Twentysomething: Why Do Young Adults Seem Stuck?

by Robin Marantz Henig, Samantha Henig, Pam Ward (Read by), Emily Durante (Read by)

Overview

What does it mean to be young today?

In the summer of 2010, Robin Marantz Henig wrote a provocative article for the New York Times Magazine called "What Is It about 20-Somethings?" It generated enormous reader response and started a conversation that included both millennials and baby boomers. Now, working with her millennial daughter Samantha, she expands the project to give us a full portrait of what it means to be in your twenties today.

Looking through many lenses, the Henigs ask whether emerging adulthood has truly become a new rite of passage. They examine the latest neuroscience and psychological research, the financial pressures young people now face, changing cultural expectations, the aftereffects of helicopter parenting, and the changes that have arisen from social media and all things Internet. Most important, they have surveyed more than 120 millennials and baby boomers to give voice to both viewpoints of a conversation that is usually one-sided.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781470839819
Publisher:	Blackstone Publishing
Publication date:	11/08/2012
Edition description:	Unabridged
Pages:	1
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 7.50(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Robin Marantz Henig is an acclaimed science journalist, the author of eight books, and a contributing writer to the New York Times Magazine. In 2010 she received a lifetime achievement award from the American Society of Journalists and Authors, as well as a Guggenheim Foundation grant.

Samantha Henig is a twentysomething journalist who has been a reporter and editor for Newsweek, Slate, and the New Yorker. She is currently the online editor of the New York Times Magazine.

Pam Ward, an AudioFile Earphones Award–winning narrator, found her true calling reading books for the blind and physically handicapped for the Library of Congress’ Talking Books program. The fact that she can work with Blackstone Audio from the beauty of the mountains of Southern Oregon is an unexpected bonus.

Emily Durante has been narrating audiobooks for over ten years and is also an AudioFile Earphones Award–winning audiobook director. She has been acting since the age of seven and has performed in a number of stage productions at the professional, collegiate, and regional levels.

Read an Excerpt

What follows is some of the best and most relevant research available—not about the statistics of college debt or unemployment, but about the psychology of being on the verge of the rest of your life.

Table of Contents

Introduction xi

1 The Twenties Crossroads 1

2 Schooling 29

3 Career Choices 56

4 Love and Marriage 84

5 Baby Carriage 112

6 Brain and Body 138

7 Friendship in Real Life 169

8 Parents as Co-Adults 198

9 What's Different, and Why-It Matters 221

Appendix: Our Questionnaire 229

Acknowledgments 233

Notes 237

Index 267

What People are Saying About This

Gretchen Rubin

In this provocative, comprehensive, and often very funny examination of the phenomenon of twentysomething, Robin Marantz Henig and Samantha Henig provide the perspective of two generations on this new stage of life. Anyone who is twentysomething, is related to a twentysomething, or works with a twentysomething, will want to read this book.
--Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project

Jane Isay

If you're losing sleep because you think your grown kids are behaving like the characters in the HBO series, "Girls, Twentysomething will calm your nerves. Smart, well-researched, down-to-earth and lively, this mother-daughter collaboration is chock full of important insight into the newest generation coming of age.
--Jane Isay, author of Walking on Eggshells and Mom Still Likes You Best

Barry Schwartz

Mixing rigorous empirical evidence, testimony from twentysomethings themselves, and the astute observations of a mother and her twentysomething daughter, this insightful and engaging book shows us that sound bites and slogans are just not up to the task of capturing life as it being lived by young adults. Highly recommended!
-- Barry Schwartz, Ph.D. Dorwin Cartwright Professor of Social Theory and Social Action at Swarthmore College and author of The Paradox of Choice and Practical Wisdom

From the Publisher

Must Read for November 2012
–Oprah Magazine

"The fullest guide through this territory...a densely researched report on the state of middle-class young people today."
–The New Yorker
 
“Provocative information presented compellingly”
–Kirkus
 
“With humor and insight, the authors deftly volley commentary and observation across the generation gap”
–Publishers Weekly

