Failure to Launch describes young adults who are struggling with the transition to adulthood. They have an inability to leave home and support themselves. This trend is reaching epidemic proportions. For example, a recent study cited in Psychology Today reported that 45 percent of young adults in the state of New Jersey between the ages 18 and 34 still live with their parents—even though they are employed. While some of this trend can be attributed to economic factors (i.e., costly housing), a majority can be traced back to dysfunctional patterns within the family coupled with unresolved trauma. When this happens, the young adults can develop “learned helplessness.” They accept and remain passive in the negative situation of not leaving home despite their ability to change it.
Read the full article at familytrauma.com
Scott P. Sells, Ph.D., MSW, LCSW, LMFT, is the author of three books, Treating the Tough Adolescent: A Family-Based, Step-by-Step Guide (1998), Parenting Your Out-of-Control Teenager: 7 Steps to Reestablish Authority and Reclaim Love (2001), and Treating the Traumatized Child: A Step-by-Step Family Systems Approach (2017). He can be contacted at spsells@familytrauma.com.
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