It has seemed for a while now like the youngest generation of adults in the U.S. — "Generation Z" — is coasting through a perpetual stall of prolonged adolescence, with fewer and fewer of them making moves to undertake the normal markers of adulthood, like move out of their parents' house and get married.
This week, we have some data to back up those depressing suppositions:
Young adults in the United States are taking longer to reach "key life milestones," including financial independence from parents and living on their own, compared to four decades ago, according to a Pew Research Center analysis released on Tuesday.
In 2021, adults who were 21 were less likely to have a full-time job; be financially independent, living on their own or married; or have children than their predecessors from 1980.
The raw data paint a truly striking picture: Uptake of all of these important markers of adulthood have fallen by double digits since the 1980s.
One of the strongest factors likely driving this shift is that 12 percentage point drop in having a "home independent of parents." If you're still living in your old childhood bedroom at 21, you're almost certainly not going to be married, and things like "full-time work" and "financial independence" are not going to be as pressing for you as they otherwise might be.
To say these are bad portents, of course, is an understatement. A nation of stunted and delayed adults will predictably be less capable of building a meaningful, rewarding, enduring society.
If you're sleeping in the same bed you've slept in since 9th grade and you're only working 25 hours a week, you're not going to be poised to take the reins and help our civilization function, let alone thrive.
