Waiting longer to commit

ACCOUNTANCY in London, banking in New York, and teaching English in Shanghai – these are the positions Dave Speakman has tried since graduating in 2004.

　　The 26-year-old is experiencing his"odyssey years" – a decade of changing jobs and meeting possible life partners before settling into a career.

　　This 20-something age-group has been studied by William Galston, a social scientist at the Brookings Institution in Washington. According to his new research, young people today live with their parents longer, get married later, and take several years to settle into a permanent job.

　　Gaining experience

　　In 1960, 70 percent of American 30-year-olds had moved out of the parental home, married and become financially independent. By 2000 the figure was only 40 percent.

　　Today's graduates spend longer choosing a job and partner. They try out different skills or even work in different countries. Speakman, who has just moved back in with his parents in England, left his girlfriend behind to go and work abroad.

　　"I wanted to take the opportunity of self-discovery, and find out what it was I really wanted from a job," he says.

　　"They [young people] expect their jobs to provide satisfaction and they are unwilling to endure years of subordination to rise slowly through the ranks," Galston explains.

　　It seems a luxury to be able to try out different roles. But the changing job market is pressing young people to look for a sense of focus.

　　Beth Bosiak, 27, has had three different jobs in Ontario, Canada since graduating."I feel that my 20s have been frustrating and unsettling in terms of lacking a sense of career direction," she says.

　　It is also getting harder to change jobs later in your 20s, because it means competing with people younger than you.

　　"I'm still going for graduate positions. Companies may think I have too much experience for them to mould me into who they want," says Speakman.

　　This new life-phase of choice and change is increasingly captured by films and TV shows such as Knocked Up and Friends.

　　Living with friends rather than a partner, like Rachel and Monica, has become the norm. Chandler's agony over changing careers is now a recognized pressure for all young people.

　　But Galston believes the life skills that young people gain on their odyssey road could be a positive factor in the longer term.

　　"They may be more satisfied with their job choices because they have taken longer to make them and enjoyed a wider range of experiences," he says.

　　Living the 'odyssey years' on screen

　　Knocked up （2007）

　　The film portrays a male"20 something" （Ben） who has to face the unplanned responsibility of fatherhood. Renting an apartment with four friends, he is only interested in his job as a website-designer. So when a one-night stand （Alison） informs him she is pregnant, he is forced into an adult world and to abandon his"odyssey years".

　　Friends （1994）

　　A comedy series about six young Americans living in Manhattan, New York. They share apartments, date one another and change jobs regualrly, all in their bid to find their direction in life.

　　What exactly is an adult?

　　BEFORE a person can be considered an adult, what must be achieved? The following figures are from a survey targeted at young Britons.

　　Top 4 items:

　　Accept responsibility for the consequences of your actions 93%

　　Choose personal beliefs and values independently 81%

　　Develop greater consideration for others 81%

　　Achieve financial independence from parents 74%

　　Bottom 4 items:

　　Enter full-time employment 26%

　　Get married 15%

　　Finish education 15%

　　Have at least one child 14%

　　SOURCE: JEFFREY ARNETT, EMERGING ADULTHOOD （2004）

　　CHATTER BOX

　　Graduate: There are just so many jobs out there. I don't know which one is right for me.

　　Parent: Stop drifting from idea to idea. You need to pick a career and begin investing yourself in it.

　　Graduate: But I'm only 23. I think I should try a job for size and see how it goes.

　　Parent: But if you don't pick a career soon, it will be harder to find a good job later on.

　　drift: 無目的或無固定職業地漂泊 for size: 看看是否郃適