After The Boomers

reveries.com:

Princeton sociologist Robert Wuthnow has a new book that outlines the demographic differences between young adults today and his own generation. His own generation would be the baby boomers, and Dr. Wuthnow says he was inspired to write After the Baby Boomers by his own children, who are in their 20s and 30s.

The key differences include that the younger generation is “spending more time in school, remaining financially independent on their parents longer, marrying later in life, having kids later (and fewer of them) and changing jobs more often.”

One upside of these differences is that, because of this “extended adolescence … divorce is less common.” He says they see marriage more as a “capstone” than a “starting” event. He also says that this slower path to adulthood gives them “more of a chance to finish their education and … if they’re middle class, a chance to decide from experience what kind of career they want.”

One downside, he says, is that they are sometimes “paralyzed” by “all these choices — whom to marry, what kind of education to get, what kind of career to pursue.” Another is a “dependency” on parents for such a long period of time.

Read more.

Photo by Princeton University Press.

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