Stuck in Adolescence

Newly empowered with a higher purpose to achieve, Bro. Allen Sent me this link as a place to start.

There are two stories on the page. The first is the NPR short on young men stuck in adolescent limbo. Sound familiar? I think the greatest part of that article is this:

It wasn't long ago, Hymowitz says, that the average man in his mid-20s had achieved many of life's major milestones — he had a job, a marriage, perhaps even kids and a house.

Today's mid-20 something male "lingers happily," Hymowitz writes, "in a new hybrid state of semi-hormonal adolescence and responsible self-reliance."

Social scientists are struggling to define this new phase of life — "emerging adulthood" and "delayed adolescence" are two identifiers. Hymowitz has selected the term "child-man."

Nice to know that I'm just like everyone else--unaccomplished in life's great milestones.

But why is it "delayed" adolescence? I think it's more of a "prolonged" adolesence. I'm prolonging the days that I am young.

Hymowitz goes on to say that this default of adolescence is encouraged by pop culture and video games today. I guess that makes sense. A lot of video games are geared towards males aged 18+ and all of these games even adapt to more adult themes or adult levels of violence and content. Even movies like Jackass and just about every Will Ferrell and Adam Sandler movie out there continue the trend of adolescence.

When did this first start happening? When did young men stop wanting to grow up and achieve all of life's milestones and just continue being young?

Is this why the LDS church leaders encourage its young men and young women to get married young? Your thoughts?