Faced with a sluggish job market, huge student loans, credit card debts and rents that are simply out of reach, young adults in large numbers are opting for the comforts of home - a move many in their parents' generation would have cringed at when they were young. The latest Census figures show that 56 percent of men and 42.5 percent of women aged 18-to-24 are living at home with one or both parents. Even a fair number of 25- to- 34-year-olds are apparently having trouble leaving the nest, with 12.1 percent of men and 5.4 percent of women living with their folks.

``I'd rather live here and be with my family than be out there on my own struggling,'' is the way freshly minted UMass-Amherst grad Julie Frankel puts it. With her management degree in hand, Frankel, 22, recently settled back into the bedroom where she grew up in Scituate, after living in her own apartment during her last two years of college.

``It's strange. I feel like I've never really left, like it's normal to be living in my home, but at the same time, it's weird. I guess I feel like I'm a kid again,'' said Frankel, who is trying to save money for an apartment of her own in Boston. She also is still on the hunt for a job. Census figures show that the number of young adults living with their parents has gradually risen since the 1970s, with spikes in the numbers during times of recession.

Joan Stoia, director of career services at UMass-Amherst, echoes that observation.

``(These kids) have close, close connections with their families that are a marked split from the baby boomer generation,'' she said.

Stoia, a baby boomer herself with a 20-something daughter, has been counseling students since 1981 and has witnessed the sea change.

For instance, she has noticed that an increasing number of parents are getting more deeply involved in their children's' post-college career choices, even calling her office to ask whether she has data that calculates the return in salary for various majors, such as computer science.

By comparison, she said, few parents of baby boomers - the first generation to go to college in large numbers - were so enmeshed in the post-college plans of their children. Boomers, born between 1946-1964, hit college age from the mid-'60s through early-'80s.

``Back then, it was widely held that they got you to 18, maybe 21, and then you went out into the world and made your way,'' Stoia said. ``You didn't see this back-and- forth activity you see in these 20-somethings.''

Certainly the sluggish economy has not helped new college grads who are trying to spread their wings.

A recent survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers found hiring of new college grads down 36 percent nationwide - and down 39 percent in the Northeast - this year compared to last. Nearly a third of the employers surveyed said they did not expect their fall hiring to be much better than last year's, and a full 44 percent were simply unable to provide any forecast.

The uncertain outlook - and the very certain $27,000 she has coming due in student loans - has new Suffolk University grad Leigh-Ann French seriously considering a move back home to New Jersey when her lease is up on her Boston apartment in August.

``No job, no money,'' said French, 22, who has been ``pumping out'' resumes in Boston, New York City and Philadelphia for a marketing research position.

French said moving back home would be difficult because she is an independent sort, having paid most of her own bills during college. But she said the transition would be eased because of the comfortable relationship she has with her parents.

That's a key point. Today's young adults are more likely to agree with their folks about issues like extramarital sex and abortion that used to pull the generations apart, said Tom Smith, a senior researcher at the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago.

``That, on average, would mean a greater possibility of adults of different generations living together with fewer day-to-day tensions,'' Smith said.

Smith's recent study found a substantial narrowing of the generation gap from the early 1970s to the late 1990s. For instance, on the question of extramarital sex, 57 percent of 18- to 24-year olds said it was always wrong when asked about the topic in the early 1970s. But by the late 1990s, a full 81 percent believed it was wrong - an attitude that now nearly mirrors the opinion of their baby boomer parents.

Of course, some things never change. Like the lure of a home-cooked meal.

``I have dinner on the table every night when I get home from work. My mother cooks all the time. You can't beat that. And my laundry is done,'' said Jon Cohen, who moved back in with his parents and younger sister in Nashua, N.H. after graduating from, college in May 2001.

Cohen, who landed a good sales job at Cintas in Chelmsford soon after graduating, has opted to live with his parents to save up money for an apartment in Boston.

``It's tough to leave home, the service is so good,'' Cohen said. ``Since I have been home, the grocery bill doubled. They just started charging me rent about two months ago.''

Cohen plans to have enough saved for an apartment by August, when he will be 23.

Back in 1970, 23 was the average age for men to be married, according to Census figures, whereas today the average age is 27. For women, the average age has jumped from 21 in 1970 to 25 today. Trend experts point to that change as a fundamental reason why so many young Americans - men in particular - are still living with their parents.

``Men used to stay at home 'til they got married, then leave,'' said Andy Sum, director of the Center for Labor Market Studies, at Northeastern University.

Sum's recent research has found a growing number of young men under age 30, especially those who did not attend college, living at home with their parents. Many had never left at all.

When the economy finally rebounds, most trend-watchers expect the number of young adults who are living at home to head down again.