›› South Carolina Young Adults Count State Report

Section 1: Introduction

The Importance of Studying Young Adults

Young adulthood is the transition from dependence to independence. For many young adults this transition is short and successful. For others the transition is longer and troublesome but eventually successful by their mid-to-upper-20s. There is also a group of 20% to 30% of young adults who have quite serious problems during the young adult years. Those experiencing the greatest problems are more likely to include the less educated, those not achievement-oriented, individuals with difficult personalities, and persons from disadvantaged families and neighborhoods. These people are the ones most likely to get into situations that have serious and lasting consequences, such as poverty, single-parenting, incarceration, addiction, and damaged health.

Thus, although the majority of young adults mature toward independence and become valuable contributors to their families and communities, the 20% to 30% who experience the severe problems are responsible for major social dilemmas such as crime, welfare dependency, underemployment, and young children lacking effective parenting. Society would be wise to develop support for persons experiencing difficult maturational transitions during young adulthood by rechanneling some of the resources presently devoted to alleviating the social ills of crime, welfare, alcohol and drug abuse, and unemployment. To an unfortunate extent, our current efforts attack the symptoms, not the causes which often are embedded in the difficulties of the transition to independence during young adulthood.

Young Adulthood In South Carolina

Among 25-34 year olds in South Carolina, 16.8 percent did not have a high school diploma or GED in 2000. 12.3 percent of White 25-34 year olds and 19.0 percent of African American 25-34 year olds did not have a high school diploma or GED in 2000.
Among U.S. dropouts ages 20-24, 14.7 percent of men and 17.7 percent of women were unemployed in 2001.
8.5 percent of 20-29 year olds in the civilian labor force in South Carolina were unemployed in 2000.
5.5 percent of White 20-29 year olds in the civilian labor force in South Carolina were unemployed in 2000.
15.6 percent of African American 20-29 year olds in the civilian labor force in South Carolina were unemployed in 2000.
21.8 percent of 18 to 24 year olds and 12.0 percent of 25 to 34 year olds in South Carolina had incomes below poverty in 1999.
Among the White population in South Carolina, 17.2 percent of 18 to 24 year olds and 7.8 percent of 25 to 34 year olds had incomes below poverty in 1999.
Among the African American population in South Carolina, 29.5 percent of 18 to 24 year olds and 20.8 percent of 25 to 34 year olds had incomes below poverty in 1999.
26.6 percent of 18-29 year olds in South Carolina in 2000 were married and 2.4 percent were divorced.
Among the White population in South Carolina, 30.5 percent of 18-29 year olds in 2000 were married and 2.9 percent were divorced.
Among the African American population in South Carolina, 17.5 percent of 18-29 year olds in 2000 were married and 1.5 percent were divorced.
In 2002, single mothers accounted for 31.0 percent of births to women ages 18-29 in South Carolina.
In 2002, single mothers accounted for 16.0 percent of births to White women ages 18-29 in South Carolina.
In 2002, single mothers accounted for 56.9 percent of births to African American women ages 18-29 in South Carolina.
51.4 percent of violent crime victims in South Carolina in 2002 were ages 17-34. Violent crimes include murder, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault.
58 percent of those arrested for violent crimes in South Carolina in 2002 were between the ages of 17 and 34.
54.9 percent of those arrested for non-violent crimes in South Carolina in 2002 were between the ages of 17 and 34. Non-violent crimes include breaking & entering, larceny and motor vehicle theft.
As of June 30, 2003, 41.7 percent of South Carolina Department of Corrections inmates were between the ages of 17 and 29.
As of June 30, 2003, the South Carolina Department of Corrections reported 2,562 White inmates and 7,281 African American inmates between the ages of 17 and 29.
According to 2002 South Carolina BRFSS survey results, 18.4 percent of 18-34 year olds surveyed reported binge drinking (drinking five or more alcoholic drinks on one occasion) at least once in the last 30 days.
53.9 percent of 18-34 year olds surveyed reported that they were overweight (Body Mass Index greater than 24.9).
32.6 percent of 18-34 year olds surveyed reported that they were cigarette smokers.

The young adults report focuses on the challenges and problems of persons ages 18-29 who have difficulties in the transition to independence. Necessarily, public policy must address the dilemmas of society, many of which are experienced by young adults. Inevitably, too little attention in this report or in public policy is devoted to the success of most young adults who move quickly to become contributing members of society. However, the report does emphasize the solutions to the problems of young adulthood which are found in the positive assets of completed education, good marriages, devotion to children, productive employment, household formation, and homeownership.