 “In this provocative, comprehensive, and often very funny examination of the phenomenon of 'twentysomething,' Robin Marantz Henig and Samantha Henig provide the perspective of two generations on this new stage of life. Anyone who is twentysomething, is related to a twentysomething, or works with a twentysomething, will want to read this book."
—Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project

“Parents will love this fascinating, fact-packed mother-daughter dialogue, and so will their 'emerging adult' sons and daughters. If you think today's young people are another species entirely, you've forgotten way too much about your own early struggles and screwups.”
—Katha Pollitt, author of Learning to Drive: And Other Life Stories

“Losing sleep because you think your grown kids are behaving like the characters in the HBO series, 'Girls'? Twentysomething will calm your nerves. Smart, well-researched, down-to-earth and lively, this mother-daughter collaboration is chock full of important insight into the newest generation coming of age.”
—Jane Isay, author of Walking on Eggshells and Mom Still Likes You Best

“Mixing rigorous empirical evidence, testimony from twentysomethings themselves, and the astute observations of a mother and her twentysomething daughter, this insightful and engaging book shows us that sound bites and slogans are just not up to the task of capturing life as it being lived by young adults. Highly recommended!"
—Barry Schwartz, Ph.D. author of The Paradox of Choice and Practical Wisdom

“If you want to understand young people in the decade after college graduation—their anxiety about work and relationships, intensity of friendships, and feelings of drive and dislocation—this book is the perfect guide. Robin Marantz Henig and Samantha Henig weave the relevant research into an entertaining narrative, and their mother-daughter patter is a pure delight.”
—Emily Bazelon, author of Sticks and Stones: The New Problem of Bullying and How To Solve It
 
 

Editorial Reviews

Mature-sounding Pam Ward and twentysomething Emily Durante were astute choices to read this thoughtful study by an excellent science writer and her daughter. Ward’s precise enunciation and assertive phrasing are a good fit for the research findings…The foil provided by the lithe- and innocent-sounding Durante balances the production and makes it satisfying to hear. Though the authors don’t provide parenting or policy suggestions, their intelligent overview tells us a lot about the slow-to-launch millennials we all know. Their compassionate writing takes the judgment out of watching these young people slowly find their places in life.”

AudioFile

Expanding upon a much-talked-about article she wrote in the New York Times Magazine three years ago, Henig teams up with daughter Samantha for this thought-provoking look at why the current generation of 20-somethings just can’t seem to get their act together. The dynamic between mother and daughter is apparent throughout the text, and the narration of Pam Ward and Emily Durante build upon this chemistry in their respective performances. Ward provides Henig a slightly more experienced tone than that provided to Samantha by Durante. However, the junior Henig is also a respected journalist—and this is reflected in Durante’s performance. Ultimately, mother and daughter offer different viewpoints on the millennial generation—and this makes for an endlessly fascinating audiobook. A Hudson Street hardcover. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly - Audio

After New York Times Magazine writer Henig penned a piece on 20-somethings that went “viral,” she teamed up with her 27-year-old daughter, Samantha (NYT Magazine online news editor), to explore the topic in greater depth. The mother-daughter duo covers schooling, career choices, love and marriage, having babies, moving away from home, and other milestones, concluding that many of these issues are now delayed by at least five years. The authors base their findings on an admittedly nonscientific sampling of 127 respondents who answered their questionnaire as well as on current scientific research, and wrap up each chapter with a final judgment on whether the issue is either the “Same as It Ever Was” (as in friendship and marriage) or “Now is New” (as in schooling and childbearing). Many of their conclusions resonate with the work of psychologist Jeffrey Arnett, who has argued that there is a new developmental stage called “emerging adulthood,” characterized by identity exploration, instability, self-focus, feeling in-between, and seeing a sense of possibilities. While Boomers and “Millennials” have much in common, clearly this generation of 20-somethings confronts some unprecedented difficulties and changes, including escalating college costs and debt, the option to use reproductive technology for later childbearing, and the belief that access to the Internet is a fundamental human need, right up there with air and water. With humor and insight, the authors deftly volley commentary and observation across the generation gap. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

Must Read for November 2012
–Oprah Magazine

"The fullest guide through this territory...a densely researched report on the state of middle-class young people today."
–The New Yorker
 
“Provocative information presented compellingly”
–Kirkus
 
“With humor and insight, the authors deftly volley commentary and observation across the generation gap”
–Publishers Weekly

 “In this provocative, comprehensive, and often very funny examination of the phenomenon of 'twentysomething,' Robin Marantz Henig and Samantha Henig provide the perspective of two generations on this new stage of life. Anyone who is twentysomething, is related to a twentysomething, or works with a twentysomething, will want to read this book."

—Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project

“Parents will love this fascinating, fact-packed mother-daughter dialogue, and so will their 'emerging adult' sons and daughters. If you think today's young people are another species entirely, you've forgotten way too much about your own early struggles and screwups.”

—Katha Pollitt, author of Learning to Drive: And Other Life Stories

“Losing sleep because you think your grown kids are behaving like the characters in the HBO series, 'Girls'? Twentysomething will calm your nerves. Smart, well-researched, down-to-earth and lively, this mother-daughter collaboration is chock full of important insight into the newest generation coming of age.”
—Jane Isay, author of Walking on Eggshells and Mom Still Likes You Best

“Mixing rigorous empirical evidence, testimony from twentysomethings themselves, and the astute observations of a mother and her twentysomething daughter, this insightful and engaging book shows us that sound bites and slogans are just not up to the task of capturing life as it being lived by young adults. Highly recommended!"

—Barry Schwartz, Ph.D. author of The Paradox of Choice and Practical Wisdom

“If you want to understand young people in the decade after college graduation—their anxiety about work and relationships, intensity of friendships, and feelings of drive and dislocation—this book is the perfect guide. Robin Marantz Henig and Samantha Henig weave the relevant research into an entertaining narrative, and their mother-daughter patter is a pure delight.”

—Emily Bazelon, author of Sticks and Stones: The New Problem of Bullying and How To Solve It
 

From the Publisher

Mature-sounding Pam Ward and 20-something Emily Durante were astute choices to read this thoughtful study by an excellent science writer and her daughter. Ward’s precise enunciation and assertive phrasing are a good fit for the research findings, which show that young people today live in a vastly different world from the one their parents lived in. Ward handles the storytelling and dramatic bits with a bit of awkwardness, but the foil provided by the lithe- and innocent-sounding Durante balances the production and makes it satisfying to hear. Though the authors don’t provide parenting or policy suggestions, their intelligent overview tells us a lot about the slow-to-launch millennials we all know. Their compassionate writing takes the judgment out of watching these young people slowly find their places in life. T.W. © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine

AUGUST 2013 - AudioFile

A mother and daughter examine the millennials, children born in the United States from 1980 through 1990. New York Times Magazine contributing writer Robin Henig (Pandora's Baby: How the First Test Tube Babies Sparked the Reproductive Revolution, 2004, etc.) and daughter Samantha--online news editor at the same magazine--expand on a feature article by Robin that appeared in that magazine in 2010. The millennial generation has been stereotyped as lazy, unable to find meaningful jobs and much more--most of it uncomplimentary. The authors keep their primary focus on whether the millenials are really that different from Baby Boomers and other generations. In nine substantive chapters, each built around a specific issue (career choices, marriage, parenthood, friendship, etc.), the Henigs present evidence and issue a verdict about whether the millennial generation is indeed different from earlier generations. When the point of view switches from mother to daughter, a frequently refreshing change that is never confusing, the change is stated directly or a new typeface appears. Robin and Samantha do not hide all their disagreements, within the nuclear family or as collaborating authors, but they seem to agree on most of the issues. The three realms they conclude are substantially different from generations past are whether and when to become parents; whether and how to pay for education beyond high school; and sorting through a wider range of choices when reaching personal or professional crossroads. Some of the realms that apparently have not changed much include career prospects, how to stay healthy, and the importance of close friends. An examination that escapes the dangers of overgeneralization to provide provocative information presented compellingly.

Kirkus Reviews