Failure To Launch Syndrome Explained

By Cynthia Patterson


It can be very heart-breaking or frustrating for parents to witness their children struggling to leave the home and start their lives independently. For some parents, they start to wonder whether they did something wrong to negatively affect their children or the children are simply lazy. Both are possibilities but there are a number of factors influencing failure to launch syndrome. The cause will be what determines assistance to give the child.

Failure to launch is a term used to describe young adults that are struggling with transition into adulthood. It can be defined as the inability of the person to leave home and start living independently. People that mostly suffer from it are the young adults. They appear to be stuck and might not be maturing in the manner that is expected. For most young adults, rites of passage are encouraging. For some, the opposite is true as the resulting changes will lead to regressive behavior in them.

Most of the young adults will usually need extra support at one point during transition into adulthood. This might include some stint at home with parents. This does not however mean that all such people that live with parents are failing to launch. It is something that can only he considered after long duration of dependency from the person, and without any notable motivation or progress. Some of the symptoms of the syndrome are low distress tolerance, low persistence levels and failure to take responsibility.

There are different causes of this syndrome. At the same time, there are influencing factors. Parenting style, family experience and how parents relate with their children are critical factors. Overprotective parents raise kids that could lack autonomy. When a child is not faced with challenges appropriate with their age at different growth stages, they get to miss out on the chance to develop confidence.

Another possible cause is substance abuse. Entitlement, isolation and unhealthy family systems are factors that could possibly lead to the syndrome. When there is addiction, it could be difficult to notice failure to launch. People suffering from chemical addictions are likely to experience diminished emotional, cognitive and financial stability. Notwithstanding addiction type, anyone that suffers from addiction will live a life that is not manageable.

Given the different factors that interfere with successful launch, treatments are also varied. It is essential to engage the family in setting the required expectations, setting goals that are short and attainable and creating a long-term plan. These will help to bring the people affected back on track. In most instances, it is best to have the persons affected to live with other young adults.

It is important to give the affected people clear responsibilities and if they do not live up to those, they should face natural consequences. Employing of organization coaches will help those affected to establish plans which assist in accomplishing such goals as finding a part-time job.

It is also important to consider individual therapy. This will apply to addressing of any doubts as regards sense of effectiveness of the individual that is affected. Individual therapy also increases awareness of emotions and ability of that person to communicate their emotions effectively.




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