Adolesence and adolthood + boomerang children

4 factors that made teenagers a distinct group

1. Living standards improving

2. Compulsory education in high income countries

3. Post-WW2 societal shift to young people having less of a duty to their parents

4. Commerce- teenagers influence and can be effectively marketed to

4 facors that sustained the concept of teenagehood

1. Teenagers growing up slower and so lower rates of teenage pregnancy

2. Industries established to profit off teenage music, fashion and language

3. Internet reduces physically risky behaviours

4. ‘Slow life strategy’- wealthy and forgiving families allow teenagers to not grow up as fast as they can afford to look after them well into their twenties

‘Adolthood’

• New demographic group

• Teenagers no longer ‘rebel without a cause’ as they did in the 50’s and 60’s

End of adolescence

• Now adolescence continues to about 25 years old

  • Older adolescents can delay their full entry into the adult world

    • Boomerang children

100 year life

• Parents work and live for longer and can therefore financially support their children for longer

  • 20’s are a period of exploration as opposed to the beginning of working

Definition of BCs

• Children who return to their family home post-university, or never leave home

Japanese and Italian ways of saying ‘boomerang children’

• Mammoni and bambi— (Italy), or ‘parasite singles’ (Japan)

  • Japan views these parasite singles as a ‘damaged generation’ as they are not taking up their rightful place in society

3 causes of boomerang children

1. High youth unemployment

2. Cost of living

3. Shortage of affordable housing due to older people remaining in their homes for longer

Impact of boomerang children on parents

• Parents have less anxiety about their children leaving home, but are also not sociologically older

Impact of boomerang children on family structure

• ‘Accordion families’

  • These are ever-expanding multi-generational families that extend to encompass both the younger and older generations

  • These lead to a fall in the birth rate

    • Children have less independence/are more dependent, date less and therefore have fewer children