tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34655930751555380352024-03-12T23:21:14.988-07:00. . . Alan Reifman's Emerging Adulthood Pagealanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08047057328265529252noreply@blogger.comBlogger109125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3465593075155538035.post-23911514572672578682023-06-09T18:47:00.003-07:002023-06-09T19:23:39.386-07:00Book Review: After the Ivory Tower Falls<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidZ7d_Hwi87WFihSCELfidqsAIxRgGGvbYZbyToCEKI3B3I7NsH4ArhjbfOkfJKcYftKtb_iSGvlUD2VMp-zbOALpWKGMxTSQZOvn4uf7cErI8vE8-AEpmHoeUYW49cvYD8FL3_tI0Dt7VHZOg8P3MqHEf_6bkYHQQ_z35SIk01IgEhwrc2tpdtjHVJw/s500/ivory%20tower%20cover.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" height="197" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidZ7d_Hwi87WFihSCELfidqsAIxRgGGvbYZbyToCEKI3B3I7NsH4ArhjbfOkfJKcYftKtb_iSGvlUD2VMp-zbOALpWKGMxTSQZOvn4uf7cErI8vE8-AEpmHoeUYW49cvYD8FL3_tI0Dt7VHZOg8P3MqHEf_6bkYHQQ_z35SIk01IgEhwrc2tpdtjHVJw/w197-h197/ivory%20tower%20cover.jpg" width="197" /></a></div>Higher education -- whether one goes to college or not -- affects the lives of millions of Americans in the emerging-adult age-range, and not necessarily for the better. So says <i>Philadelphia Inquirer</i> columnist Will Bunch in his 2022 book <i>After the Ivory Tower Falls: How College Broke the American Dream and Blew Up Our Politics -- And How to Fix It</i>.<p></p><p>With the possible exception of youth whose parents are willing and able to pay annual costs approaching, in some cases, $75,000 for tuition, room, and board, college leaves no one unscathed, in Bunch's view. Those who attend are left with huge debts, no degree if their funds run out, and possibly no job opportunities related to their field of study. Through these processes, tremendous inequality has been "locked in" (p. 7). Meanwhile, some of those who do not (or did not) attend feel that they are looked down upon by their more educated counterparts, fueling resentments among the non-college-educated that have manifested themselves in the political arena.</p><p>Further, Bunch links massive student debt -- $1.7 trillion in the aggregate -- to altering the trajectories many lives may otherwise have taken during emerging adulthood:</p><p><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><i>This millstone forced millions of Americans under thirty-five to live with their parents or in cramped apartments -- using the money that in the past would have gone toward a mortgage to instead pay off their never-shrinking loan balance -- and postpone getting married and starting a family</i> (p. 133).</span></p><p>Bunch identifies multiple sources for the problems besetting modern higher education. The original sin, in his view, is the failure during the post-World War II era to follow through in expanding the GI Bill -- which provided financial assistance for returning veterans to attend college -- so that higher education would become a government-funded "public good" for all Americans, the way public K-12 education is. Further, even in parts of the US in which a public-good ethos toward higher education did take hold, most notably California, the 1966 election of Ronald Reagan as governor and his antipathy toward student demonstrators led to escalating tuition and fees at University of California (UC) campuses. The cutting of state appropriations to higher education in more recent decades has exacerbated the problem of college costs, Bunch contends.</p><p>Embedded within the education wars is a question of human development and emerging adulthood: Is the aim of higher education job preparation, general intellectual and personal growth, some of both, or different emphases for different students? As Bunch reports, Reagan in 1967 came out forcefully in favor of "workforce development" (p. 88), an idea that would spread throughout the US in the following years. General learning to become a more well-rounded person would be diminished and (whether causally related or not) many more students began majoring in business (p. 97). In recent weeks, in fact, one prominent governor derided "<a href="https://www.rawstory.com/how-employable-are-you-ron-desantis-insults-students-eyeing-niche-subjects-he-wants-to-ban-2660248446/" target="_blank">niche subjects</a>" while promoting more "employable" fields of study. </p><p>Bunch's historical overview of developments during the GI Bill and Reagan/UC eras are first-rate, in my view. These areas are well-researched and compellingly reported, as one would expect from a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist such as Bunch. Throughout the book, his extensive interviews with students, graduates, dropouts, administrators, political activists, and others bring life to the statistics.</p><p>The book contains some other ideas that scholars of emerging adulthood might be interested in pursuing:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Bunch talks of college helping to create, during the 1950s and '60s, an "extended adolescence," a respite from farming and industrial work, and a "youth culture" (p. 61), ideas previously discussed by Erikson, Arnett, and others.</li><li>Related to identity formation, Bunch cites political scientist Lilliana Mason's notion of "<a href="https://blog.lareviewofbooks.org/interviews/rhetoric-escalates-talking-lilliana-mason/" target="_blank">mega-identities</a>" (p. 106), in which different potential dimensions of identity -- e.g., politics, religion, gender roles -- become mutually reinforcing, melded, and aligned with each other. These mega-identities can then help polarize people's attitudes in support of or in opposition to college education and associated cultural connections (e.g., radical professors, student demonstrators). </li><li>Many readers are probably familiar with the term "<a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691190785/deaths-of-despair-and-the-future-of-capitalism" target="_blank">deaths of despair</a>," coined by economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton to describe burgeoning rates of suicide and substance abuse/overdose fatalities among middle-age, non-college-educated, working-class White residents of Rust Belt and Appalachian regions of the US. Having covered the tragic stories of some young adults who died in a similar manner and seeing some newer data on youth fatalities, Bunch also notes that deaths of despair appear to be "surging for younger people without college diplomas" (p. 185). A Google Scholar search of "emerging adulthood" and "deaths of despair" yields very little at this point, so research opportunities in this area seem fertile.</li></ul><p>In the final parts of the book, Bunch offers recommendations for ameliorating the destructive aspects of college financing and improving young adults' overall personal development. These recommendations center around universal free higher education (either college or other forms of training such as career and technical education), coupled with mandatory national service (either military or civilian). The latter would not only produce tangible benefits to society but could also help unify our fragmented country.</p>alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08047057328265529252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3465593075155538035.post-46731550328576816622022-12-03T11:06:00.002-08:002022-12-03T11:39:13.638-08:00US Census Report on Young Adults' Homeownership, 2000-2019<p>The US Census Bureau issued a report roughly two weeks ago on trends in 25-34 year-olds' homeownership between 2000-2019 (<a href="https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2022/11/homeownership-by-young-households-below-pre-great-recession-levels.html" target="_blank">link</a>). The report notes that, "The impact on the housing market of the COVID-19 pandemic, which began in 2020, is not captured in this dataset." Even before COVID, however, the trend was not favorable and it is hard to imagine how young adults' rate of homeownership could have gotten better during the pandemic.*</p><p>The data we do have show that young adults' homeownership rose slightly and then stabilized between 2000 and 2007. The Great Recession (a large element of which involved <a href="https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/housing-bubble-real-causes/" target="_blank">reckless and even fraudulent</a> conduct connected to home loans) then clobbered young-adult homeowners (existing and prospective). The percentage of young-adult heads of household who owned their homes (as opposed to renting), which had been in the mid-40 percent range as of 2007, declined to the mid-30 percent range as of 2015. As of 2019, this rate had inched up only to the high 30s. Naturally, as homeownership began to decline, renting began to rise. Here's a screenshot from the report...</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhWBcPTwkXyC5tls2_jZOlcjOoOhxVyadTkP52EM5SCi4tGyHRuviZZWX_eBL0BPB7i-p10bqJZAg5iCrJqqeJvjxSNVS4FrXP7G6y2WTuJaslpe8wBoQtpFTopCacox8DUIcqpjIdfPBnDMMlb2UQ7mktRYI3S-JiUn2ndiv1gYx-pAR3GEntOhFOfQ/s853/census%20housing%20figure%201.