Want millennials to get married and have babies? Change the policies that stop us.
< < Go Back
By Elizabeth Bruenig,
Millennial reluctance to commit to the adult milestones of yesteryear is probably due in some part to culture; younger people now want more time to grow into themselves and achieve an independent identity before they enmesh themselves in the webs of marriage and parenthood.
But what most complaints about millennial delays miss is that even if there weren’t cultural reasons for putting off marriage and parenthood, millennials would still be acting reasonably if they decided to wait to start families: Thanks to student debt, a dearth of parental benefits and the instability induced by our labor market, settling down and having kids are far riskier propositions than they have to be.
More From The Washington Post (subscription required):
Rss Feed