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Young people don't feel "grown up" until they are 27

Young people today do not view themselves as “grown up” until the age of 27, accordin...
Newstalk
Newstalk

15.42 24 Apr 2017


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Young people don't fee...

Young people don't feel "grown up" until they are 27

Newstalk
Newstalk

15.42 24 Apr 2017


Share this article


Young people today do not view themselves as “grown up” until the age of 27, according to a new survey in the UK.

The Nationwide Current Accounts survey polled 2,000 adults in Britain – with more than half of those surveyed said that they felt certain milestones had to be reached in life before they could define themselves as adults.

Of those that did consider themselves grown-up, the transition had happened for half in their twenties, a fifth (21%) in their thirties and for 5% of respondents - in their forties.

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Just over one in five (22%) said they felt they reached adulthood when they had their own children, 21% pointed to the day they moved out of their parent’s home, 14% linked their maturity to marriage and 12% to getting their first job.

The survey linked the increasing trend for people in their 20s to live at home for longer to a competitive jobs market, modest entry-level salaries and higher living costs.

It comes after a recent survey from property consultants, Savills Ireland found that one-quarter of married couples in Ireland are now living with adult children over the age of 20.

Cian Power, vice president of welfare at the Union of Students in Ireland said that he would expect a similar survey in Ireland to throw up slightly different results as education in the UK is generally more expensive.

He warned however, that young people in Ireland are "going through tough times" and facing very different prospects than their parents would have as they were entering the jobs market.

“I think it goes back to the philosophy of what being an adult actually is,” he said. “Generally you are talking about becoming independent, living away from home, accessing quality employment, maybe getting your own transport.”

“At the moment there is an issue over access to labour, access to proper funds for putting yourself through education; we are still seeing that graduates are finding it difficult to land quality post-grad work placements and then we clearly have a serious accommodation crisis.

He said the union has consistently lobbied for proper access to social welfare for young people - as people aged under 26 who do not have children currently only qualify for a reduced rate of Jobseeker's Allowance.

He said the issues faced by older generations are quite different to those facing graduates today.

“Access to education has gone from being free in 1998 to where we are now when registration fees are up around €3,000,” he said. “The cost of living has gotten exponentially higher and there a real issues with access to quality affordable accommodation.”

“I do think the generational differences have to be taken as two different situations.”


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