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New figures and a slew of articles examined by our Editor, Welshman Phil Parry show that young people in Wales may be growing up slower than in previous generations.
It pays to stay young.
You can use the washing machine and raid the fridge, when you live with your mum and dad as a young person.
Now new figures and articles appear to support this, while one new book on this subject, for example, Infantilised by Keith Hayward, says that it is a growing concern.
Mr Hayward, a criminologist at the University of Copenhagen (UoC), contends that young people today are less mature than previous generations.
He offers plenty of examples of “kidulting” to reinforce his case.
Some people, for example, like to recreate their childhood pleasures by dressing up as ‘My Little Pony’ and buying tickets to places where they can jump into ball pits and do pillow-fights.
Some carry on pursuing teenage kicks in nightclubs well into early middle age
In rich countries there has been a dramatic fall in the share of people who, by the age of 30, have attained the traditional markers of adulthood: leaving home, becoming financially independent, getting married, having a child.
In the UK, the median age for a first (heterosexual) marriage, at 33 for men and 31 for women, is a decade higher than it was in the early 1960s.
In 2016 a Pew study found that for the first time in 130 years, American 18-34-year-olds were more likely to be living with their parents than with a partner in a separate abode.
Wales is no stranger to this issue – and the high price of houses may be a factor.
I bought my first house in Cardiff at the age of 24, but this would be completely impossible for most young people today.
The average price of a property in Wales is over £214,000, and although there has been a slight decline over the last few years (which could now be reversed with stability in government at a UK level), the picture generally is one of a relentless rise.
Much better to live at home with mum and dad.
There’s a full fridge and washing machine to use after all…
The memories of Phil’s decades long award-winning career in journalism (when you grew up faster) as he was gripped by the rare neurological disease Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia (HSP), have been released in a major book ‘A GOOD STORY’. Order it now!
