When Holidays Are Hell!: A Guide to Surviving Family Gatherings Book

Confession: I never moved back in with my parents after college. In fact, I consider myself to have effectively moved out of my parents' home at age 16, when I went to boarding school. I came home for breaks and whatnot, but I really haven't lived with my parents since my junior year of high school.

However, I know a LOT of my peers who did move back home after college, and I was curious to learn more about why that was happening and what that was like. Mostly, I learned, it's because of student loans. There are a number of ways in which it's more difficult to get started in modern society than it was, say, 50 years ago, but crushing student loan debt is probably the single largest factor. If your monthly loan payments six months out equal a rent payment, it can be really difficult to support yourself.

There are other problems, though. Many recent grads feel like they should be living "like adults" right out of school and buy nice cars or furnish an apartment with quality (or even Ikea) furniture instead of using hand-me-downs and living with roommates for a couple of years. I shared a bathroom and kitchen with four other adult women for three years after college. No, it wasn't fun. But it sure beat living at home!

Boomerang Nation does a good job of identifying the causes for today's extended adolescence and delayed adulthood among twenty-somethings. And I think it also does a good job dispensing advice and commiseration to those who find themselves in that situation.