A survey undertaken by Gumtree.com found a remarkable 86% of the 1,100 young people questioned admitted feeling under pressure to succeed in their relationships, finances and jobs before hitting 30, and 32% felt hurried to marry and have children by the time they had reached 30.
Office for National Statistic figures show that the average age for single women to marry is 30, 32 for Men. Compared to 1900, when the average for women was 26 and men 27, the increase hasn’t been substantial.
Such findings have led to psychologists theorising that this changeable time can cause the ‘quarter life crisis’. Describing how this phase can induce an illusory sense of being trapped in a job or relationship, lead researcher Dr Oliver Robinson points out that this can also be a positive experience, leading more towards a definition of future aspirations.
For Bernice Neugarten, this is the phenomenon of the social clock, with its structured, age-graded expectations for major life events, such as beginning a first job, getting married, birth of the first child, buying a home, and retiring. All societies hold such timetables. People make social comparisons by measuring their progress against that of friends and similar aged peers, and being “on time” or “off time” can affect self-esteem.
The late-Nineties popularity of Helen Fielding’s fictional Bridget Jones is a vivid demonstration of how widespread these views are: a lovelorn thirty-eight year old perpetually making New Year’s resolutions in an attempt to become ‘on-time’.
There is no doubt of the social expectations to conform to the deadlines society asserts to your thirties. However, influential circumstances are changing. Life expectancy has broadened and people are prioritising spending elsewhere, rather than using it to settle down as early as previously expected. The social clock may still be ticking but perhaps people are starting to react on their own time.
Lauren Overton
Consumer Analyst
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