Psychotherapy Networker: Adultesence: Leaving Home Ain't What It Used to Be

March 2005
by Linda Gordon

These days, the journey to adulthood is often more circuitous than it was in previous generations. The markers of adulthood that were once self-evident-- getting married, having children, finding a job that might last a lifetime, becoming economically independent, and owning your own home--- are more elusive and harder for many young adults to achieve. The average age for first marriages is now closer to 30 than to 20, and many young adults delay having their own children until they're in their mid-thirties. Satisfying, career-track jobs are also more difficult to find, and changing jobs is more common. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average person now holds 9.2 jobs between ages 18 and 34.

Job insecurity, unemployment, and other social factors account for the fact that 62 percent of adult children today expect to live at home for extended periods of time after college or between jobs. As a result, parents who think that their empty nest will allow them to turn that unused bedroom into a gym or home office often have to think again! In fact, many find that their nests are even fuller, often cluttered with girlfriends and boyfriends. They also have to learn a new balancing act between too permissive and expecting too much too soon that can be extremely challenging.

Click here to read the full article.

TIME MAGAZINE: The Secret Love Lives of Teenage Boys

Sunday, Aug. 27, 2006

Scientists who study young love are discovering that contrary to popular belief, male adolescents don't just want to have fun

By LEV GROSSMAN

In 1995 Peggy Giordano did a study of high school yearbooks. She was leafing through one when something caught her eye about the notes people had written there, something about their rawness and their honesty. "I was amazed at some of the messages that the boys were writing to girls," Giordano says. "They seemed to be so emotional and so heartfelt. It didn't seem to jibe with the picture of boys' only wanting one thing and objectifying young women.

"Giordano is not the typical target audience for a mash note written in a yearbook. She's a professor of sociology at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, and the object of her most recent investigations is not the kind of thing you would think social scientists spend their time on. Her quarry, sociologically speaking, is the elusive, zealously guarded heart of the modern-day teenage boy. Giordano--an author of such articles as "A Conceptual Portrait of Adolescent Romantic Relationships" and "Hooking Up: The Relationship Contexts of 'Nonrelationship' Sex"--believes something most people don't: not only do adolescent boys have hearts, but they're also the biggest romantics around.

Click here to read the full article.