In the News: Growing Up, Slowly

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Growing Up, Slowly

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From age 20 to 22 is still acknowledged as the period by which a person should be finished with school, have a job and live on his or her own, but today many people well into their 30s are still working on these goals.

Changing economic outlooks and social mores have led to the shift in delayed maturity. More than half of college students are women, as well as almost half the workforce. These changing priorities have led to an age shift in childbearing years, from the early 20s to the 30s.

Having children is seen as a lifestyle choice rather than a mandatory part of adulthood, and while the median age for a first marriage in 1980 was 23 years old, it is now 27 for men and 26 for women (Patricia Cohen, "Long Road to Adulthood Is Growing Even Longer," The New York Times, June 11, 2010).