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="571" data-original-width="853" height="329" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhWBcPTwkXyC5tls2_jZOlcjOoOhxVyadTkP52EM5SCi4tGyHRuviZZWX_eBL0BPB7i-p10bqJZAg5iCrJqqeJvjxSNVS4FrXP7G6y2WTuJaslpe8wBoQtpFTopCacox8DUIcqpjIdfPBnDMMlb2UQ7mktRYI3S-JiUn2ndiv1gYx-pAR3GEntOhFOfQ/w492-h329/census%20housing%20figure%201.JPG" width="492" /></a></div><p>The report next discussed young adults' homeownership in relation to education (Figure 2, not reproduced here). Interestingly, in the very early 2000s, young adults whose highest educational attainment was a bachelor's degree (or higher), some college, and a high school diploma all owned homes at similar rates (mid-high 40s), with those having less than a high school diploma lagging. By 2019, however, appreciable gaps in homeownership had opened up between educational categories (bachelor's-plus clearly exceeding some college, some college clearly exceeding high school graduates, etc.).</p><p>Lastly, the Census report discussed racial-ethnic differences in homeownership. Looking only at 25-34 year-olds with a bachelor's degree or higher (to hold education constant, permitting a more direct focus on race-ethnicity), we see that racial disparities still exist. As of 2019, approximately 50% of young adults who were White (either Whites overall or more specifically non-Hispanic Whites) owned their own home. Hispanic/Latinx, Asian, and other-race young adults were in the mid 30s, whereas African Americans were in the mid 20s. Remember, the educational status of all these groups was held constant.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHsI2gB_9IY2hnxLO1qk5nxXrX8p-SO27ecaITb2RrvzdZwBnOQFGD4PPPJCKUa7hQNRB6rUypMf5aoz1s0IYLD49aqCdzNRBWdRSNUz3Ur4E9i6xuSTlv3G4t3do2WYHEwftE7Mx6wBarIMUwC6DyJi9uAtsRrVT7eEjTPE7OFRTR0zvmY4ip75xMaA/s853/census%20housing%20figure%203.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="624" data-original-width="853" height="359" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHsI2gB_9IY2hnxLO1qk5nxXrX8p-SO27ecaITb2RrvzdZwBnOQFGD4PPPJCKUa7hQNRB6rUypMf5aoz1s0IYLD49aqCdzNRBWdRSNUz3Ur4E9i6xuSTlv3G4t3do2WYHEwftE7Mx6wBarIMUwC6DyJi9uAtsRrVT7eEjTPE7OFRTR0zvmY4ip75xMaA/w491-h359/census%20housing%20figure%203.JPG" width="491" /></a></div><p>I suspect that these disparities represent some combination of racial-ethnic discrimination (in hiring, so that minorities make less income, and in lending) and White parents having more money, on average, to help their grown children out with a down payment.</p><p>One issue I would like to see addressed within the US context is where young adults are living or trying to live. Large cities such as New York, Boston, Washington DC, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, along with "hot" up-and-coming markets such as Austin and Nashville, have become expensive for everyone, but especially young adults. Other places such as Lubbock, Texas, and West Lafayette, Indiana, are not as expensive. Will young adults continue to gravitate to large cities -- where multiple roommates are often required even to live in an apartment -- or might there be an increase in young adults seeking out smaller towns?**</p><p>---</p><p>*In fact, there has been a lower rate of independent living for young adults during COVID. According to a <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/09/04/a-majority-of-young-adults-in-the-u-s-live-with-their-parents-for-the-first-time-since-the-great-depression/" target="_blank">report</a> from the Pew Research Center, a few months into the pandemic (July 2020), the "share of 18- to 29-year-olds living with their parents [had] become a majority..., surpassing the previous peak during the Great Depression era." Others have pointed out that the percentage of grown children living with their parents <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2021/12/23/fact-check-47-american-young-adults-live-their-parents/8672598002/" target="_blank">returned to more typical levels</a> as COVID restrictions eased. However, the financial, educational, housing, and other forms of disruption during COVID would not seem conducive to young-adult homeownership in the near future. </p><p>**As an aside, one of my favorite neighborhoods in the whole country is Wrigleyville, by the Chicago Cubs' baseball stadium Wrigley Field. I wrote a chapter about the neighborhood in the Society for American Baseball Research book <i><a href="https://sabr.org/latest/sabr-digital-library-wrigley-field-friendly-confines-clark-and-addison/" target="_blank">Wrigley Field: The Friendly Confines at Clark and Addison</a></i> (G. H. Wolf, editor). In it, I noted that despite "Wrigleyville housing [costing] 2.2 times as much as the Chicago average," 20-29 year-olds comprise 31.5% of residents within the ZIP code containing Wrigley Field (the third-highest percentage of young adults within any Chicago ZIP code). </p>alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08047057328265529252noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3465593075155538035.post-34377303427294931322022-09-06T11:10:00.002-07:002022-09-06T11:18:53.200-07:00New Historical Marriage Figures from US Census Bureau<p>The US Census Bureau released a report a few days ago, providing extensive marriage statistics on individuals born from 1940-1994 (<a href="https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2022/08/does-marrying-younger-mean-marrying-more-often.html" target="_blank">link</a>). Someone born in 1940 would be 82 today, whereas someone born in 1994 would be 28. The data are grouped into five-year birth bunches (1940-1944, 1945-1949, etc.). </p><p>As shown in the following screen capture (on which I've literally connected the dots in yellow highlighter for ease of viewing), the percentage of people married by age 25 has plummeted during the years studied. As highlighted in the lower yellow line, 80% of women born between 1940-1944 were married by age 25. By the time we get to the 1990-1994 birth-cohort, however, only 30% were married by 25. That's a huge change! Men's trend for marrying by 25 (bottom set of dots) parallels women's, although is lower in absolute level. Roughly 65% of men born from 1940-1944 married by age 25, a figure that has dropped to 20% in men born from 1990-1994. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ95x6t6qDBZ3ZRWvI_IwsO6wJWRgEpyUEpeJIm475AmR64VjGTm7ZxnYs219jdEv_cUtlqKD_K5vFNHca_d8dVt-G4kW0vCfPBKxBc7cAiIEd3cgBfexixZpRJZoc5gux6FlvrQ1lBgLJeBzwsuzpsQ2dxJ4TrBjDbRUdWidQxgo0ZxwU1Cg76CSb_A/s816/census%20marriage%20stats.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="725" data-original-width="816" height="435" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ95x6t6qDBZ3ZRWvI_IwsO6wJWRgEpyUEpeJIm475AmR64VjGTm7ZxnYs219jdEv_cUtlqKD_K5vFNHca_d8dVt-G4kW0vCfPBKxBc7cAiIEd3cgBfexixZpRJZoc5gux6FlvrQ1lBgLJeBzwsuzpsQ2dxJ4TrBjDbRUdWidQxgo0ZxwU1Cg76CSb_A/w490-h435/census%20marriage%20stats.JPG" width="490" /></a></div><p>Note that the trendlines for men and women being marrying by age 35 (top yellow line) also declined from 1940-1944 onward, but much more gradually than did the marriage-by-25 trendlines.* What this is saying is that, even for the younger cohorts, marriage by 35 is quite common (around 70%).</p><p>The report also contains statistics on the rate of being married once vs. multiple times. Click on the above-linked article if you're interested.</p><p>---</p><p>*You may have noticed that there are no married-by-35 data-points for the two youngest birth-cohorts (1985-1989 and 1990-1994). The reason is that nobody born from 1990-1994 has yet reached age 35, whereas only some in the 1985-1989 cohort have. Hence, the percent in these cohorts who have married by age 35 won't be known for a few more years.</p>alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08047057328265529252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3465593075155538035.post-86769111150308303382022-08-25T19:41:00.006-07:002022-11-06T11:23:43.281-08:00New National Findings on US 19-30 Year-Olds' Substance Use<p>Earlier this week, <a href="https://news.umich.edu/marijuana-hallucinogen-use-at-all-time-high-among-young-adults/" target="_blank">results came out</a> from one of the major US substance-use surveys, namely the annual Monitoring the Future project conducted by the University of Michigan. The headline of UM's news release was "Marijuana, hallucinogen use at all-time high* among young adults." However, I think some of the alcohol-related findings are also quite interesting. </p><p>Regarding past-year marijuana use (i.e., any use of marijuana in the past year), 30.8% of 19-30 year-olds in the year 1988 had smoked some pot in the past 12 months. This figure dipped into the low-20% range during much of the 1990s, rose slightly into the mid-high 20% range in the 2000s, rose through the 30% range in the 2010s, and reached 42.6% as of 2021 (see Figure 1 of <a href="https://monitoringthefuture.