FAILURE TO LAUNCH
Impact Assignment Part 1: Failure to Launch
Introduction
Failure to launch is a term used to describe adults that have not been able to successfully
leave their parents’ home to live independently on their own. This includes paying bills, taking
care of the home chores such as laundry, cooking, cleaning, and even social skills. There are
actually two types of this phenomenon. The typical failure to launch is the term used when the
adult child never leaves the parents’ home and the other is known as boomerang children. This
term is used when the child does initially move out but then returns to the parents’ home for
various reasons such as divorce, job loss, and emotional stress. Living with parents’ can provide
support in several ways for the child but can interfere with their sense of independence. Parents
can have adverse financially and emotionally by continuing to parent beyond the normal amount
of time. Redefinitions of roles by both the parent and child is critical to the success of which ever
living arrangement they choose. There are times when the failure to launch is not detrimental if
used in a healthy way, more specifically the boomerang arrangement. However, emotional stress
can cause a negative impact on all parties involved if not handled correctly (Burn & Szoeke,
2015).
Developmental Impact
The age of diagnosing the failure to launch syndrome or the boomerang phenomenon
happens in adulthood, likely in the age range of twenties and up. While living with parents can
prove to be a safe haven for the child especially in a financially stressful situation it can one the
other side cause economic stress on the parent that is trying to assist the struggling child. The age
of marriage has changed over the years so the age that children leave home has also been
adjusted (Burn & Szoeke, 2015). This syndrome of children that never leave home does not give
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the parents’ time to adjust and go through the empty nest phase which could be looked at has
positive for some and negative for others. When children come back after leaving it can cause a
disruption with those parents that have successfully gotten past this phase and have moved on to
enjoy their freedom from full time parenting (Burn & Szoeke, 2015). The amount of education
and IQ has been linked to the increased risk of failure to launch and the boomerang effect. While
it is possible to balance this type of relationship, most parents’ report feeling as if they are being
taken advantage of because the children tend not to contribute financially or by physical help in
the home. Often times the normal parent/child relationship becomes strained over time because
the returning child does not see the fairness of abiding by the rules that the parents’ have set
causing more pressure on the relationship. On the other side of this, some cultures expect the
child to come back home or stay home to care for the parents. Some parents have also reported
that they enjoy their children being in the home and the closeness of their relationship is strong
and they feel fine about their child staying as long as they need or want. Some even say that it is
helpful to combat loneliness like in those that do not have a spouse due to death or divorce. Clear
definitions of roles in the home can help these living arrangements to be successful (Burn &
Szoeke, 2015).
Faith and Professional Perspectives
Failure to launch and the boomerang effect can happen to all families of all faiths. For
professionals within the human services field need to gather information about the family
dynamics as well as the individual adult child. Often time’s parents of these failure to launch
children are blamed for pampering or overproviding for their children which makes it easy for
the child to stay at home longer. On the other hand some would judge that the adult child is
simply lazy. It is important to know the answers to these assumptions when attempting to help
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these families. It is important to know that it is often the parents that reach out for professional
help which means that you will encounter resistance on the part of the adult child (Lebowitz,
2016). It is also important to know that this will be a very emotional process. Children will often
feel anxious and defensive. On the part of the parents they may go through periods of fear and
worry while attempting to teach the adult child to become independent. Parents may also feel
periods of helplessness (Lebowitz, 2016). While working with these types of families in the
human services field some of these individuals will become closer and have healthier
relationships while others may grow apart. It is a frustrating position for all that are involved.
Recourses
The first educational article that could be helpful is entitled “Failure to Launch, Failure to
Achieve Criteria for Adulthood?”
http://journals.sagepub.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu/doi/abs/10.1177/0743558410371126. This
article is full of data that is both helpful for families and for the human services workers. This
article provides the definition of the term failure to launch. Who it effects, and it offers some
solutions. It describes social, economic, and developmental reasons that families suffer from this
syndrome. Emerging adults are making the transition to an adult status. However, the course of
this developmental process seems to be connected to the living situation during this phase of life.
Independent living appears to be associated with an accelerated attainment of certain criteria for
adulthood, whereas continued co-residence with parents proved to stunt this process. Moreover,
progress in the achievement of adult criteria is positively related to emerging adults’ well-being.
Therefore, developmental psychologists and clinicians would do well to pay attention to the
potentially harmful implications delayed home leaving can have during this stage of life (Kins &
Beyers, 2010).
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Failure to Launch and Boomerang Kids: Contemporary Determinants of Leaving and
Returning to the Parental Home is another great resource for those that are involved in such a
scenario. https://muse-jhu-edu.ezproxy.liberty.edu/article/600829. As with the other article, this
one offers reasons for the return of children and helps parents to understand in order to be able to
make informed decisions. The presumably greater desire of older young adults to live
independently may render their residential mobility decision-making comparatively unresponsive
to the factors that facilitate or impede home-leaving and home-returning among adolescents and
youth in their early twenties. Continued monitoring of the patterns and determinants of leaving
and returning to the parental home is needed to understand fully this critical stage of the life
course (Scott & Lei, 2015).
Below are two links for great counseling opportunities for families that are in need of
support and guidance for many types of family issues including the failure to launch syndrome.
Christ centered counseling is most often where real and true change can start to come. 1. Grace
Counseling Services http://www.gracecounselingservices.net/?
gclid=EAIaIQobChMIpYXPy4jB3QIVB7nACh2VcQGqEAAYASAAEgLDTvD_BwE
”Welcome to Grace Counseling Services. As a Licensed Individual, Marital, and Family
Therapist (MT 3157) there are two things I offer the Treasure Coast.
The first is a level of professionalism and experience. With over 20 years’ experience
helping individuals, couples and families I offer an experienced voice for people
in transition.
Second, where it is appropriate I seek to bring Christ into the process. I see both
Christians and non-Christians in my practice and offer spiritual direction according to the
needs and desires of the client.
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While therapy provides comfort it should also provide a pathway to real change. With
over 20 years of clinical experience there are hundreds of individuals who can give a
positive report that they were given real tools for real changes”.
http://www.drjoninabolton.com/
“I offer services to all members of our diverse community, including individuals
of all ages, genders, races, religious or spiritual beliefs and sexual orientations.
I provide a comfortable, confidential, non-judgmental, empathetic environment
to assist you in achieving personal growth”.
References:
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Burn, K., & Szoeke, C. (2015;2016;). Boomerang families and failure-to-launch: Commentary
on adult children living at home. Maturitas, 83(Jan 2016), 9-12.
doi:10.1016/j.maturitas.2015.09.004
Kins, E., & Beyers, W. (2010). Failure to launch, failure to achieve criteria for adulthood?Journal
of Adolescent Research, 25(5), 743-777. doi:10.1177/0743558410371126
Lebowitz, E. R. (2016). "failure to launch": Shaping intervention for highly dependent adult
children. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 55(2),
89.
South, S. J., & Lei, L. (2015). Failures-to-launch and boomerang kids: Contemporary
determinants of leaving and returning to the parental home. Social Forces, 94(2), 863-
890. doi:10.1093/sf/sov064
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