Young Adulthood as a Developmental Phase

The word adult derives from the past tense of the Latin verb for growing up. "Adult, therefore, implies a developmental sequence in which the growth process has been completed," notes one scholar. Sociologists have further assisted our understanding of the transition to adulthood by specifying the commonly accepted life events marking the transition. Schaie, in Adult Development and Aging outlines five critical transitional milestones:

End of schooling
Working and financial independence
Living apart from family
Marriage
Parenthood

Some time before middle age, we typically experience the transition out of youth by attaining the developmental milestones of young adulthood. However, there is often not a steady or straight path from accustomed dependent roles in our families and schools to the independent pursuits of higher education, gainful employment, and creation of our own households. Some young adults drop in and out of the full-time workforce intermittently to seek their college education. Young people often struggle financially for a time, and some move back into their parents' homes. Regardless of the different paths they follow, many youth flounder in various ways as they seek to mature and grow from dependence to independence.

The milestones framework provides some initial conceptual guidance, but it does not emphasize the support systems and life paths of youths moving from the dependent status of being controlled by parents and school toward independence as adults. Most young adults begin their transitions with considerable parental or institutional support. The majority of 19 and 20 year olds enter college or join the military. Both of these options provide substantial structure and guidance, generally for at least a few years. This gives young adults valuable time to mature and explore their objectives concerning permanent work, marriage, and parenting. Other young adults ease the transition by continuing to live at home with their parents, while going to a local college and/or working. Thus the college, military, and stay-at-home young adults pass through their late teens and early 20s in supported transitions.

Although the majority of young adults obtain support through college, parents, and the military, some young adults move toward independence without much assistance. Those striking out successfully on their own work and live independently. Within this group there are significant differences. Those who get married, especially the young couples with children, have to earn a living to provide for their families, though some continue to receive financial assistance from their parents until they become self-sufficient. Unmarried young adults working and not in school have considerable latitude to try out various job, living, and romantic experiences, while seeking amusement or other preferred pastimes. Unmarried young adults are the core of the party set, living in apartments with roommates or sometimes back at home.

Among unmarried young adults, there are important distinctions between those successfully working and those unemployed. Young adults without jobs typically remain at home with support from parents and relatives or become dependent on society. Among women, giving birth without marriage or permanent work often leads to dependence on public welfare. Among men, lack of employment may lead to criminal activity and incarceration, but most unmarried males who are not productively employed just flounder through a variety of short-term jobs, stays at home, periods with roommates, or cohabitations with girlfriends.

Eventually, almost all young adults achieve the five milestones: the end of school, working and financial independence, living away from family, getting married, and having children. However, reaching the milestone transitions and making them part of successful, independent lives result from varied journeys through a complex array of life paths. The dominant life paths for entry into stable young adulthood appear to be:

College
Military
Work and roommates
Work while still living with parents
Work and marriage, with or without children
Babies without marriage but with public assistance
Crime and jail

By their mid- or late-20s, most young adults have matured into some stable form of adulthood. These older young adults are usually married, working, and living in their own homes with mortgages, car payments, and children. They are "settled." Some young adult women also become settled, with one or more children, but dependent on public assistance or family support. Many of these women eventually marry and become fully independent economically and socially. Therefore, by the end of young adulthood at age 29, almost all persons have followed the varied life paths through the milestones to adulthood and are generally settled and self-sufficient, though some continue to struggle economically and socially for many additional years.

The Post-Boom Generation

The primary age range for young adults in our report - 18 to 29 in 1999 - and the conventional definitions of Baby Boomers and Generation X/Babybusters - persons born during 1946 to 1964 and during 1965 to 1980, respectively - produce the following distribution of ages in 1990 and 1999:

Generation	Born	1990	1999
Young Adults 18-29 in 1999	1970-1981	9-20 years	18-29 years
Generation X/ Babybusters *	1965-1980	10-25 years	19-34 years
Boomers *	1946-1964	26-44 years	35-53 years

*Other definitions of the Baby Boom run from 1943 to 1960, and of Generation X from 1960 to 1980.

