空巢不再空 千禧一代如今更願意和父母住

The empty nests are filling up: For the first time in modern history, young adults ages 18 to 34 are more likely to live with a parent than with a romantic partner, according to a new census analysis by the Pew Research Center.

皮尤研究中心(Pew Research Center)對人口普查數據進行的一項新分析顯示，空巢開始不空了：18到34歲的年輕人更有可能與父母，而非與戀人同住，這在近現代歷史上屬首次。

Millennials, who have been slower than previous generations to marry and set up their own households, reached that milestone in 2014, when 32.1 percent lived in a parent’s home, compared with 31.6 percent who lived with a spouse or a partner, the report found.

結婚和組建家庭的時間都比前幾代人晚的千禧一代，在2014年迎來了這個轉折點。報告發現，當年32.1%的人生活在父母家裏，相比之下只有31.6%的人和配偶或伴侶同住。

“The really seismic change is that we have so many fewer young adults partnering, either marrying or cohabiting,” said Richard Fry, the Pew economist who wrote the report. “In 1960, that silent generation left home earlier than any generation before or after, because they married so young.”

“真正的鉅變是，有伴侶的年輕人少多了，不管是以結婚還是同居的方式，”撰寫該報告的皮尤中心經濟學家理查德·弗萊(Richard Fry)說。“1960年，沉默的一代離家的時間比之前或之後的任何一代人都早，因爲他們結婚太早了。”

But in recent decades, fewer people have been marrying, and those who do are marrying at older ages. In 1960, the median age for a first marriage was 20 for women and 22 for men, and just one in 10 people over 25 had never married. Now, the median ages are 27 and 29, and one in five adults older than 25 has never married. In a 2014 study, Pew projected that a quarter of this generation of young adults might never marry.

但最近幾十年，結婚的人減少，結婚的年齡延後。1960年，女性初婚年齡的中位數是20歲，男性是22歲。25歲以上的人羣中未婚者僅佔十分之一。現在，男女的初婚年齡中位數分別是29歲和27歲，25歲以上的羣體中未婚者佔五分之一。在2014年的一項研究中，皮尤中心預測，這一代年輕人中四分之一可能會終身不結婚。

“This is neither the best nor the worst development we’ve seen in family life,” said Andrew J. Cherlin, a sociologist at Johns Hopkins University. “It violates our cultural sense of how young adults should live their lives. But in Italy, an even greater percentage live with the parents, and no one sees it as problem. Families can feel closer to each other and have longer times together.”

“這不是我們在家庭生活中看到的最好的發展動向，也不是最壞的，”約翰·霍普金斯大學(Johns Hopkins University)的社會學家安德魯·J·切爾林(Andrew J. Cherlin)說。“它有違我們關於年輕人應該如何生活的文化理念。但在意大利，與父母同住的年輕人比例甚至更高，沒人覺得有問題。家人會覺得彼此之間更親近，相互陪伴的時間更多了。”

But in some cases, he cautioned, the grown children’s continued presence in the parental home can signal an inability to take the steps needed to become real adults.

但有時，他告誡說，已成年子女繼續生活在父母家裏可能標誌着，他們無法邁出成爲真正的成年人所需的步伐。

“Some young adults have the failure-to-launch syndrome,” he said. “Others are living their own lives, saving money but not having to pay rent while they enroll in grad school or get the internships they need.”

“有些年輕人是有‘起步失敗綜合徵’，”他說。“有些則是爲了讀研究生或得到想要的實習職位，他們自食其力，積攢積蓄，只是不用交房租而已。”

As far back as 1880, romantic coupling was the most common living arrangement for young adults.

早在1880年，戀人同居就已是年輕人中最常見的居住安排形式。

While living with parents is now on the rise, the report found, other accommodations, too, are becoming more common. About 22 percent of young adults now live in a dormitory or a prison, or with a relative like a grandparent or a sibling — compared with 13 percent in 1960.

報告發現，在與父母同住的趨勢增強的同時，其他居住形式也變得更常見。眼下，大約22%的年輕人住在宿舍或監獄裏，或是和祖父母或兄弟姐妹同住。相比之下，1960年時這個比例僅爲13%。

With the growing rates of single parenthood, about 14 percent of young adults — nearly triple the share in 1960 — head their own households, some living with roommates or boarders, others alone or with their young children.

隨着單親父母的比例增加，大約14%的年輕人——這個比例幾乎是1960年的三倍——自己是戶主，一些人和室友或寄宿者同住，其他人獨居或與自己年幼的孩子同住。

Young men have consistently been more likely to live with their parents than young women have, and that remains true, generally because women marry younger and move out. But now living with parents is on the cusp of becoming the dominant arrangement for young women as well.

年輕男性始終比年輕女性更有可能與父母同住。這一點沒變，總的來說是因爲女性結婚更早，會搬出去。但現在，與父母同住也即將成爲年輕女性的主要居住安排形式。

“What you tend to see is that racial and ethnic minorities, African-Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans, especially from disadvantaged backgrounds, are the most likely to be living in their parent’s home and the least likely to have a partner,” Mr. Fry said, adding that financial difficulties helped explain that finding.

“往往會發現少數族羣，非裔、西語裔和非洲原住民，特別是來自下層社會的，和父母同住的可能性最高，有伴侶的可能性最低，”弗萊說。他還表示經濟困難有助於解釋這個發現。

“So you might think that the growing diversification of the population is what accounts for the shift to living with parents,” he continued. “But that doesn’t explain it, since even among white young adults, about 20 percent lived with their parents in 1960, and about 30 percent in 2014. So even if the population had not diversified, we would still see this large increase in living with parents.”

“於是，人們可能會以爲人口構成日漸多元是出現與父母同住這種轉變的原因，”他接着說。“但它解釋不了這個現象，因爲即便是在白人年輕人中，與父母同住者的比例也從1960年的大約20%上升到了2014年的大約30%。因此，即便人口沒這麼多元，我們還是會看到與父母同住的人大幅增加。”