Some flavors of class dysfunction as well as culture make this the preferred way to get advice in the US. The so-called middle class in the US likes to be self identified by what seems like 70% of the nation. Anyone from the working poor to the actual middle & even upper middle class over the past 50 years has the cultural message of "strike out on your own - make your mark in the world". But, how? Who knows how to do that?

The assumption here becomes that what worked for your parents (even if your relationship is good with them) won't work for you. Worse than that - they don't know how to do better because if they did, they would have by now! For dysfunctional relationships it's worse - the cultural message of "strike out on your own" becomes inferred as "you think you're better than us" and "you're just a social climber". The analogy of a pot of crabs that keep clawing each other back into the pot so that none escape is not a metaphor in the lower socioeconomic strata. It's an observable phenomenon that can make a foot note in your own family history.

In short, unless you want to end up exactly where your friends and family are - they're not the ones you want to be getting advice and ideas from.