Although the transition from youth to adulthood is typically marked as a developmental phase by the five critical milestones, these changes do not occur in a vacuum. Inevitably, the specific historical period, circumstances, and place in which a young person lives profoundly impact development.

Generation X, Babybusters, and other labels (The Lost Generation, Thirteeners, and The Free) have been imposed on the cohort of children born between the years of 1960 and 1980, depending on the authority. Those born between 1969 and 1980 are today in our selected age range of 18 to 29, while those born during the 1960s, recently labeled "twentysomethings" are now "thirtysomethings". This historical cohort, the Generation X/Babybusters group, is the primary subject of our report. Thus, we will be using data from 1990 to 1999 to describe them in young adulthood and data from the 1970s and 1980s to reflect on their childhood and adolescence.

There is a substantial body of literature on generations and numerous reports by and about the Generation X/Babybusters group. After considerable investigation, it became apparent that this literature promotes stereotypes and other broad generalizations that are often as misleading as they are instructive. A short section in Appendix A presents examples of generational portraits of the Generation X/Babybusters as the young adults of the 1990s.

A larger analysis of the historical influences on contemporary 18-29 year olds is presented at the end of the Appendix in the section entitled "Retrospective on the Childhood and Adolescence of Today's Young Adults." The Retrospective describes the troubling economic, family, and cultural influences that affected children and youth during the 1970s and 1980s. This section draws upon the social criticism of Geoffrey Holtz in his provocative Welcome to the Jungle and of other writers who seek to explain the problems of Generation X young adults as the result of the weakening of the economy, the family, and the prevailing culture during their childhood and adolescent years.

Our Report

This Young Adults Report is designed to enable its readers to understand the essential elements of the transition from youth to adulthood. We have combined the insights of experts with national and state statistics to describe the phase of young adulthood. We will address the milestones which herald adulthood. The following is a crosswalk of the sections in this report that address these pivotal events:

Event	Primary Chapters	Additional Chapters
End of schooling	Education	Economics, Family
Working and financial independence	Economics	Family Economics, Family, Education, Health, Crime
Living apart from family	Family	Family Economics, Economics, Education
Marriage	Family	Economics, Education
Parenthood	Family	Economics, Health

For each of the five milestones, the crosswalk notes the primary chapters where information may be found; however, Economics, Family, Family Economics, Education, Health, and Crime interact in numerous and complex ways that impact profoundly each young person's development from childhood to adulthood.

Summary

The chapters that follow describe powerful challenges faced by today's young adults, many of which are significantly different from those of previous generations. In recent years, some of the more prominent features of the transition to adulthood by young adults include:

Economics

More young adults have been unemployed or employed only part-time, at least until the boom of the late 1990s.
Real wages nationally have declined since the early 1970s for persons with less education.
Minorities, females, and less-educated young adults often have very low incomes.
Fewer young adults are self-sufficient financially than in the 1970s.

Family

Many young adults in their early 20s live at home.
Marriage takes place later than in the 1950s and 1960s.
Divorces are more frequent.
Two-parent families with children are giving way to single-parents and step-parents.
Cohabitation has become more common as an alternative family structure.
Women are having fewer children.

Education

High school education is now a necessity for good jobs, but many students still drop out.
College has become a requirement for the more desirable career opportunities.
Women have made great progress in higher education, attending in greater numbers than men.
Insufficient educational attainment and skills deficiencies are very serious problems for African-Americans.
Literacy skills remain a problem for substantial numbers of young adults.

Crime

Overall, crime among young adults has increased moderately.
Lethal violence has escalated.
Youth and young adults commit the majority of all crimes.
Minorities constitute an increasing share of victims and offenders.

Health

Most young adults enjoy good physical and mental health; however, some young adults suffer from troublesome health problems.
Depression, anxiety, and other forms of mental illness are more prevalent but can now be treated better with medications.
Many young adults are affected by one or more chronic conditions, but typically not severely.
Many young adults have unhealthy lifestyle habits and take significant health risks:
- Alcohol abuse is commonplace and often has serious consequences.
- Drug use declined during the 1980s but increased again during the 1990s.
- Smoking declined until the popularity of the habit renewed in the 1990s.
- Sexually transmitted diseases are very widespread.
- Suicide is rare but has increased.
- Violence and accidents are causing more injuries.
Poor lifestyle habits during young adulthood cause serious problems later. These habits include smoking, drinking, inappropriate nutritional practices, and insufficient exercise.

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