2008 Woodie Awards
More 20-Somethings Depending on Parents Again
Rick Montgomery
Issue date: 5/3/05 Section: News
KANSAS CITY, Mo.- Signs of the new normal for young adults seem to be piling up like ripe sweat socks in the bedroom of your 20-something son down the hall.
We used to dismiss it as a "slacker" thing- an odd fad, we thought, of a generation that appeared content to take its sweet time before leaving the nest, finishing college, getting married and making commitments their parents began considering at 18.
Researchers now prefer the term "adultescence," and they're not kidding. The life stage between the late teens and late 20s is undergoing what many describe as a permanent transformation brought on by economic, educational and even biological forces, all irreversible.
"It has happened quietly, and it's here to stay," said David Morrison, president of Twentysomething Inc., a market research firm that has tracked the lifestyles of young adults for 15 years. "The stigma of depending on your parents is gone."
Consider some of the factors: Grinding college debt. Spiraling home values. An ideal of marriage, tempered by a culture of divorce, that waits for the perfect soul mate.
Gone is the labor economy of high-paying factory jobs that once offered a lifetime of security after high school. Here to stay, at least for a few more decades, are baby-boom parents who easily fret and don't mind indulging their kids.
When will we- or should we- grow up?
Here are the latest indicators of a society willing to wait:
The average age of U.S. women marrying for the first time has climbed from about 21 to 26 since 1970.
The average age of first-time homebuyers has climbed from 29 to 33 in the last decade.
Four-year bachelor's degrees now usually take five years to complete. Students juggle more and longer internships, often unpaid, enabling workplaces to get by without expanding their staffs.
One in five 26-year-olds is living with a parent, according to a recent Time cover story that coined yet another generational label, "twixters."
We used to dismiss it as a "slacker" thing- an odd fad, we thought, of a generation that appeared content to take its sweet time before leaving the nest, finishing college, getting married and making commitments their parents began considering at 18.
Researchers now prefer the term "adultescence," and they're not kidding. The life stage between the late teens and late 20s is undergoing what many describe as a permanent transformation brought on by economic, educational and even biological forces, all irreversible.
"It has happened quietly, and it's here to stay," said David Morrison, president of Twentysomething Inc., a market research firm that has tracked the lifestyles of young adults for 15 years. "The stigma of depending on your parents is gone."
Consider some of the factors: Grinding college debt. Spiraling home values. An ideal of marriage, tempered by a culture of divorce, that waits for the perfect soul mate.
Gone is the labor economy of high-paying factory jobs that once offered a lifetime of security after high school. Here to stay, at least for a few more decades, are baby-boom parents who easily fret and don't mind indulging their kids.
When will we- or should we- grow up?
Here are the latest indicators of a society willing to wait:
The average age of U.S. women marrying for the first time has climbed from about 21 to 26 since 1970.
The average age of first-time homebuyers has climbed from 29 to 33 in the last decade.
Four-year bachelor's degrees now usually take five years to complete. Students juggle more and longer internships, often unpaid, enabling workplaces to get by without expanding their staffs.
One in five 26-year-olds is living with a parent, according to a recent Time cover story that coined yet another generational label, "twixters."