Delaying Adulthood

[PassionFruit]

There was a discussion in my Intro to Women's Studies class about the current state of young men (between the ages of 18 and 27) in the United States. We were discussing how there seems to be a delay into adulthood, for instance, a few decades back men in this age range were already more likely to already have a job and have a family. These days, young men within this age range are still transitioning into adulthood.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/156372?from=rss

It's kind of depressing article in my opinion. But I do wonder if this article is exaggerating a bit. I don't know, what do you all think? Do you think there's a delay of adulthood among young men?

 

[flicka]

I believe it. I see it all around me. My own 18 year old son plans to live at home for at least 3 more years (one more year of high school and 2 years of Jr College). At that point he may transfer to a 4 year college and start becoming more independent. This is the plan of most of his friends as well. He has had a part-time job and a girlfriend for over a year but he has no interest in learning to drive.

In contrast my daughter drove at 16, worked all through high school, then moved out 3 days after graduation and has been living in her college town ever since. Many of the boys she graduated with (2005) are still living here in town with their families. Some move into apartments with friends for awhile then move back because the cost of living is so high in our area.

 

[TeddyKGB]

I have been successfully not growing up for years. I don't live with my parents, but I am single, don't have a job right now, and haven't been exactly burning up the streets looking for employment.

Grad school and massive debt are calling to me.

 

[The Nihilist]

Eh, there's no hurry. I have a place, I have a job (but I basically work for myself and take Friday off), I have a special lady, and I don't really need much more. Hope to get married before 30, hope to have kids before 35, but there's no rush.

 

[Mling]

Adulthood is definitely getting pushed further and further back as the decades and centuries go by, but I don't find it all that sad or anything else. The world gets more complicated and harder to live in--people need a longer transition time to figure out how to fit themselves into it. Seems pretty natural to me.

 

[cantata]

Here in the UK, many people are stuck at home because of property prices, which are thankfully (short-term thankfully, that is) beginning to fall.

When I finish university in debt, I will probably have to live at home for at least a year before I have enough cash to put down a deposit on a flat.

 

[quatona]

There was a discussion in my Intro to Women's Studies class about the current state of young men (between the ages of 18 and 27) in the United States. We were discussing how there seems to be a delay into adulthood, for instance, a few decades back men in this age range were already more likely to already have a job and have a family. These days, young men within this age range are still transitioning into adulthood.

I´m not sure I would define adulthood by having a job and having a family.
I´m also not sure how many decades are "a few decades".
If comparing my (generalizing) observations of young men today with the young men roughly three decades ago (i.e. when I was a young man), I find the following phenomena significant:
1. Young men today move out of their parents´ home later than we did (which may either indicate that they don´t see living on their own as a value in the way we did) or to changed economic conditions (or a combination of both).
2. They are heading straightforward to getting a decent job much more than we did, who often went to university for countless semesters, travelled, and enjoyed that "life in all its seriousness" hadn´t yet begun.
3. The desire for a committed partnership, marriage, family, kids, property seems to kick in much earlier than back then, when we tended to feel comfortable with having all opportunities and plenty of time to make up our minds.

Summary: In my impression young men today know much earlier than we did what they want, what their goals in life are, and they pursue these goals. From conversations with my students I get the impression that staying in their parents house longer is also just a pragmatic decision that helps them pursuing these goals with greater effectivity. Everything is being cared for, mom is doing the laundry, and thus they can concentrate on building the fundaments for their life plan.

Note that these are my observations and interpretations (and hence probably suffer from distortions induced by subjectivity), and that they are not about the USA but about Germany (Europe).