled to return this month
and the couple plan to reside together on their own.
Both said their respective arrangements,
while financially convenient and welcomed by their parents and
grandmother, have been trying at times. They feel hemmed in by
household rules that were set when they were teenagers and more
socially dependent on the adults in their lives.
Dr. Boyd said the challenges faced by
the sisters are common among adults who move home and the
parents who take them in.
"For it to work well it certainly
requires both the parent and the young adults to be grown up,"
Dr. Boyd said. "It's difficult for a parent who has a child come
home to not act like a parent and difficult for a child coming
home to not act like a child."
While the number of adult Canadian women
living with their parents has grown, their numbers are dwarfed
by those of men. The census shows that men aged 20 to 29 account
for 57 per cent of the total.
"In some way, it is a kind of
intergenerational help," said Céline LeBourdais, a sociology
professor at Montreal's McGill University. "There are parents
who would like to have their children leave home, but some
studies show that parents are happy with them there.
"Once adolescence is behind, and they
discover that they can have interesting, healthy relationships
with their children, parents aren't pushing them away."
By the numbers
44
Percentage of adults aged
20 to 29 who lived at home
with their parents in 2006
57
Percentage of those adults
who are men
58
Percentage of Torontonians
aged 20 to 29 who live at home, the
highest among the country's
metropolitan areas