將立未立的年輕一代

I will readily admit； it took me a long time to grow up. I graduated from Michigan State University in 1980 at the age of 23， with a freshly printed bachelor’s degree in psychology and no idea what I really wanted to do. After a couple of years， I entered graduate school in psychology， but even after I got my PhD four years later， I still didn’t really know what I wanted to do. Eventually， I did find my way in love and work， but it took years and years. I got my first long-term job （as a professor） at 35， married at 36， and had my kids （twins） at 42.

When my research on how young people make their way to adulthood first began， the initial inspiration was my own 1）odyssey. I was in my early 30s and thinking about how long it was taking me—and lots of my peers—to get there. But I have maintained my research focus on these 18- to 29-year-olds because I found they were so rewarding to talk to. I was to discover， however， that there were many others who didn’t share my warm and 2）benevolent views of emerging adults. Quite the contrary.

One of the most common insults about today’s emerging adults is that they’re lazy. According to this view， young people are“slackers” who avoid work whenever possible， preferring to 3）sponge off their parents for as long as they can get away with it. They expect work to be fun， and if it’s not fun， they refuse to do it.

It’s true that emerging adults have high hopes for work， and even， yes， a sense of 4）being entitled to enjoy their work. Ian， a 22-year-old， chose to go into journalism， even though he knew that： “If I’m a journalist making $20，000 a year， my dad （a wealthy physician） makes vastly more than that.” More important than the money was finding a job that he could love.

So， yes， emerging adults today have high and often unrealistic expectations for work， but lazy？ That’s laughably 1. While they look for their 5）elusive dream job， they don’t simply sit around and play video games and update their Facebook page all day. The great majority of them spend most of their twenties in a series of unglamorous， low-paying jobs as they search for something better. It’s unfair to tar the many hard-working emerging adults with a stereotype that is true for only a small percentage of them.

Another widespread 6）slur against emerging adults is that they are selfish. With this stereotype， too， there is a grain of truth that has been vastly overblown. It’s probably true that most emerging adults today grow up with a higher level of selfesteem than in previous generations. Their Baby Boomer parents have been telling them from the cradle onward： “You’re special！” “You can be whatever you want to be！” “Dream big dreams！”and the like. Popular culture has reinforced these messages， in movies， television shows and songs. Well， they actually believed it.

But—and this is the key point—that doesn’t mean they’re selfish. It simply means that they are highly confident in their abilities to make a good life for themselves， whatever obstacles they might face. For example， Nicole， 25， grew up in poverty as the oldest of four children in a household with a mentally disabled mother and no father. Her goals for her life have been repeatedly delayed or driven off track by her family responsibilities. Nevertheless， she is pursuing a college degree and is determined to reach her ultimate goal of getting a PhD. Her selfbelief is what has enabled her to overcome a chaotic childhood full of disadvantages.

As for the claim that they never want to grow up， it’s true that entering the full range of adult responsibilities comes later than it did before， in terms of completing education and entering marriage and parenthood. Many emerging adults are ambivalent about adulthood and in no hurry to get there.

Despite their ambivalence， by the age of 30， the great majority of emerging adults have a marriage partner， at least one child， and a stable long-term job. So， it’s not true that they never grow up. Most of them just don’t want to take on the yoke of adult responsibilities in their early 20s. They want to make use of their freedom while they have the chance. That’s not 7）contemptible， it’s wise， and we don’t give them enough credit for their wisdom.

Despite all of this good news about the rising generation， an especially popular negative stereotype of emerging adults today is that they are worse than ever， far inferior to young people of a generation or two ago. There is a widespread belief in US society that young people are 8）apathetic， irresponsible and immoral.

Oddly， this stereotype persists even though there is overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Rates of violent crime committed by young men are now less than half the level of the 1970s， ’80s and early’90s. Automobile 9）fatalities have long been the main cause of death among young Americans in the late teens and early 20s， but rates have declined by almost half in the past 20 years.

Not only have bad things gone down， but good things about this generation have gone up. Nearly 90% of American college freshmen reported doing volunteer work in the past year， the highest level ever. Furthermore， applications to post-college volunteer programmes such as the Peace Corps， AmeriCorps， and Teach for America have reached record levels.

The origins of the many prejudices against today’s emerging adults are complex， but maybe one key reason is that many of their elders still use old yardsticks to measure their progress. The pace of social， economic and technological change over the past half-century has been mind-boggling， and what is ‘normal’ among young people has changed so fast that the rest of society has not yet caught up.

我會欣然承認—我花了很長時間才真正長大成人。1980年，我當時23歲，剛從密歇根州立大學畢業。拿著新鮮出爐的心理學學士學位，我并不知道自己想做什么。幾年后，我進入了心理學研究生院。但是，即使四年過后，我拿到了博士學位，我依舊不知道自己真正想做什么。最后，我確實找到了愛情與事業的方向，但這花了許多年的時間。35歲時，我獲得了第一份長期工作（當一名教授）；36歲時，我結了婚；而在42歲時，我有了自己的孩子（一對雙胞胎）。

當我剛開始研究年輕人如何步入成人期這個課題時，我首先想到的就是我自己那漫長的成長之路。我那時三十出頭，思考著我—和我的許多同齡人花了多長時間才長大成人。但是我把我的研究對象定位在十八到二十九歲的年輕人身上，因為我發現他們身上有著許多值得講述的地方。然而，我發現，許多人并不認同我對這些將立未立的年輕人抱有的善意友好的觀點，他們的態度恰恰與之背道而馳。

對現在這些將立未立的年輕人最常見的責難之一就是—他們很懶惰。根據這個觀點，年輕人都是“懶蟲”，只要有可能，他們就逃避工作，寧愿啃老，能熬多久是多久。他們希望工作是有趣的，如果沒意思，他們就拒絕工作。

確實，步入成人初期的年輕人對工作有著很高的期許，并且認為，沒錯，他們有資格享受工作的樂趣。伊恩，22歲，他選擇從事新聞工作，盡管他知道：“如果我當一名年薪2萬的記者，那么我爸爸（一名富裕的醫生）賺的遠超于我。……