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A social scientist and author told CNN he is concerned about the number of men in their 30s and 40s who aren’t buying homes or starting families.
“Of Boys and Men” author Richard Reeves spoke with CNN host Michael Smerconish about the social dynamics playing out in the United States, where a significant portion of men do not reach the standards of adulthood they did. their parents, including owning a home or having children.
“It speaks to a change, a major change, which is the fact that these milestones are not only reached later, but for many people, they are not reached at all,” Reeves told Smerconish, commenting on a recent Wall Street Journal article discussing this trend.
“And now it seems that the big problem we face is the economic and social prospects of young people,” he continues.
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Author Richard Reeves talks to CNN about the growing number of men who are unable to reach the traditional milestones of adulthood in the United States. (Screenshot/CNN)
Citing the most concerning data he’s seen, Reeves said, “Yes, for me, it’s the fact that men in their 30s and 40s who don’t have a college degree, half of them don’t have kids at home.” “.
Reeves, who is also president of the American Institute for Boys and MenHe noted that the new dynamic is that instead of men simply waiting later to reach these milestones, they aren’t reaching them at all, and that’s concerning.
“Taking a little more time to educate yourself, taking your time to start a family, maybe achieving financial balance, you could say that’s a good thing, but that’s not what’s happening now. What’s happening now is that these “Milestones for many people are simply not being achieved at all.”
Elsewhere, he said: “Honestly, Michael, I didn’t used to worry about this delay. Now I’m worried because I think we’re going from ‘This will happen later’ to ‘It’s just not happening.'”
Furthermore, he noted that men do not necessarily choose to give up these achievements, but rather feel incapable of achieving them. “The data suggests that, actually, men in particular still want to have children, they still want to get married, they still want to start families. They just, for whatever reason, can’t do it.”
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“It’s a mix, as always, of economics and culture. This is partly because young men in particular feel that they are not doing as well economically as they should,” Reeves said, adding that current gender gap in society adds to this problem.
“A third of men under 30 don’t date. 24% of men are still living at home in their 20s, as you just noted.”
The expert then pointed out where to start addressing this problem. “We have to improve the economic prospects of young men, that is, if we want to do one thing. Therefore, we need to invest more in an education system that works for men,” he said, mentioning the promotion of vocational training, apprenticeships and fight against the fall in men’s wages.
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He also offered: “We just need to lower the temperature around some of these cultural issues, some of these political issues that I think have really driven a wedge between a lot of young men and women.”
Reeves pointed to a place society has overlooked that has compounded this problem, stating that “we have not created a culture where it is easy enough for men and women to start these families, to buy a house, to get started in life.”