One of the main reasons why young people abandon their families is that they did not see a positive example of family relationships in childhood. This trend is very common among so-called millenials - generation Y, born between 1981 and 2000.
People who deliberately abandon their families in the future begin to move away from this landmark from childhood. For them, the family is not the landmark to which one can and should strive. For such people, psychologists have even come up with a special term - singletons (from the English single - "lonely").
Social psychologist Bella De Paulo began to call the first singles so. By the way, she herself professes such a way of life. The psychologist recalled that she once also dreamed of a wedding, but in the end she realized that she did not need it. Mrs. De Paulo has been living on her own for more than 70 years and this, apart from stereotypes on the part of society, does not interfere with her. On the contrary, she can devote more time to work and her research.
Interestingly, even in Islamic countries, women are beginning to prioritize education and careers over family and children. They choose a career and even wear fake rings to avoid unnecessary questions. And if education, career is the usual norm for Americans or Europeans, then the Muslim world is just beginning to face this phenomenon.
Singletons, choosing the path of loneliness, live only for themselves, are engaged in creativity, travel. They do not have anchors to hold them somewhere. But some psychologists see in this the selfishness and emotional immaturity that is inherent in adolescents. Marriage requires compromise and responsibility for our actions. By the way, for unwillingness to create families (and raising the age threshold for first marriage), scientists propose to revise the definition of adolescence and extend it to 24 years.
Economists say singletons are economic killers. They spend the money they earn exclusively on themselves and buy fewer things. Loners do not give birth to children, therefore, the financial burden on young people who work increases, because they support the older generation with their contributions to the budget. At the same time, the number of singletons is increasing during the economic crisis.
It will only get worse from now on. Scientists from Harvard claim that in the United States by 2030 there will be about 45% of the population alone, in Japan this figure will exceed 50%.
The forecasts are disappointing - we are confidently turning into a society of loners. Plato wrote that before people were different, they had four arms, four legs and two faces. But the gods decided that such powerful creatures could throw them off Olympus and divided people in half, creating men and women. According to legend, people have been looking for their soul mate ever since in order to become strong again. Therefore, the survival of our species, as before, depends on cohesion.
