The teen pregnancy rate has . Fewer teens are , or . And as I found in a , teens are also now less likely to drive, date, or go out without their parents than their counterparts 10 or 20 years ago.
Some have tried to explain certain aspects of these trends. Today鈥檚 teens are more virtuous and responsible, sociologist . No, , they鈥檙e just more boring. Others have suggested that teens aren鈥檛 working because they are simply lazy.
However, none of these researchers and writers has been able to tie everything together. Not drinking or having sex might be considered “virtuous,” but not driving or working is unrelated to virtue — and might actually be seen as less responsible. A lower teen pregnancy rate isn鈥檛 “boring” or “lazy”; it鈥檚 fantastic.
These trends continued even as the economy improved after 2011, suggesting the Great Recession isn鈥檛 the primary cause. Nor is more 黄色appwork: The average teen today spends less time on homework than his counterparts did in the 1990s, with time spent on extracurricular activities staying about the same.
To figure out what鈥檚 really going on, it鈥檚 worth taking a broader look at today鈥檚 teens — a generation of kids I call 鈥溾�� — and the environment they鈥檙e living in.
A different culture, a slower path to “adulting”
Working, driving, drinking alcohol, having sex, and dating have one thing in common: They are all activities adults do. This generation of teens, then, is delaying the responsibilities and pleasures of adulthood.
Adolescence — once the beginning of adulthood — now seems to be an extension of childhood. It鈥檚 not that teens are more virtuous or lazier. They could simply be taking longer to grow up.
Looking at these trends through the lens of 鈥溾�� might be useful. According to this model, whether development is 鈥渟low鈥� (with teens taking longer to get to adulthood) or 鈥渇ast鈥� (getting to adulthood sooner) depends on cultural context.
A 鈥渟low life strategy鈥� is more common in times and places where families have fewer children and spend more time cultivating each child鈥檚 growth and development. This is a good description of our current culture in the U.S., when the average family has , kids can start playing organized sports as and . This isn鈥檛 a class phenomenon; I found in my analysis that the trend of growing up more slowly doesn鈥檛 discriminate between teens from less advantaged backgrounds and those from wealthier families.
A 鈥渇ast-life strategy,鈥� on the other hand, was the more common parenting approach in the mid-20th century, when fewer labor-saving devices were available and the average woman had four children. As a result, kids needed to fend for themselves sooner. When my uncle told me he went skinny-dipping with his friends when he was 8, I wondered why his parents gave him permission.
Then I remembered: His parents had six other children (with one more to come), ran a farm and it was 1947. The parents needed to focus on day-to-day survival, not making sure their kids had violin lessons by age 5.
Is growing up slowly good or bad?
Life history theory explicitly notes that slow and fast life strategies are adaptations to a particular environment, so each isn鈥檛 inherently 鈥済ood鈥� or 鈥渂ad.鈥� Likewise, viewing the trends in teen behavior as 鈥済ood鈥� or 鈥渂ad鈥� (or as teens being more 鈥渕ature鈥� or 鈥渋mmature,鈥� or more 鈥渞esponsible鈥� or 鈥渓azy鈥�) misses the big picture: slower development toward adulthood. And it鈥檚 not just teens — and are more closely supervised, while to settle into careers, marry, and have children.
鈥溾�� — which refers to young adults performing adult responsibilities as if this were remarkable — has now entered the lexicon. The entire developmental path from infancy to full adulthood has slowed.
But like any adaptation, the slow life strategy has trade-offs. It鈥檚 definitely a good thing that fewer teens are having sex and drinking alcohol. But what about when they go to college and suddenly enter an environment where sex and alcohol are rampant? For example, although fewer 18-year-olds now binge-drink, 21- to 22-year-olds still binge-drink at roughly the same rate as they have since the 1980s. that teens who rapidly increased their binge-drinking were more at risk of alcohol dependence and adjustment issues than those who learned to drink over a longer period of time. Delaying exposure to alcohol, then, could make young adults less prepared to deal with drinking in college.
The same might be true of teens who don鈥檛 work, drive, or go out much in high 黄色app. Yes, they鈥檙e probably less likely to get into an accident, but they may also arrive at college or the workplace less prepared to make decisions on their own.
students who can鈥檛 do anything without calling their parents. that more young employees lack the ability to work independently. Although I found in my analyses that iGen evinces a stronger work ethic than millennials, they鈥檒l probably also require more guidance as they transition into adulthood.
Even with the downsides in mind, it鈥檚 likely beneficial that teens are spending more time developing socially and emotionally before they date, have sex, drink alcohol, and work for pay. The key is to make sure that teens eventually get the opportunity to develop the skills they will need as adults: independence, along with decision-making and social skills.
For parents, this might mean making a concerted effort to push your teenagers out of the house more. Otherwise, they might just want to live with you forever.
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