Young people taking longer to reach adult life

WASHINGTON - A new research has found that young Spanish people were by 2001 taking six years longer than in 1981 to reach full employment, residential and family independence.

The study was carried out by the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), in collaboration with the State University of Campinas (Brazil).

“The objective was to evaluate transformations in the trends of how young people gained their independence in Spain over the last decades of the 20th Century”, Pau Miret Gamundi, a researcher at the UAB Centre for Demographic Studies, told SINC.

“Our results show there has been a significant change in the age at which the most intense status changes take place, which were six years later in 2001 than in 1981″, said Miret, who is a co-author of the study.

This time lag has been the same for both sexes. In 1981, the average age at which young people gained full independence was 22 for females and 24 for males, while this age had risen by 2001 to 28 and 30, respectively.

The study is based on data from the Spanish censuses for this period, which were provided by the University of Minnesota (USA).

The 1973 recession is considered to be one of the reasons for the growth in university education in the 1970s.

“The constant sensation of instability makes it hard for young people to achieve full autonomy and residential independence”, the authors said.

The experts say investment in education “is part of the dynamic of the labour market”, in other words, young people prolong their studies in the hope of increasing their career opportunities, putting their other personal plans on the back burner.

The study has been published in the journal REIS. (ANI)