Everything I have is bought by me...my mobile, my car, my holiday...everything is bought with my wages so I feel very independent

Women in her 20s

Modern parents are also doing more for their kids than mothers and fathers in generations past.

It's not just the comfort of the parental home children are reluctant to leave behind, it's the cash they are handed out.

The survey found that four decades ago, only one in five young adults received cash handouts, up to �100, from parents after leaving home.

My daughter pays only �42 a week for her upkeep, which goes a little way towards the cost of food, bills, laundry and rent that she would otherwise have to pay

Her mother

But today half of them get this financial help, the survey revealed.

And the bankrolling does not stop with token sums of money, with more than a third of 18 to 24-year-olds receiving parental help in paying their rent or mortgage.

This compares with only 6% having the same help when they needed it 40 years ago.

Practical help

Generous parents are also helping more than ever on a practical level, with 17% of 25 to 34-year-olds still getting their parents to wash their clothes after they move out, compared with only one in 10 people born before 1955.

And two-thirds of parents aged 25-34 get their own parents to help with childcare, compared with only 37% of their grandparents' generation.

Janet Connor, Abbey National's retail marketing director, said: "The shape of society is changing and differences between generations are becoming more marked as lifestyles shift.

The increasingly volatile lives of young adults means that in many cases, parents may see no alternative to helping their children as they have nowhere else to turn

Janet Connor, Abbey National

"Young people today start working later, are more likely to interrupt their working career to travel and there are more career transitions than ever before.

"There is also a significant delay in marriage compared to previous generations and a subsequent rise in shared households.

"This delay in setting up stable family households clearly has an impact on demands made of parents.

"The increasingly volatile lives of young adults means that in many cases, parents may see no alternative to helping their children as they have nowhere else to turn."

Parents 'not happy'

But although the survey found parents are doing more than ever for their children, they are not happy about it.

Some middle-aged people refuse to leave home

One-third of parents reported increased satisfaction with life in general when their children finally left home, but 41% of children reported decreased satisfaction with their finances after moving out on their own.

One women in her early 20s told researchers: "Everything I have is bought by me...my mobile, my car, my holiday...everything is bought with my wages so I feel very independent."

However, her mother painted a different picture.

"My daughter pays only �42 a week for her upkeep, which goes a little way towards the cost of food, bills, laundry and rent that she would otherwise have to pay."

The findings were taken from the report Complicated Lives II - The Price of Complexity, commissioned by Abbey National from the Future Foundation.

Researchers quizzed 965 people from three generations of families aged 18 and above on their attitudes towards parenting, between May 18 and May 21 this year.