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/mtfpaneltables_2022.pdf" target="_blank">full report</a>). </p><p>Past-year hallucinogen use had a roughly 3%-4% prevalence among 19-30 year-olds consistently from 1988-2017 (Figure 20 of full report). The figure rose to around 5% in 2018 and 2019, before escalating to 7.6% in 2020 and 8.1% in '21. Some of the survey's methodology was changed during COVID-19. One can also envision how stay-at-home orders -- and the potential accompanying boredom -- might have affected substance use. However, any direct linkage between COVID-related factors and recent substance-use increases does not appear to have been established at this time.</p><p>One set of analyses compares current full-time college students to same-age noncollege peers (i.e., within four years post-high school) in their substance-use patterns. Results are also broken down by gender, yielding four groups: male college students, male noncollege individuals, female college students, and female noncollege individuals. As shown in the full report, past-year alcohol consumption was most common among college women (77.5% engaging in the behavior), followed by college men (73.4%), noncollege women (71.9%), and noncollege men (65.3%) (see Table 27). </p><p>On a measure of heavier alcohol consumption -- number of occasions within the previous two weeks consuming five or more drinks -- the group with the highest rate was college men (33.9%), followed by college women (28.8%), noncollege women (24.7%), and noncollege men (23.3%) (Table 29). Hence, college continues to be a social context conducive to heavy drinking and differences between young men and women continue to shrink.</p><p>---</p><p>*Whether the pun of juxtaposing "marijuana" and "high" was intentional or unintentional, I don't know.</p>alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08047057328265529252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3465593075155538035.post-14088327710927915612022-07-29T07:50:00.002-07:002022-07-29T07:55:18.253-07:00My New Textbook on Emerging AdulthoodMy new textbook <i>Journeys through Emerging Adulthood</i> has now been published. A free preview of Chapter 1 is available via <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Journeys-through-Emerging-Adulthood-Reifman/dp/0367742047/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=" target="_blank">Amazon</a> and the book's publisher, <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Journeys-through-Emerging-Adulthood-An-Introduction-to-Development-from/Reifman/p/book/9780367742041" target="_blank">Routledge/Taylor & Francis</a>. The book is the culmination of my 20+ years of doing research on emerging adulthood and 14 years of teaching the course Development in Young Adulthood at Texas Tech University. It was a labor of love to write.<div><br /></div><div>I'm happy to discuss possible adoptions with anyone. Some university departments of human development and family sciences offer courses on young adulthood or one could offer a special-topics course in psychology or sociology. Twenty-somethings and parents of twenty-somethings may also enjoy the book. </div>alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08047057328265529252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3465593075155538035.post-6177585266841899562022-07-27T15:21:00.002-07:002022-07-27T15:26:34.842-07:00Young-Adult Voters' Attitudes Toward President Biden Roughly Three Months Before 2022 Midterm Elections<p>Five-Thirty-Eight has a piece today examining the low percentage (slightly below 40%) of <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-biden-lost-the-support-of-young-americans/" target="_blank">18-29 year-old Americans</a> who approve of the job President Joe Biden is doing. This approval rate is not that different from that of Americans as a whole; however, considering young voters' overwhelming support of Biden in the 2020 election, their diminished approval is highly notable. The article explores many possible reasons for Biden's dip among young adults, but one in particular meshes with the study of emerging adulthood.</p><p>Extensive research on <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2016/01/when-are-you-really-an-adult/422487/" target="_blank">laypersons' criteria for considering someone an adult</a> shows one of the three primary standards to be whether the person has achieved financial independence. The Five-Thirty-Eight article notes that those transitioning to adulthood indeed hold themselves to this standard ("35 percent of Americans age 15 to 25 said financial independence was their most or second-most important life aspiration, ahead of other priorities such as having a fulfilling career or being married"). The uneven economic performance under Biden -- <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf" target="_blank">low unemployment</a> but <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/13/inflation-rose-9point1percent-in-june-even-more-than-expected-as-price-pressures-intensify.html" target="_blank">high inflation</a> -- is thus likely dragging down approval for the President.</p><p>Emerging-adulthood scholars also are interested in young adults' election turnout -- <a href="http://www.electproject.org/home/voter-turnout/demographics" target="_blank">traditionally low</a> but strong in the last midterm election year of 2018. There are, of course, questions of whether low enthusiasm for Biden will affect 18-29 year-olds' turnout to vote this upcoming November. The Five-Thirty-Eight piece quotes John Della Volpe, a pollster specializing in young voters, to the effect that "Despite the frustration that young people have about government in general, they just feel more connected to voting.” </p><p>Personally, I'll need more evidence in the coming years to proclaim young adults "connected to voting." But if they do turn out heavily this November despite their current low enthusiasm for President Biden, it will be noteworthy.</p>alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08047057328265529252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3465593075155538035.post-30286208611129870022020-08-22T14:43:00.004-07:002020-08-22T14:47:21.265-07:00College Students Return to Campuses, But Even Amidst COVID-19 Continue to Socialize<p>As I noted in my previous entry, "teens and young adults like to socialize, pure and simple." Nowhere is this more clear than at those U.S. universities whose administrators have opted to bring students back to campus for in-person instruction of some form. </p><p><i>Inside</i> the classroom, the combination of instructors' ability to monitor students' mask-wearing, the spacing of available seats, and potential peer pressure to conform from students who do not want their classes to be disrupted by mask-refuser holdouts, makes me think safety measures will largely succeed. </p><p>The greater threat of Coronavirus spreading, as has begun to be borne out in the last week or so, is students' socializing and partying <i>outside</i> the classroom. Today's <i>New York Times</i> has an article entitled "Stop Campus Partying to Slow the Virus? Colleges Try but Often Fail" (<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/22/us/college-campus-covid.html ">link</a>). After describing some of the campuses at which clusters of new COVID-19 cases have recently emerged, the article discusses the myriad responses administrators have tried, in an effort to contain the spread.</p><p>These responses include no-party mandates, student codes and pledges, monitoring by residence-hall advisors, punitive sanctions (suspensions from school and evictions from dormitories), encouragement of students to inform on each other's safety non-compliance, shaming messages ("Do you want to be the person responsible for sending everyone home?"), and "We're in this together" advertising campaigns. The sheer breadth of these measures suggests no one method has been overwhelmingly successful.</p><p>As a result of new COVID-19 outbreaks at some universities, some are indeed sending students back home for online-only instruction (e.g., <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/08/18/unc-chapel-hill-sends-students-home-and-turns-remote-instruction" target="_blank">University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill</a>), whereas others have told students who were scheduled to return to campus not to bother after all (e.g., <a href="https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2020/08/03/michigan-state-tells-students-stay-home-fall-if-you-can/5577122002/" target="_blank">Michigan State</a>). The schools reversing or delaying their returns to on-campus instruction currently number in the hundreds, according to the website <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/08/12/hundreds-colleges-walk-back-fall-reopening-plans-and-opt-online-only-instruction" target="_blank">Inside Higher Ed</a>.</p><p>Unless there is a major sea change in students' willingness to refrain from socializing -- which is not entirely students' fault, in my view, given universities' mixed messaging in continuing to stage entertainment-type events such as football games with <a href="https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/texas-looking-at-25-attendance-capacity-for-home-football-games-in-the-fall-per-interim-university-president/" target="_blank">tens of thousands of spectators</a> in attendance -- I see the present trends toward greater spread and shifts to off-campus learning continuing.</p>alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08047057328265529252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3465593075155538035.post-29276154499340439002020-07-07T18:03:00.001-07:002020-07-13T15:03:19.772-07:00COVID-19 Rise in Young Adults<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqfqQUz0jKw_fV48aWOwrol9tHl5qnbvC73E2BE4KesB8myGmhckSFeNwtqxI_xjT-MBQWqZIsFAYHhWq39b1MdDmWuFcUEmpU2US_GeC_4z2ZwN5UfKZs4RADLXPDkAkWNlTwtYY8g7XQ/s1600/S+Carolina+COVID+rises+by+age.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="310" data-original-width="667" height="185" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqfqQUz0jKw_fV48aWOwrol9tHl5qnbvC73E2BE4KesB8myGmhckSFeNwtqxI_xjT-MBQWqZIsFAYHhWq39b1MdDmWuFcUEmpU2US_GeC_4z2ZwN5UfKZs4RADLXPDkAkWNlTwtYY8g7XQ/s400/S+Carolina+COVID+rises+by+age.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Click on graph to enlarge.</span></div>
