[tathougies]

I don't understand why parents would let their adult children live with them for years on end. My parents made it very clear that after the age of 18, my brother and I had to make it by ourselves. Like, they'd love it if we visited, but not living with them, and I can't understand why any one would want to live with their parents. Isn't 18 years of imprisonment bad enough?

[dragonwriter]

> I don't understand why parents would let their adult children live with them for years on end.

Extended families living together had been very common across cultures and times; as has people living with parents, if not permanently, until marriage, however late that may or may not happen.

Unconditional ejection at the entrance to legal adulthood is, arguably the odd thing.

> Isn't 18 years of imprisonment bad enough?

Not every family situation feels equivalent to imprisonment for the child or enslavement for the parent.

[delcaran]

In Italy it's fairly common to live with parents until you find a partner. Housing prices are really high, income is low and having an housemate without romantic engagement is not a common practice, unless you're studying in another city.

IE, I'm almost 30 and I've been living alone for 2 years only because I found a decent medium-pay stable job 3.5 years ago, and the apartment I live in is rented by a friend who asks very little money. All of my friends who are single like me live with their parents, and only a few of those who are engaged live with their partners.

[tathougies]

The original article is mainly about US and Canada, where it's much less typical, and -- in my opinion, at least -- a huge turn off.

I imagine different cultures are different, and things that are unattractive in America are attractive elsewhere, and vice versa.

[dragonwriter]

> The original article is mainly about US and Canada, where it's much less typical

That's extremely variable over time, and it's been very much in the rise in recent decades, IIRC.

Of course, it may be a matter where cultural attitudes toward behavior are much stickier than actual behavior.

[archagon]

Some people really like their parents, and their parents are lonely without them around?

[tathougies]

Live next door?

[CompanionCuuube]

Does that scale? In a neighborhood of 2, offspring of family A would be living with family B and offspring of family B would be living with family A. The only way that this could be avoided is if all families lived next door to an empty house.

Is living with someone else's parents more acceptable?