Mr. Navarro[, who is 30] lives with his parents in Queens. His mother packs lunch for him a few times a week. His bedroom still has his high school baseball trophies and a giant stuffed bunny that was a present from a former girlfriend. On
weekends, he plays touch football and goes drinking and clubbing with his
two best friends – both about his age, fully employed and living with their
parents, too.“When I was in college, I thought I’d be married by 24 and have a house and
kids by 30,” Mr. Navarro said. “Now I think the idea of being an emotionally
developed male by 24 is ridiculous. I want to get married and have kids
someday. But I don’t feel any pressure that it has to be soon.”Mr. Navarro is no loser: he is funny, good-looking, charming – and typical
of his generation’s slowed-down approach to adulthood. To some extent, the
data tells the story. Nearly all the traditional markers of adulthood,
including marrying, getting a college degree and moving out of the family
home, are occurring later than they did a generation ago.The shape of life for those between 18 and 34 has changed so profoundly that
many social scientists now think of those years as a new life stage,
“transitional adulthood” – just as, a century ago, they recognized
adolescence as a life stage separating childhood from adulthood.