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The graph above -- from South Carolina's <a href="https://www.scdhec.gov/news-releases/dhec-warns-increased-cases-covid-19-youth-young-adults-latest-covid-19-update-june-19">Department of Health and Environmental Control</a> (DHEC), showing the state's COVID-19 cases per 100,000 population by age group from March 7 to June 20 -- documents a trend we're hearing a lot about. A lot of cases during the recent wave are among young adults.*<br />
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According to the above-linked DHEC report, "Since April 4, data from the agency shows that there has been a 413.9% increase in newly reported COVID-19 cases among the 21-30 age group..."<br />
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A <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/7/6/21314472/covid-19-coronavirus-us-cases-deaths-trends-wtf"><i>Vox</i> piece</a> notes that, "Young people, who account for a bigger share of the recent cases, aren’t at nearly as high a risk of dying from the virus, but some small number of them will still die and a larger number will end up in the hospital." Even if young adults' fatality rate is low <i>overall</i>, however, yet another manifestation of societal health disparities is a <a href="https://covidtracking.com/blog/why-changing-covid-19-demographics-in-the-us-make-death-trends-harder-to">finding that</a> "Black people with COVID-19 in the 25-34 age
group had a mortality rate 7.3 times that of non-Hispanic white people." Hispanic-to-white mortality ratios are only slightly less pronounced.<br />
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Why the surging COVID count among those in the emerging adulthood range? Three partially overlapping theories seem to be getting the most attention.<br />
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<li>Relative to their older counterparts, on average, adolescents and young adults are thought to see themselves as more immune to certain dangers, earning them the nickname "Young Invincibles." Research has indeed shown greater sense of invulnerability to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0191886909002803">correlate with some risky behaviors</a>.</li>
<li>The brain's prefrontal cortex (PFC), which is associated with reason, planning, and blocking impulsive acts, does not appear to mature fully until well into one's twenties. Hence, <a href="https://www.fox8live.com/2020/06/22/young-people-covid-why-they-may-think-they-are-invincible/">lack of a fully developed PFC</a> among many in the emerging-adulthood age-range -- combined with a brain-based <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/15/opinion/coronavirus-college-safe.html">attunement to rewards</a> such as opportunities to socialize -- may leave them susceptible to risky behaviors. Interestingly, one study that briefly <a href="https://www.jneurosci.org/content/jneuro/26/24/6469.full.pdf">disrupted people's PFC</a> found an increase in gambling.</li>
<li>Related to the previous two ideas, teens and young adults like to socialize, pure and simple. In Minnesota, <a href="https://www.startribune.com/four-bars-linked-to-covid-19-surge-in-young-adults/571513112/">four bars have been identified</a> as COVID "hot spots" for young adults. One of these bars <a href="https://www.mndaily.com/article/2020/06/dinkytowns-kollege-klub-a-hub-for-covid-19-cluster">is in the Dinkytown district</a> by the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, another is not too far away in downtown Minneapolis, and two are in Mankato, home to a Minnesota State University campus. College-area bars have also been linked to COVID in <a href="https://www.mprnews.org/story/2020/07/02/closing-bars-to-stop-coronavirus-spread-is-backed-by-science">other states</a>, as well.</li>
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How do young adults, themselves, view the situation?</div>
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The <i>Huffington Post</i> recently teamed up with the polling organization YouGov to <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mask-requirements-huffpost-yougov-poll_n_5efbb870c5b6ca9709163993">survey U.S. adults of all ages on their behaviors and attitudes</a> regarding COVID. A key item (shown in the following graph) concerns respondents' self-reported mask-wearing in public, near other people. Indeed, fewer respondents under 30 years old (40%) reported "always" wearing a mask than was the case in any of the other age groups.</div>
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If one goes to the <i>HuffPost</i> article at the above link, one can plot the data by any combination of variables one wishes to see (atop the graph, the little "v" in the right-hand part of the green area can be used to select survey items, whereas the "By" button on the little blue square can be used to select the grouping variable, such as age). </div>
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One of the attitude items asked respondents if they believed wearing a mask was more a matter of public health or of personal choice. Interestingly, in each of the four age groups (under 30, 30-44, 45-64, and 65+), far more people cited public health (roughly 60%) than personal choice (roughly 30%). Young adults, therefore, are seemingly on the same page attitudinally with their older peers, but they simply don't follow through in wearing masks.</div>
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As this latest COVID surge unfolds, stronger government orders to wear masks are coming out -- even in <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-02/texas-imposes-mandatory-face-mask-requirement-as-virus-spreads">previously resistant states such as Texas</a> -- so we'll see if this does anything to change the behavior of young adults.</div>
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*Although some of the increase in case numbers may stem from increased testing, that is clearly not the only reason. As <a href="https://covidtracking.com/blog/why-changing-covid-19-demographics-in-the-us-make-death-trends-harder-to">this article</a> points out, "more people in lower-risk populations are likely being tested now than when tests were being strictly rationed to severe cases," which should lead to lower test-positivity rates. Yet, in many regions of the U.S., positivity rates are up. Also, the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/02/health/coronavirus-hospitalizations-rates-rise/index.html">rising hospitalizations</a> seen in many locations presumably originate from people who feel really sick with COVID-type symptoms going -- or being taken by family or friends -- to their doctor or an ER, which has little or nothing to do with testing campaigns in the community.alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08047057328265529252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3465593075155538035.post-52606414538783238652019-03-21T21:29:00.001-07:002019-03-21T21:29:51.463-07:00Pew Report Compares Millenials to Earlier GenerationsThe Pew Research Center, a little over a month ago, released a report entitled "Millennial Life: How Young Adulthood Today Compares with Prior Generations" (<a href="https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/essay/millennial-life-how-young-adulthood-today-compares-with-prior-generations/">LINK</a>). The report defines Millennials as those born from 1981-1996, making them 22-37 at the time of the analyses (2018). The researchers then compared Millennials to members of three prior generations (X, Baby Boom, and Silent) when members of those generations were likewise 22-37.*<br />
