Peers serve as the nuclear families of twenty-somethings.
Surprising Findings
As marriage is delayed, friends are playing a bigger part for a longer time. Where once young people made critical life decisions with the help of their spouses, today they are more often consulting their friends. Friends are an important source of contacts for jobs, networking, and introductions.
Helicopter parents aren’t so bad after all …
... within reason. Involved parents provide their children with important advantages, including mentoring and economic support, giving them an edge in today's tough economy. Without this support, young people are more likely to make mistakes and damage their future prospects.
Few young adults who live at home are “mooching” off of their parents.
More often, they are using the time at home to gain necessary credentials and to save money for a more secure future. Launching too fast can cause serious setbacks down the road, so living at home during or even right after college can be a smart strategy for getting ahead.
Young people are not selfish and apolitical.
Their vision of political involvement is simply not a one-size-fits-all approach based on a collective goal. Their politics are highly individualized-and also very connected to digital media.
Some college debt can be a good thing for 20-somethings.
The average undergraduate college debt today is the equivalent of a car loan, and yet the return on a college degree has rarely been greater. Choosing not to take on college debt can be one of the costliest decisions a young person can make.
A slower transition to adulthood is often just the ticket in today’s tough economy.
Young adults who finish college and delay marriage and child-rearing get a much better start in life than those who leave the nest too early, settling for low-paying jobs and having children at a young age.
Job-hopping is not a sign of recklessness or questionable loyalty.
In this downsized and globalized economy, job-hopping is a smart professional strategy for the well-credentialed. It is job-shopping.
Young people in the U.S. have “sharply diverging destinies.”
One group—the “swimmers”—has the resources to take a slower path to adulthood. The other, much larger group—the “treaders”—does not, particularly in the wake of a recession that has undermined middle- and working-class families. The consequences can be devastating.
Marriage isn’t dead; it’s just delayed.
In most cases, this delay is not a sign of immaturity, but is instead an indication that young people are taking marriage seriously. Today’s young adults are often opting to ‘get all of their ducks in a row’ before committing to marriage and family.
A college degree still pays.
While most young people aspire to college, many are unprepared for it or have unrealistic, half-baked plans. In a knowledge economy, nothing is more damaging than foregoing higher education or failing at it.
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