File
Delayed and Early
Transitions into Adulthood
“Grow Up? Not so Fast”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wH40Tb2Eh64
From then till Now
Thirty years ago, the median age for an American woman to get married was 21, having their first child at
22
Now, 25 for marriage and 25 for having children
Young people are taking longer to graduate from college, settle into careers and buy their first homes
Why do you think there is this delay?
“Twixters”
Today there is a new intermediate phase along the way from adolescence to adulthood
Twixters- betwixt and between
18-25 has become a distinct and separate life stage
This stage of young adults has also been called
“youthhood”,
“adultescence” and
“kidults”
Where did these twixters come from?
Some psychologists, sociologists and demographers see this life stage as a good thing
Twixters aren’t lazy
A time in life to savor having minimal responsibilities
However…
More historically and economically minded scholars see it differently:
Worried that twixters won’t grow up because they can’t
Society no longer provides young people with the moral backbone and financial wherewithal to take their rightful place in the adult world
The percentage of 26 year olds living with their parents has nearly doubled since 1970, from 11% to 20%
Emerging Adulthood (Jeffrey Arnett)
Twixters are misunderstood
They’re doing important work to get themselves ready for adulthood
“Trying on” jobs, personalities and making sure that when they settle down, they do it the right way
Education
Career
Only 32% of people 18-29 who attended college left school by age
21
The average time for students to graduate college is turning into 5 years
“The period from 18-25 is a kind of sandbox, a chance to build castles and knock them down, experiment with different careers, knowing that none of it really counts.”
World of Overwhelming
Choice
Twixters are looking for more out of their jobs than a paycheck
“It’s not that twixters don’t want to become adults, they just can’t afford to
Only half of Americans in their mid-20s earn enough money to support a family
Storm and Stress
Most of the problems that twixters face are hard to see, and that makes it harder to help them.
During this stage of life, people have a difficult time dealing with the world not being particularly welcoming . They try to stay kids as long as they can because they don’t know how to make sense of all of this
Have any of you felt like this?
In another 10-20 years, we are not going to be talking about this as a “delay”, it will be considered a normal trajectory
“Growing Up is Harder To
Do”
After WWII, Americans typically assumed the full responsibilities of adulthood by their late teens or early 20s
Now, young adults won’t see these transitions until their late
20s or early 30s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEE170O9bX8
Changing notions of adulthood
Past
Traditionally, the transition to adulthood involves establishing emotional and economic independence from parents
Marriage and parenthood represented being an “adult” in the past
“On the level of cultural values, men have no freedom of choice where work is concerned: they must work to secure their status as adult men. The equivalent for women has been maternity.”
Couples who were childless by choice and people who chose not to marry were looked down upon
Present
According to the 2002 General Social Survey (GSS), the most important milestones are completing school, establishing an independent household and being employed full time
These steps had to precede having a family
95% of Americans surveyed consider education, employment, financial independence and the ability to support a family to be key steps on the path to adulthood.
Lengthening road to adulthood
The reasons for this lengthening path to adulthood,
John Modell has shown, range from shifting social policies to changing economic forces.
It takes much longer now to secure a full time job that can support a family
Economists Timothy Smeeding and Katherin Ross
Phillips found in the mid-1990s that just 70% of
American men aged 24 to 28 earned enough to support themselves, while fewer than half earned enough to support a family of three.
More than any other time in history, parents are being called on to provide financial assistance
Nearly 60% of young adults in their early 20s receive economic support from parents, while about 40% still receive some assistance in their late 20s.
However, not every young adult can call on their parents for assistance
The least privileged come from families that cannot provide financial assistance
What do you think we/policy makers can do to help out those who don’t have the luxury of a financially supportive family?