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Millennials are more educated and less likely to be married than their earlier-generation counterparts. The report also looks at employment, earnings, living with one's parents, and voting. One of the more interesting graphs, in my view, shows that whereas marriage rates within each pre-Millennial generation did not vary much by education (e.g., in the Silent Generation, subgroups with different educational attainment all fell within 81-86% being married), there were wide educational differences in marriage among the Millennials. Fifty-three percent of Millenials with a Bachelor's degree or higher were married, compared to 44% of those with some college and 40% of high school graduates.<br />
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This report is a must-read for those interested in the demographic characteristics of today's young adults.<br />
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*Some of the analyses compared <b>25</b>-37 year-olds, presumably as a result of different data sets having responses from different age groups available.<br />
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<br />alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08047057328265529252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3465593075155538035.post-10869354639032876042018-05-17T13:06:00.002-07:002018-05-17T13:07:02.684-07:00Politico Series on Cities with Large Populations of MillennialsThe Washington, DC-based <i>Politico</i> magazine recently had an <a href="https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/04/26/millennials-cities-where-they-live-218059">article</a> on cities for Millennials (which the article defined as those born from 1981-1997). To identify these cities, the authors devised a formula that rated cities on factors such as the share of adults in a city who are 25-34, percent of 25-34 year-olds with college degrees, and issues related to cities' economic growth and suitability to walking and using public transportation, the latter "a well documented preference among millennials."<br />
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The result is this <a href="https://www.politico.com/interactives/2018/what-works-next-millennial-cities-list/">list</a> of millennial-aligned cities. Note, however, that many of these cities have features that are not necessarily millennial-friendly, such as sky-high rental and housing costs (e.g., San Francisco, Boston, Washington, DC, and Seattle). On the page with the list, you should see a small circle in the lower-right of the screen, by which it says "TOGGLE." Clicking on the circle will bring up a set of demographic features, with which you can tailor a set of characteristics to your liking, by sliding the bars for more or less of a certain feature. When you do this, the city rankings will automatically be recalculated to fit your needs.<br />
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The article notes that, "the cities that millennials are adopting and transforming tend to be as racially and ethnically diverse as millennials themselves. Two-thirds of the top 50 cities are majority-minority..." Two central features of Emerging Adulthood are exploration and new experiences. Diverse cities will allow young adults to meet people with different backgrounds. To the extent the local job-market is strong, these young adults can also explore different possible lines of work. However, if someone moves to a totally new city, the one safety-net that makes a lot of this exploration possible -- the parental home to which one can boomerang -- won't be there.alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08047057328265529252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3465593075155538035.post-32190976904767545652017-09-25T13:57:00.002-07:002017-09-25T13:57:51.093-07:00NY Times Marriage Article Alludes to Emerging-Adulthood ThemesToday's <i>New York Times</i> article, "<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/25/upshot/how-did-marriage-become-a-mark-of-privilege.html">How Did Marriage Become a Mark of Privilege?</a>", while focusing on marriage-rate differences by socioeconomic class, also incorporates discussion of the transition to adulthood. A couple of key paragraphs from the article are as follows:<br />
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<i><span style="color: #0b5394;">Americans across the income spectrum still highly value marriage, sociologists have found. But while it used to be a marker of adulthood, now it is something more wait to do until the other pieces of adulthood are in place — especially financial stability. For people with less education and lower earnings, that might never happen. </span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="color: #0b5394;">College graduates are more likely to plot their lives methodically — vetting people they date until they’re sure they want to move in with them, and using birth control to delay childbirth until their careers are underway.</span></i>
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Indeed, as Jeff Arnett showed in a 2001 <i>Journal of Adult Development</i> article, only around 13% of midwestern U.S. respondents considered getting married as something that was necessary for adulthood (this figure did not differ much by respondent age). The other portions of the description, about planning and vetting, fit a standard description of emerging adulthood.<br />
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Like marriage, emerging adulthood is also linked to SES. As Katherine Newman (2012) notes in her book <i>The Accordion Family</i>, the better-off a family, the more capable it is of supporting emerging-adult pursuits such as unpaid internships. Some of the ideas given in the <i>Times</i> article for facilitating marriage among those less well-off, such as affordable housing for young adults, would also likely provide a stable base for emerging-adulthood-type exploration in the areas of work and romantic relationships.alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08047057328265529252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3465593075155538035.post-38144974381483013252017-04-13T13:26:00.003-07:002017-04-13T13:27:27.728-07:00Chicago School System Aims to Expedite Graduates' Career PlanningAccording to this <i>Vox</i> <a href="http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/4/12/15245236/chicago-public-school-graduation-requirement-for-college">article</a>:<br />
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<i><span style="color: blue;">Chicago Public Schools has a new requirement for its 435,000 students: To graduate, they must prove they have a post-graduation plan. That means a college acceptance letter, a job offer, military orders, or enrollment in a job training program.
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In many observers' view, emerging adulthood best serves as a time of intentional exploration, in which individuals contemplate and try out different educational and career pathways, en route to finding ones that embody their "true selves." This period of life, however, can also involve what some would consider <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/08/21/guyland">unproductive use of time</a> (e.g., heavy drinking, excessive media usage) and floundering.<br />
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Chicago's plan can be seen as an attempt to direct more students toward a purposeful trajectory. <i>Vox</i> quotes an important point from city school official Janice Jackson: “In schools with high levels of support, every child was already walking out with a postsecondary plan... There are schools where we need to push a little bit more.”</div>
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College attendance is not simply a matter of skills and motivation. Financial considerations and what many teens consider an intimidating process of applying to college and for financial aid, also can determine whether a student ends up at a university. Chicago is seeking to combine its new graduation requirement with extra counselors and other resources to help students find their way.</div>
alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08047057328265529252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3465593075155538035.post-76987566127003045432017-02-09T19:27:00.002-08:002017-02-09T19:27:32.241-08:00Detailed Analyses of Rent Assistance Emerging Adults Receive From ParentsThe <i>New York Times</i>'s "Upshot" quantitative analysis crew delves into the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/09/upshot/a-secret-of-many-urban-20-somethings-their-parents-help-with-the-rent.html">amount of rent assistance</a> individuals in their early 20s receive from their parents. The article includes comparisons by where the grown children are living and the type of career they are pursuing.<br />
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Naturally, parents give more assistance when their children are living in big cities.
