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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
They dont mention the 5th milestone but I imagine its buying a home.
5th milestone is purchasing nbc, Viacom etc. and shutting down programs trump hates… duh.
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)#
“Boomers brag that standards set in 1960 unreachable by anyone today because Boomers ruined everything after they got theirs.”
Which generation gets the blame for the utter failure to address climate change and the rise of global fascism? Oh and theres this stuff too: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/20/microplastics-human-testicles-study-sperm-counts
They get the blame because they caused this. If anyone also deserves blame, Millennials do as well. We’re just Boomers II: Electric Boogalo, setting up entire ecosystems and telling everyone that everything is great now, not realizing or accepting responsibility for the adverse effects, just moving on the next grift.
- Having a child
Oh fuck off, I have very consciously decided NOT to have a child. In my own lifetime, I will see the agrinomic sector completely fail due to runaway climate change. I will see actual resource wars. Why the fuck would I have a kid
Oh you know, proliferation of the species etc.
I’m sure you’ll be annoyed at this answer but I mean ask stupid questions, get stupid answers. You are well within your rights to believe it but not to push it as fact.
Fuck off
I’ve consciously decided to let my siblings have all the kids for me. It’s going great! Lol
Why the fuck would I have a kid
To help pay for your retirement.
I know that was a rhetorical question, but regardless, here’s the answer. Eventually people get old, and it’s generally good if there are enough younger folks to pick up the slack when older folks really can’t anymore.
Our society is essentially a house of cards. If there suddenly aren’t enough supports remaining at the base, those higher levels might start to collapse, and that tends to take the rest of the structure down too.
retirement
That is the most selfish and hateful reason to have a child. Your children are their own person, not your retirement insurance. If this is the typical breeder line of thought, no wonder there are so many abandoned elderly folk.
In 1960 the US minimum wage was $1.00/hour and the price of a home averaged $11,000.00
Two kids could graduate high school and move into their own home the next day, and have the place paid off in less than a decade.
To put it In Perspective, in 1968. A person made about 6 grand a year houses were 12k. So twice the income. Now? Mean houses prices are around 400k. Income is around 66k.
There is no comparison. Today’s kids are financially MUCH worse off than we genxers
Anyone buying a home in 1968 is not an Xer. That’s a birth year.
Ate you just trying to be rude?
The poingvisbits the elites. Thats facts. Its not an age thing. Hell it ain’t even really a poliyics thing. Is the elite holding you down and keeping you arguing with other poor people. If is what it is
The economics of it have shifted over time. If you were born in 1968 you might have graduated university into Black Monday, and finished grad school in time for the dot.com meltdown. I did. Those are far from the boomer like conditions of the 1960s and 70s.
Graduated university? Dude. I was waaaay too poor for that.
It’s not just Gen Xers, speaking as a millennial, I bought a house with my wife in 2015 that was just over 2x our combined income at the time, which was not very high as we were both recently out of school, and we refinanced in '21 for a 2.7% interest rate. Out of control home prices nationwide coupled with high interest rates only hit after covid
I appreciate the insight as I’m a bit older and can’t look at it from that vantage. , but I’d ask if it wasn’t always going to go up again after the 08 bubble.
But I’m not economist. Just going off memory, so file this under “could be?”
I’m a millennial. Bought my house in a rural location for $70k at 3% interest in 2018
Due to the out of control housing market, it’s now “worth” $150k
This market makes it impossible for younger generation to have a chance.
Why are we calling these “milestones?” These are economic choices that were once expectations. Expectations that are no longer realistic, and can no longer be expected. These are NOT indicators of someone’s “success” at life.
This article is not particularly well written, but the four milestones they mention are: 1) moving out of one’s parents’ home, 2) getting a job, 3) getting married and 4) having a child. The fifth one seems to be the completion of education.
Thank you! Headline said 5, took to the end of the post to only show 4 with no mention of the 5th one. I almost thought it was written by AI.
1 it was too expensive to move out and honestly without the added income I provided my parents would have lost their house on multiple occasions
2 I got one the fall after I graduated
3 this one took awhile
4 lol no. Never. Children are the worst. I should know, I used to be one.
No children here with how fucked up things are. Only downside is no clue who will take care of us when we get too old. Maybe Winchester or Smith and Wesson…
I just hope MAID is a thing society is okay with then
I don’t need anyone to take care of me when I’m older. I decided that my retirement plan will be extreme sports. Base jumping? Wing suit? Steel toeing cops in the nuts? So many thrilling choices! Whatever happens, happens.
Gotta be thorough about it. Full body paralysis would be a suboptimal outcome.
Ideally I would have a wing suit and I would do a loop de loop into the side of a mountain. I’ve been fortunate enough to have had the time to reflect on good memories in my life and I want to go out living purely in the moment.
But as with all plans I’ve ever made it life, it most likely will not happen. I’ll go out in a completely unexpected and unplanned way. Probably in a ridiculous way too. Sadly it won’t be a story I’ll be able to share that time but that’s just how it goes.
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!
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.
Yes, money is important and salaries aren’t enough.
This is just a case where the metrics are utterly flawed.
At least a couple of those supposed “milestones” have nothing to do with a person’s maturity, and I even know a few people who’s immaturity helped them hit those milestones earlier than most.
