Fewer young adults are achieving economic and family milestones typically associated with adulthood, according to a recent working paper from the U.S. Census Bureau.
According to the working paper, “Changes in Milestones of Adulthood,” almost half of all young adults in 1975 had reached four milestones associated with adulthood: moving out of one’s parents’ home, getting a job, getting married and having a child.
Five decades on, that progression has changed dramatically. The share of young adults that have followed the traditional pathway to adulthood has dropped to less than a quarter, according to the paper.
Annoying that everything is written in clikcbait style these days. Why does it say “these 5” and then only list 4? was college the fifth, the one that’s still happening? (thank god)
If you have to ask what the 5th one is, you cant afford it.
I’m assuming that it’s “buying a home.” It’s sort of redundant with “moving out of your parents’ home”, though you could accomplish the latter without the former.
What about let people live however they want? I live in a village near bigger city in Poland, and a lot of people just stay home with their parents, because they have big houses, and there’s no need to pay for a flat as well.
Some people also don’t want to marry and/or have kids, and that’s fine as well.
parents’ home, getting a job, getting married and having a child.
Grouping those stats is pretty much clickbait as they’re completely different. This is the data from the paper:
In 2005, living away from parents was the most commonly experienced milestone, with about 84% of 25-34 year olds living independently. By 2023, this percentage declined to 81%. Labor force participation became the most common marker of adulthood, with about 86% of young adults reporting being in the labor force in 2023. The share of young adults who completed their education by attaining a high school or college degree increased by 9 percentage points between 2005 to 2023, from 74% to 83%. Family formation milestones, on the other hand, were experienced less often. In 2005, about 62% of young adults had ever married, a share that declined by 18 percentage points to 44% by 2023. Similarly, the proportion of young adults who lived with a child in the household decreased by 16 percentage points from 55% to 39% over this 18-year period.
Which shows that: yeah, most young adults have a job and most young adults move out of their parents’ home. It’s really only the family formation milestones that are down. (Who can blame us though, in this economy)
Multi-generational homes are in vogue again! There, positive spin.
Honestly, it might be the only way to build wealth over the next 20 years.
Well, guess I’m never gonna be an adult seeing as I had a vasectomy nearly a decade ago now. I did finally buy a house in my early 40s (well, I’m paying for it for the next 19 more years, but still).
Eh, mortgage on a home is good, especially if it’s at a nice rate. Although, I realize that whole idea is purely American.
Hm, so staying in all day and wanking isn’t on the list?
Getting married and having a child is not a milestone of adulthood. Being in a healthy relationship is though. You don’t need to be married and have a child to be in a long term healthy relationship.
Kids and a wedding ring are quantitative things they can measure externally. I bet, back when this list was first pulled out of someone’s ass, that was all they thought about whether a relationship was happy or not.
We know better, now.
My dad had those 4 things, too, and then one day his wife left him. If we measure ‘success’ against this criteria, he’s failed. I can see how this mindset makes one reluctant to leave a marriage or not have kids, and I can see the pressure of competing with the “Joneses” can be a stressor.
I’m glad we know better. A divorce is not failure: it’s harm reduction. No kids is not a failure: it’s a decision about finances and goals.
I get that some people - false consensus or not - think that everyone generally wants kids etc, but grading people on how they measure up to the Cunninghams is simply unfair.
And we could do with a lower birthrate anyway, once we find how to do so without ruining our economy.
I wonder why? Is it the rise of fascism?
Yeah, well most young adults wouldn’t make the mistake of cancelling the Late Show with Colbert Colbert.
Instead of having kids I have decided to go on good vacations every year.
AND I don’t have a bunch of grey hair. It’s great!
They dont mention the 5th milestone but I imagine its buying a home.
It’s finishing Elden Ring actually.
Completing education is the 5th. From the census study linked in the article
…reaching five milestones of adulthood: living away from their parents, completing their education, labor force participation, marrying, and living with a child.
They also mention it later in the article:
The completion of education, another marker of adulthood, has overshadowed other milestones over the years as an increasing number of young adults enroll in college, according to the paper.
ah good catch.
I imagine it’s buying a home, buying a car, having kids, getting a job (99% of people are actually getting this one, but it’s among the milestones I consider)#
5th milestone is purchasing nbc, Viacom etc. and shutting down programs trump hates… duh.
Man, all these people in the thread commenting that having kids isn’t a milestone of being an adult. It’s like they can’t fathom that it’s a general milestone, just because they’ve noped out of it.
Like if you said one of the goals of a career is retirement, and then some trust fund fucktard showed up and said “No! Because I work but I could’ve retired decades ago!”. Like stfu, it’s still a general goal for most people – just because you’re too stupid to put it together that they’re not talking about your specific niche situation, doesn’t change the general validity of the message.
Personally I don’t feel that goals and milestones are the same thing.
Agreed. Goal = something that I want to accomplish. Milestone = something that others (e.g. “society”) measure as an accomplishment.
Becoming a parent may be a milestone, but it most definitely isn’t one of my goals.
four milestones associated with adulthood: moving out of one’s parents’ home, getting a job, getting married and having a child.
My 20-something kids haven’t reached any of those, unless by “job” you count 4 hour shifts 3-4 days a week at minimum wage…
As someone who’s always struggled to find ambition, that’s wild to me.
It’s not for lack of trying, on their part.
The job market is just that bad.
I honestly couldn’t imagine having a child or owning a home unless I had a job that paid at least 50k/year ($25/hr). -That’s while living in this part of the country. If I were in a coastal state I wouldn’t consider it for less than 75k/year. Unfortunately, that’s not in the cards.
maybe not all of these milestones are really things people need to strive for anymore. I mean there’s nearly 8.2 billion people on the planet, maybe adoption should be a milestone.
That was the route I went.
But I kind of see the issue the natalists are talking about. Modern economy and social safety nets are built on the idea that people will have more than 2 kids. Since that hasn’t been happening in most modernized economies for the last 30 years, we are seeing constrictions coming. No one knows how this will play out. Japan is probably the best example of how to manage population loss, but even that could doom them to irrelevance soon.
Population decline is kind of a cascading event. I feel like the movie children of men helps visualize what the world in population decline can become.
If only billionaires paid taxes.