Also, "Those in the art and design fields get the most help, an average of $3,600 a year... [Whereas] some jobs in science, technology, engineering, management and law have clearer and more substantial payoffs after years of internships and postgraduate training, ... pay in art, design and education is low in the early years, and for some people, it remains low."<br />
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These findings remind me a little of Richard Florida's ideas regarding <a href="http://creativeclass.com/rfcgdb/articles/4%20Cities%20and%20the%20Creative%20Class.pdf">cities as magnets</a> for individuals in the "creative class."alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08047057328265529252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3465593075155538035.post-58841495286380706912016-05-25T11:21:00.001-07:002016-05-25T11:26:44.289-07:00Living with Parents Now Most Common Status for 18-34 Year-OldsThe Pew Research Center has just released a report, announcing that "In 2014, for the first time in more than 130 years, adults ages 18 to 34 were slightly more likely to be living in their parents’ home than they were to be living with a spouse or partner in their own household" (<a href="http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2016/05/24/for-first-time-in-modern-era-living-with-parents-edges-out-other-living-arrangements-for-18-to-34-year-olds/">link</a>). When social scientists analyze large data sets -- in this case, several rounds of the once-a-decade U.S. Census plus recent versions of the <a href="https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/">American Community Survey</a> -- it can take a few years for all the data to be processed and analyzed.<br />
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The 2014 breakdown of young adults' living arrangements, according to Pew, were as follows:<br />
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<li>32.1% living with parents</li>
<li>31.6% living with spouse/partner</li>
<li>22% living in miscellaneous arrangements, such as with grandparents, siblings, or in a college dormitory</li>
<li>14% living alone (or as a single parent) or with roommates.</li>
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The overall trend is largely driven by men. By a margin of 35-28%, men in 2014 were more likely to live with parents than with a spouse/partner. In women, living in a marital/cohabiting relationship still exceeded residing with parents (35-29%).<br />
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Also, college-educated individuals are an exception to the trend. Young adults with a bachelor's degree were far more likely to be married or cohabiting (46%) than living with parents (19%). The 46% of college grads married or cohabiting in 2014, however, is a come-down from previous decades; in 1960, approximately 70% of college grads were married or cohabiting (mostly married, in all probability).<br />
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<i>(Thanks to AZ for originally posting the link on Facebook.)</i>alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08047057328265529252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3465593075155538035.post-60155130608355306962016-05-14T15:50:00.000-07:002016-05-14T15:51:29.166-07:00Prof's Tips for College Students Raise Emerging Adulthood ThemesColumbia University professor Christopher Blattman has just published a piece entitled "10 things not enough kids know before going to college" (<a href="http://www.vox.com/2015/1/7/7500705/college-advice">link</a>). In my estimation, four of Blattman's tips involve <a href="http://www.apa.org/monitor/jun06/emerging.aspx">themes associated with emerging adulthood</a>.<br />
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Three pieces of advice -- No. 1 "Try careers on for size," No. 7 "Go to places that are unfamiliar to you," and No. 10 "Blow your mind" (challenging your own beliefs and opinions by reading a diverse set of sources) -- pertain to the <i>identity-exploration</i> aspect of EA.<br />
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Another facet of EA is the sense of <i>open possibilities</i>, that one can successfully pursue any of a number of career or other life goals. Of course, twenty-somethings often learn the hard way that their aspirations ultimately weren't realistic. Blattman's fifth suggestion seeks to aid college students in maximizing their prospects: "[C]hoose the path that keeps the most doors open."alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08047057328265529252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3465593075155538035.post-2682792211380107882015-11-23T16:01:00.000-08:002015-11-23T16:01:01.448-08:00New Huffington Post/YouGov Survey on "Helicopter" ParentingThe <i>Huffington Post</i> recently teamed up with online polling firm <i>YouGov</i> to survey U.S. adults on the performance and receipt of "helicopter" parenting behaviors. Results are reported <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/what-is-a-helicopter-parent_56453977e4b08cda34883f85?">here</a>, with the article containing links to additional study details. (For some of the measures of assistance-receipt, results focus on individuals 33 years-old and younger, rather than the full adult population.)<br />
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As the article discusses, it is hard to define helicopter parenting with precision, as after all, "...one person’s loving guidance is another person’s overbearing supervision." One marker the article offers is "whether a parent does something for a child that is developmentally inappropriate." For example, by intervening when their child has made a mistake in a relatively low-stakes situation, are parents depriving the child of an opportunity to learn from the consequences? Are parents providing financial assistance only for their child's basic needs or for everything, including entertainment? Asking about different kinds of parenting, and their consequences for grown children, should help refine our understanding of optimal parental involvement.<br />
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To learn about some studies I have conducted in this area, see this <a href="http://www.webpages.ttu.edu/areifman/hdfs3390helicopter.html">page</a>.alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08047057328265529252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3465593075155538035.post-31261749046644550172015-09-18T16:27:00.000-07:002015-09-19T14:29:55.994-07:00Millennials and the "Gig Economy"The online publication <i>Working Capital Review</i> has a <a href="http://workingcapitalreview.com/2015/09/millennials-it-may-be-time-to-rethink-the-gig-economy/">new article</a> out on Millennials and the "gig" or freelancing economy, along with an <a href="http://fu-web-storage-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/content/filer_public/c2/06/c2065a8a-7f00-46db-915a-2122965df7d9/fu_freelancinginamericareport_v3-rgb.pdf">associated report</a>. Rather than work at a traditional 9:00-to-5:00 job, in other words, one can work as an independent contractor, for however many hours a week one wants to work, provided one can find customers for the particular service provided. The <i>WCR</i> article provides some basic background information: <br />
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<i><span style="color: blue;">According to the study, the explosion in the number of American freelancers is due to the expansion of the internet and social networking in connecting people with projects. Not surprisingly, the area of greatest growth amongst freelancers lies with Millennials. Many of these people have spent their entire working lives as freelancers. Thirty-eight percent of Millennials are freelancing compared with 32 percent of workers older than 35. What’s more, the Great Recession wiped out the notion that a traditional job was secure, the study says. “This growth demand and wage potential – not to mention the freedom that comes with freelancing – has many more Americans thinking about making the jump.” </span></i><br />
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In my view, the features young people say they want in a job (e.g., flexible hours and working conditions; ability to express one's personal identity), combined with their technological savvy, make these findings totally unsurprising. The article sounds a note of caution for Millennials, however, namely that freelancing doesn't provide benefits (e.g., health, retirement) that frequently are part of traditional jobs. Freelancers would thus have to set some of their earnings aside to acquire these benefits.alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08047057328265529252noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3465593075155538035.post-63786034965370612542015-08-14T11:51:00.001-07:002015-08-14T11:54:13.504-07:00Economic Improvements for Young Adults Not Translating into Living On One's OwnThe Pew Research Center issued a late-July report entitled "More Millennials Living With Family Despite Improved Job Market" (<a href="http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2015/07/29/more-millennials-living-with-family-despite-improved-job-market/?ncid=newsltushpmg00000003">link</a>).<br />
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The report notes that, "unemployment among 18- to 34-year-olds peaked at 12.4% in 2010. As of the first third of 2015, unemployment among young adults in this age group was 7.7%, nearly 40% below the peak."<br />
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Yet, living independently, which Pew defines as "heading one's own household or living in a household headed by a spouse, unmarried partner or other non-relative," has not risen in tandem with the improving news on the jobs front. In fact, living independently has declined somewhat. In 2007, just before the Great Recession, 71% of 18-34 year-olds lived independently, whereas only 67% currently do. (Analyses exclude 18-24 year-old full-time college students.)<br />
