YOUTH PAGE CONTINUES.....DO NOT POSTPONE BECOMING AN ADULT WITH PERSONAL AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITIES.....
Posted by Ashram News Reporter on May 16, 2004

veD = SCIENCES OF CREATION AND LIFE
SAYS:
gRUHs`TH-aaSRm MUST START WHEN
YOUTH OF bRH`mchaaARy-aaSRm ENDS
ON COMPLETING STUDIES
TO BE GAINFULLY EMPLOYED...
BUT DISCOVERY SAYS NOT IN THIS
kli-yug...

PVAF is concluding this week YOUTH CELEBRATION of serial on YOUTH PAGE....with a profound discovery that the youths of this generation are postponing as much as they can becoming contributing adults in the family and society they live in.......

...WHAT IS HAPPENING TO THIS GENERATION OF YOUTH?
WHO ARE HAVING 100 TIMES MORE
 THAN THEIR PARENTS DID TO GROW UP
.....demographers have begun to label even those
as old as 35 "adolescents" and "youths.....?????"

Prof. Beaujot said that some analysts believe that the extended period between childhood and adulthood is positive and efficient, giving people more time to invest in themselves and find out what they want..... The trend, which started in the mid-1960s and has deepened since, means that the fertility rate and the age structure of the nation have been affected in ways that society has failed to take into account, said Roderic Beaujot, a demographer at the University of Western Ontario. He is author of the research paper Delayed Life Transitions: Trends and Implications, published yesterday by the Vanier Institute of the Family.....

To know about this alarming and profound discovery about the recent generations of youth please visit Canadian Globe and Mail by clicking on the preceding red hilite or read on this LIFE BASED KNOWLEDGE GIVING PVAF WEB SITE by clicking on the next line.....


Generation that won't grow up:
Young people postpone
leaving home, starting family, to focus on their careers


By ALANNA MITCHELL
Canadian Globe and Mail: Tuesday, May 11, 2004 - Page A6

Call it the generation with the longest adolescence in Canadian history. So far.

Today's young people are so slow to reach so many of the traditional rites of adulthood that demographers have begun to label even those as old as 35 "adolescents" and "youths."

These rites include leaving home, getting a stable job, having a long-term relationship and having a child. It's happening mostly because both men and women are spending much larger amounts of time and money on schooling and on becoming professionally established.

The trend, which started in the mid-1960s and has deepened since, means that the fertility rate and the age structure of the nation have been affected in ways that society has failed to take into account, said Roderic Beaujot, a demographer at the University of Western Ontario. He is author of the research paper Delayed Life Transitions: Trends and Implications, published yesterday by the Vanier Institute of the Family.

"The structure of the population has never been like this," he said.

He pointed to the fact that in 1981, 27.5 per cent of people in their 20s were living at home. By 2001, that was 41.1 per cent.

In the early 1970s, the average age at first marriage was 21 for women and 23 for men. By 2001, it was 26 and 28.

In 1976, the average age of a woman when her first child was born was 23.4. By 2001, it was 27.6. These are astonishing changes over that time period, said Alan Mirabelli of the Vanier Institute.

The problem in purely economic terms is that as Canadians delay earning money and having children, some become unable to bear children at all. Or they end up unable to have as many children as they would like.

This phenomenon already is significant enough to have played a part in Canada's declining fertility rate, which is well below the level needed to replace the population. It is not, however, as low as the levels in some European countries.

For example, a separate study by Statistics Canada showed that the number of Canadians aged 5 to 13 will drop 14 per cent between 2001 and 2011 because fewer babies are being born.

That, in turn, means that the population has more old people in comparison to young people. And that means fewer workers to support an aging population.

At the same time, Canadians are expecting to retire earlier, Prof. Beaujot said, which means that the time for working is shrinking at both ends.

"With low starting salaries, and lowered work hours associated with childbearing, many are not into their prime productive ages until well after age 35," he writes. "The median age of retirement has moved in the opposite direction, to about age 62."

Barbara Pennock, 26, is still living rent-free with her parents, four years after she finished a diploma in aviation management. She's worked full-time at the Greater Toronto Airport Authority since she graduated, but she doesn't know when she might strike out on her own.

She estimates that 80 to 90 per cent of her friends also live with their parents. "It's almost like everyone's starting adulthood older," she said.

For now, she's concentrating on paying down debts from school while she contemplates further education. And she has no plans to marry.

"I guess school has always been in the back of my mind," she said. "I feel I need to go back."

Jennifer Semple, 32, moved out of her parents' last fall when she bought a home in Newmarket, Ont. She has lived on her own for years at a time since getting her degree in 1994. But she has also lived periodically with her parents and paid them rent.

She would like to marry and have children but can't predict when that will happen. A strategic consultant for non-profit organizations, she has poured energy into her career.

Her parents, on the other hand, married at 22 and were finished having their children at 28. They are now 60. She says she believes that the changes from one generation to the next are mostly the result of women having more choices, attending university and learning to think critically about their roles.

"Our generation grew up hearing that we could do everything we wanted," she said. "It's just that we can't do it all at the same time."

Prof. Beaujot said that some analysts believe that the extended period between childhood and adulthood is positive and efficient, giving people more time to invest in themselves and find out what they want.

Others say that the long periods of education amount to placing young talent in a "holding tank" of those who are ready to participate in the adult world but are prevented from taking their place in society.

Still others say that coming generations will solve the problems by relying on technology to help women have children far into their 40s. Another school of thought suggests bumping up levels of immigration to bulk up Canada's population numbers.

Prof. Beaujot added that if policymakers want to stop or reverse the trend, one mechanism would be to invest in education so that graduates have fewer debts and can establish themselves professionally and personally earlier.

He said there's no hint of where the trend is headed.

"I think maybe the trend has slowed down, but we don't see a cap," he said.



 



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