Why are younger generations so far behind older generations?

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I was just thinking about this. My sister and I are the same age as our parents when they got married. My dad was 27 and my mom was 25. I am 27 and my sister is 25 and neither of us are currently in a relationship. Neither of us have any plans to get married. I doubt that I ever will but I don't know about my sister. It is hard to believe that my parents were married at my sister's and my age, but one of us getting married now would seem like a foreign concept. Neither one of us has our life together. My sister is finishing up her master's degree and I currently have no career prospects. It seems like a lot of my peers are the same way. Many of my peers are now older than when their parents got married and had them and most of them are not yet married and have no kids. There was a report that came out about 6 months ago that said that more than half of young adults in the United States still live with their parents or a parent. There has always been this mentality in the United States that once you turn 18 you are supposed to be moved out of your parents' home and be on your own. Most young people moved out of their parents' home after high school graduation, found a job, got married, and started having kids in their early twenties. Today, young people are delaying having kids and getting married or not getting married and having kids at all. Many of them can barely afford a one bedroom apartment. Was life more affordable in the past than it is today? Most young people today are nowhere near where their parents and grandparents were at this stage in life.

I've noticed that too, here in the UK. Three of my NT cousins have finally settled down and have had a baby, but they were all in their early 30s when they/their wives fell pregnant. But our parents all were in their early or mid-20s when they had their first borns.

I think it's just times have changed. It is not considered weird to live with your parents as an adult these days. I know a guy at work who still lives with his parents at age 30, but nobody really bats an eye.

My mum says it is sensible to wait until you're 30 to have children, because you'll still have your freedom through your 20s. She was bogged down with two kids by the time she was 25, and she said she wasn't even that mature for her age and that she should have waited a few more years (she's NT but had low self-esteem and lack of confidence).

Yes life was cheaper and more affordable in the past than it is currently.

It may be that things seem that way to us because we are on the autism spectrum. It is very common for us autistics to be behind our peers when it comes to various life stuff. Some stuff claim that on average our mental ages are a 3rd less than our physical ages but that is just an average & there can be plenty of variation & exceptions. It makes sense that those of us on the spectrum may be closer to non-mainstream people instead of being super close to stereotypical NTs. There is a saying that goes "birds of a feather flock together". That can give us a different perspective.

However that said, times have changed as well. There is aLOT of income inequality these days between the very rich & the very poor. Also the various jobs available tend to be much more skilled than they used to be & require more than a high-school diploma. I've known some older people who said that when they were young you only really needed a college degree for a few jobs like teacher, lawyer, & doctor. Lots of jobs require a college degree these days & it is a lot harder to afford going to college than it used to be. Colleges jacked their costs up quite a lot. Also here in the US, the government used to manage the student loan program Sallie Mae & then the government privatized them & they became for profit. It can be very difficult for lots with only a high-school diploma to make more than minimum-wage & there are college graduates that have a hard time finding jobs that pay a bit more than the minimum-wage. The minimum-wage has NOT kept up with the rapid inflation. It is much harder to afford to live independently these days than it used to be.

The Tru TV show Adam Ruins Everything explained the necessity of having a college degree






& the show also explained the student loan thing

Meanwhile, in a different part of the world...

...My parents married three years younger than me, they had children at about the same age but they couldn't afford an apartament of their own until I was 10.

Economy. It matters.

Rapid changes and crises also make people postpone such decisions - people tend to wait in hope things stabilize before deciding to have kids.

Yeah, another factor might be - people of our generation can be critical about marriage and childrearing history of our parents and not want to repeat their mistakes, choosing totally different goals instead.

I think it's a mix of a lot of reasons, different for different people. For example, my mom is 62, and when she was young, it was kind of a rule here to marry the person you dated. Being together without making it official was seriously frowned upon, especially for women. My generation has no such a problem here, aside from some religious groups.

I guess I'm lucky in a way cuz my parents had me when they were 30 & they have a good marriage for the most part. They were very poor when they 1st got married but they worked very hard & gradually got to lower middle class. I'm originally from the deep south but my parents are fairly liberal(they used to support the Green Party but they started voting Democrat when they thought the elections might be close or a conservative might win). My family is Catholic but my parents are not very practicing. I went to a couple Catholic schools because I was constantly bullied & accused of being a bully when I went to public school & I also have various learning disabilities & the public schools were not very accommodating. Mom & dad insisted that I needed a high-school diploma to have job options after high-school & they refused to let me drop out. However after I graduated high-school & started looking for a job, no job apps asked me about having a high-school diploma or G.E.D. There tended to be spots for college, trade school, licenses & certifications but nothing about high-school or having a G.E.D. on any job app I have ever filled out. I would literally have the exact same options with employment if I would of been allowed to drop out of high-school instead of having the diploma. A high-school diploma seems completely worthless these days if you have no intention of going to college or some kinda trade school. I mean if you had the exact same smarts & skills weather you had a high-school diploma or not, having the diploma would be worthless if you have no interest in pursuing further education. I feel a major reason why I'm behind my parents with life stuff is because I have various mental & physical disabilities in addition to my autism. I do think there can be a major divide between the generations sometimes & it's harder in general for the younger generation to be independent but I don't think that is the main issue for me. However my mom was under the mindset that 1ce a kid is done with school, the parents should no longer need to be supporting their kid. Her & dad have done much more for me as a teen & adult than most parents would do for their kids but but my mom was very willing to to let me know how frustrated she was with the situation. She felt that I was simply lazy & did not want to do anything which made me feel like she resented me most of my life. She felt I was too comfortable & I needed to be punished & guilt tripped into wanting to be independent. When I was a teen I actually sometimes wished that my parents would of gotten divorced so I could live with dad cuz he was much more laid back & only really got mad at me when me & mom were fighting.

I wish you luck with the apartment & job stuff Sweetleaf

I've also noticed the same thing in Canada.