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Living in one's parents' home has increased from 22% of 18-34 year-olds in 2007 to 26% in 2015.<br />
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Another interesting finding, characterized in the report as a "silver lining," is that college enrollment rose during the Great Recession. The report notes that, "College-educated young adults have been quicker to regain the ground they lost in terms of job-holding and wages. But this hasn’t led them to venture out on their own and establish their own households."<br />
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If the economy continues to improve, it is possible that large numbers of young adults who have been living with family will finally move out and live independently. Alternatively, there may be no "great move-out." In that event, expanded household size (also known as "<a href="http://emergingadulthood.blogspot.com/2014/08/book-review-accordion-family.html">accordion families</a>") may be a long-term phenomenon.alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08047057328265529252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3465593075155538035.post-84900441763107385852015-05-31T18:49:00.001-07:002015-05-31T19:20:32.151-07:00Book Review: Twenty-Something: Why Do Young Adults Seem Stuck?I'm pleased to review the book <i>Twenty-Something: Why Do Young Adults Seem Stuck?</i> by the mother-daughter journalist pair of Robin Marantz Henig and Samantha Henig (respectively). I'm pretty sure I received my 2013 paperback version of the book as a complimentary copy from the publisher, given my teaching and research in this area, and I let the book sit for a long time (I'm chronically way behind on books I'm planning to read). I'm glad I got around to <i>Twenty-Something</i>, though.<br />
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Some readers of this blog may recall the splashy 2010 <i>New York Times Magazine</i> article on the transition to adulthood, featuring extensive interviews with Jeff Arnett and other researchers (link <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/magazine/22Adulthood-t.html">here</a>). I did not initially make the connection, but Robin was also the author of that <i>Times</i> piece. <i>Twenty-Something</i> represents her attempt, with Samantha brought on board, to provide a book-length treatment of what she had started researching for the <i>Times</i>. Samantha, as a mid-late twenty-something during the book's writing, provides an insider's perspective.<br />
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Examples are all around us of young people taking their time to get married and establish a career, moving back home with their parents, and, in some cases, just floundering in general. There also seems to be a fairly widespread belief that such delays and other elements of today's young-adult life are totally new, uncharted territory. Some things, such as social media and Internet dating, unquestionably are new, but that doesn't mean everything is.<br />
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What sets this book apart from others on emerging adulthood is its systematic questioning of whether today's extended journey to adulthood is really as unprecedented as it's sometimes made out to be. Other than some authors pointing out that the post-World War II era in the U.S. was notable for its <i>unusually young</i> ages of first marriage,* thus accentuating today's marriage delay, there does not seem to be much critical examination of how new today's emerging-adult lifestyle really is.<br />
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Across the domains of education, careers, marriage, childbearing, health-risk behaviors, friendship, and parent-adult child relations, Henig and Henig compare today's young adults (specifically Millennials, who they define as being born between 1980-1990) to the Baby Boomer generation at the same ages. Each domain-specific chapter features a section marshaling arguments for "Now is New," another section making the case for "Same as it Ever Was," and a concluding section in which the authors declare a winner. Not to give away too much, but each side wins some of the time.<br />
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In drawing their conclusions, the authors draw both from published academic research and their own snowball survey of Robin's and Sam's friends and associates. The authors' collaborative writing style is also interesting. One of the two (usually Robin) took the lead in writing a given chapter, with the other inserting her own comments (set apart in italics). On the whole, <i>Twenty-Something</i> is informative and entertaining, and I highly recommend it.<br />
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*Amato, P. R. (2011). Transitions and sequences: Early family formation among women in emerging adulthood. In F. D. Fincham & M. Cui (Eds.), <i>Romantic relationships in emerging adulthood</i> (pp. 27–43). New York: Cambridge University Press.alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08047057328265529252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3465593075155538035.post-75537772585866562682015-01-18T15:02:00.002-08:002015-01-18T15:02:56.814-08:00Book Review: Aspiring Adults AdriftEducational sociologists Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa have followed up their 2011 book <i>Academically Adrift</i> (which I review <a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-campus/201103/how-successfully-do-colleges-impart-critical-thinking-skills">here</a>) with <i><a href="http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/A/bo19088566.html">Aspiring Adults Adrift: Tentative Transitions of College Graduates</a></i> (2014). The new book, based on follow-up data from the same cohort studied in the earlier book, expands beyond the earlier book's inquiry into students' cognitive gains during college to investigate students' progress two years after graduation in domains such as employment, graduate education, romantic relationships, and living independently.<br />
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Some may question the entire premise of <i>Aspiring Adults Adrift</i> on the grounds that two years is too short a time frame to expect college graduates to have made major strides in traditional adult roles. Considering the state of the U.S. economy around the time of the students' 2009 graduation, difficulties establishing oneself in the workforce and other domains would indeed not be surprising.<br />
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In addition to providing basic descriptive information (e.g., percentages of graduates who are employed full-time, part-time, and not at all, two years out of college, and what kinds of salary they are making), Arum and Roksa test for correlation between academic aspects of the students' college experiences and their post-college success in the real world. College variables include students' performance on the Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA; a major part of <i>Academically Adrift</i>), institutional selectivity, and field of study.<br />
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Many of the statistical relationships between college variables and post-college success seemed rather modest. For example, with high and low CLA performance defined as one standard deviation above and below the mean, respectively, roughly 15% of low CLA scorers ended up in unskilled occupations, compared to 10% of high scorers.<br />
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Beyond the empiricism, Arum and Roksa have some larger points to make about U.S. higher education. Social aspects of college -- not just the party scene, but putting a high priority on meeting and getting along with fellow students from diverse backgrounds -- appear to be gaining in importance. Academic standards have so declined, the authors argue, that students see mere completion of all assigned work in a class as something noteworthy.<br />
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<i>Aspiring Adults Adrift</i> is not without interesting themes. However, for reasons noted above, I would recommend it only for readers with a specialized interest in college-student development.alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08047057328265529252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3465593075155538035.post-10065280260614029962014-12-26T09:15:00.003-08:002014-12-26T09:15:26.161-08:00New York Times: "Is it Smart to Delay Adulthood?"The <i>New York Times</i> features a "Room for Debate" forum, featuring several expert columnists, on the question "<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/12/25/is-it-smart-to-delay-adulthood">Is it Smart to Delay Adulthood?</a>"alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08047057328265529252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3465593075155538035.post-48254732493894109262014-09-21T10:03:00.000-07:002014-09-21T10:03:13.988-07:00Steinberg: "The Case for Delayed Adulthood"Today's <i>New York Times</i> features an article by Temple University professor Laurence Steinberg entitled "The Case for Delayed Adulthood" (<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/21/opinion/sunday/the-case-for-delayed-adulthood.html">link</a>). The article focuses on brain development in the context of life experiences, arguing that the longer one can be exposed to novel and challenging situations during the adolescent and emerging-adult years, the better off one will be.alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08047057328265529252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3465593075155538035.post-46514268557241090622014-08-22T09:18:00.001-07:002014-08-22T09:19:41.966-07:00Texas Tech University's "Before I Graduate" ChalkboardUniversities are buzzing with excitement, as the new academic year is about to begin. Texas Tech University (where I'm on the faculty) is no exception. Whether to capture the hopes and dreams of today's youth, or just for fun, or for whatever reason, the university invites students to write what they hope to accomplish "before I graduate," on a large chalkboard in the student union. Thinking that students' aspirations may (or may not) tell us something about emerging adulthood (EA), I took a photograph of the board yesterday. (You may click on the following image to enlarge it.)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg58DT-gYQCVlvQMuIM5ZVGnw5qV7pEIqNbgZoEGqPlbzgy9z5YJrPWX_zYSRSmZeUJuk-LotT3j0OQAYkEFoS78xyhEJbE9EhujDMZ4KrCt-XRXr0NaqGrkrfRqblz0UAI2k3vNr7zlql-/s1600/2014-08-22+11.45.59.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg58DT-gYQCVlvQMuIM5ZVGnw5qV7pEIqNbgZoEGqPlbzgy9z5YJrPWX_zYSRSmZeUJuk-LotT3j0OQAYkEFoS78xyhEJbE9EhujDMZ4KrCt-XRXr0NaqGrkrfRqblz0UAI2k3vNr7zlql-/s1600/2014-08-22+11.45.59.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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Some of the statements reflect academic self-betterment ("I want to learn 3 languages"), whereas others are more whimsical ("Marry Kingsbury," in reference to Texas Tech's <a href="http://gamedayr.com/lifestyle/kliff-kingsbury-the-bachelor-reasons-100559/">heart-throb football coach</a>). One person writes, "I want to be a billionaire," unlikely in general, but especially <i>before</i> graduation!<br />
