It's that the very definition of "adulthood" is changing. Were they simply coddled, the byproduct of helicopter parenting, unable to live independent lives? Or were they experiencing, as psychologist Jeffrey Arnett once put it, "emerging adulthood" -- a special category defined by that "in between" feeling?
The popularity of Henig's feature prompted her to investigate the issue further -- this time, with her something daughter, Samantha Henig, web editor for the New York Times Magazine.
As a "something" myself, however, I found their assessment shallow. And the conclusions they reached felt neither scientifically valid nor satisfyingly personal. The chapters cover broad categories that affect my generation -- "Brain and Body," "Baby Carriage," and "Friendship in Real Life," among others. Like most writers who ponder the plight of somethings, the authors focus on the narrow segment of the population that's college-educated and career-driven.
But while the Henigs set off on an ambitious and engaging path, their declarations quickly lose credibility. The first problem? They can't empathize with a lot of the challenges that somethings face. Robin Henig married early, bought a home, and got started right away at what turned out to be a very rewarding and enriching career. Her Millennial daughter, Samantha, didn't stray far from this ambitious professional path.
Both graduated from the same Ivy League college. Samantha, unlike many in her generation, has no student loans. Both are affiliated with the New York Times Magazine. They study listlessness without proving that they can identify with it. Each chapter ends with a wrap-up in which the authors offer up arbitrary bullet points "There's no such thing as a perfect mate," or "Some people would rather stay single" that read like Cosmopolitan headlines.
The article mentions the bad economy only twice, both times by dismissing its impact "it's a development that predates the current economic doldrums" to focus on developmental psychology. It's fine for the author Robin Marantz Henig to be more interested in science than economics. First, where Henig is correct: the bad economy has accentuated certain trends in the workforce rather than created a new generational identity overnight.
Some of us were already delaying marrying and moving back with our parents before the recession. But some of these trends have nothing to do with our brains and everything to do with how we've chosen to use them.
In , women accounted for 36 percent of college graduates. Today they account for the majority. College educated women marry later, have fewer children, and are less likely to view marriage as "financial security," according to a Wharton study [PDF]. You can't explain delayed marriages and older mothers without talking about college.
So put yourself in the shoes of a year old from a relatively affluent family. Why wouldn't you live at home for a year? Unemployment is 50 percent higher for somethings than the general population. As National Journal's Ron Brownstein has said, a functioning economy works like an escalator. You step on at high school, ascend through college, and step off into a decent paying job. But today, the escalator is jammed at the top.
Senior workers won't leave their jobs because the recession devastated their k plans. Middle workers can't get promotions. And graduating seniors get stuck. Oh boy. Here we go again. Let's face it: The New York Times doesn't exactly have a great track record for talking about young people.
Their coverage of Millennials seems to range from Tom Friedman's accusation of lazy young people in his now-infamous "Generation Q" column to its constant coverage of "hipsters" in the paper. But this weekend's magazine cover story actually looks at all kinds of factors for "growing up," including the science behind brain development.
The idea that young people reached a point of maturity at 18 or 21 — or even 25 — seems to be an outdated one from a scientific perspective. The article also looks at many of the "traditional" markers for adulthood: "completing school, leaving home, becoming financially independent, marrying and having a child. In , 77 percent of women and 65 percent of men had, by the time they reached 30, passed all five milestones. Among year-olds in , according to data from the United States Census Bureau , fewer than half of the women and one-third of the men had done so.
They're beginning to call this longer period of transition between adolescence and adulthood "emerging adulthood," or a time when many of these milestones aren't for everyone. After all, fewer women than ever are having children and the average age of marriage is creeping ever upward in addition to the LGBT folks who aren't allowed to marry in most states.
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