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Jeff Arnett writes in <a href="http://jeffreyarnett.com/windingroad.htm">one of his books</a> that EA "tends to be an age of high hopes and great expectations, in part because few of [these individuals'] dreams have been tested in the fires of real life" (p. 16).<br />
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Given that the bulk of emerging-adulthood research is on college students (presumably because they're such a readily available source of research participants), it is important to note that EA includes non-college youth, as well. In fact, this latter group has been labeled as the "<a href="http://www.civicyouth.org/PopUps/NetrootsVoterEdfinal.pdf">Forgotten Half</a>," for researchers' and policymakers' relative inattention to it.alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08047057328265529252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3465593075155538035.post-89763145448189389642014-08-15T17:16:00.003-07:002014-08-15T17:21:18.037-07:00Book Review: The Accordion FamilyKatherine Newman's book <i><a href="http://www.beacon.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=2241">The Accordion Family: Boomerang Kids, Anxious Parents, and the Private Toll of Global Competition</a></i> probes a number of contemporary issues ranging from family dynamics to national economic and immigration policies. The term "accordion family" refers to the idea of households stretching, like an accordion, as grown children live in their family domiciles longer than they have in previous generations. The severe economic downturn of recent years and the continuing lack of jobs for young adults in many countries has likely exacerbated the trend.<br />
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Though accordion families seem to be a constant across developed countries (except for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordic_countries">Nordic countries</a> such as Denmark and Sweden, which provide government benefits for young adults to secure their own housing), parents in different nations appear to have greatly divergent attitudes toward grown children living so long at home. Japanese parents are horrified, Italian and Spanish parents are more comfortable, and U.S. parents accept the situation as long as their children are attempting to better themselves educationally and occupationally.<br />
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Roughly the first half of the book establishes these national differences in depth, with extensive use of excerpts from interviews conducted by Newman's international team of researchers in the different nations. I personally found this part of the book a little dense and tedious, driving home the basic points repeatedly.<br />
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Fortunately, I did not give up on the book halfway through. The second half applies a more analytic outlook, examining several key issues in family studies:<br />
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*Even though many parents and grown children enjoy each other's companionship and the increasingly egalitarian interactions that take place, what are potential disadvantages of grown children remaining home?<br />
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*Will some parents find that the expenses of maintaining an accordion family threaten their retirement savings?<br />
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*Do accordion-family dynamics differ depending on whether the grown child is male or female? One of my favorite quotes in the book is the following: "While boomerang women are just as capable of sloth as their brothers or boyfriends, there does seem to be a gender problem afoot here. Young men seem far more likely to drag their feet when it comes to striking out on their own, and they seem less inclined to worry that they are putting their parents, especially their mothers, to a lot of trouble..." (p. 142).<br />
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*Is there an inherent trade-off between economic independence and social-affectional bonds? In other words, do the government policies that allow children in Nordic countries to move out of the family home at a young age (potentially a good thing) have the unintended consequence of making members of the different generations more socially distant from each other? Or conversely, does the banding together of accordion families in response to economic difficulties (potentially a stressful experience) promote emotional closeness?<br />
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*Whether grown children's boomerang lifestyle is a cause, consequence, or correlate of delayed marriage and childbearing, low birthrates threaten the future tax base for countries' old-age pension plans (e.g., Social Security in the U.S.). As Newman discusses, the nations featured in the book vary widely in their openness to immigration, which (intentionally or not) allows high-immigration countries to maintain their population size. Native-born residents' attitudes toward the immigrants sometimes create a new source of friction, however.<br />
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*When boomerang parents' own parents begin to require extensive caregiving, will the challenges of "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandwich_generation">sandwich generation</a>" status intensify? (What would the field of family studies be like without all these cute nicknames?)<br />
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I think it's clear that governments and families in many countries face important long-term decisions and Newman does an excellent job of framing them. I will be interested to see if future authors extend the analysis beyond the narrow band of economically advanced countries examined in <i>The Accordion Family</i> to a broader array of nations.alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08047057328265529252noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3465593075155538035.post-81793515628699472652014-06-06T06:31:00.001-07:002014-06-06T06:33:19.780-07:00Child Trends Study Links Adolescent Variables to Successful Transitions to AdulthoodThe research organization <a href="http://www.childtrends.org/">Child Trends</a> has just <a href="http://www.childtrends.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/2014-20TransitioningAdulthoodReligiousInvolvement.pdf">released a report</a>, using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (<a href="http://www.cpc.unc.edu/projects/addhealth">Add Health</a>), on how variables assessed during adolescence presage the quality of one's transition to adulthood.<br />
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Predictor variables (assessed in Waves I and II, when respondents were in grades 7-12) included supportive relationships with parents, friends, and teachers; and religious involvement.<br />
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The behaviors that comprised the outcome categories -- "heavy alcohol use, illicit drug use, marijuana use, serious
delinquent behavior, and serious financial problems" -- were not described until an appendix. At each of Waves III (which included ages 18-26) and IV (24-32), participants were divided via latent class analysis into "minimal," "moderate," and "multiple" problem groups.<br />
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Religious involvement and caring relationships with parents and teachers predicted membership in the least problematic group at Wave III, although a supportive relationship with friends during adolescence predicted <i>more</i> behavior problems for the focal participants. Perhaps closeness to friends led many adolescents into risk-taking behaviors with peers.<br />
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Finally, moving into a lower-risk group between Waves III and IV (i.e., into the mid-20s and early 30s), that is to say, a favorable transition to adulthood, was predicted by religious involvement and a caring relationship with teachers, as assessed during adolescence.<br />
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Concurrent correlations between high religious involvement and refraining from risky/problematic behaviors do not allow one to ascertain the direction of causality. It could be that religious involvement protects against problem behaviors, but it is also possible that well-behaved youth are attracted to religious involvement. The longitudinal nature of the Add Health dataset, however, has allowed the Child Trends investigators to show that religious involvement in adolescence precedes the low levels of problem behavior in young adulthood.alanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08047057328265529252noreply@blogger.com0