Post by Carla In a growing trend, adult children are remaining in their parents’ homes until later into adulthood than past decades. This new trend can be attributed to the rising costs of living, the attainment of higher education and differences in parenting and attachment styles. This stage of life is called emerging adulthood. “Emerging Adulthood encompasses the period between 18 and the late 20’s and may be a response to shifting cultural forces, including an increasing amount of education needed for a good career and fewer employment opportunities overall.” (Feldman, 2014, p. 451). Recent evidence has shown that the developing prefrontal cortex is continuing to change just as it did during adolescence. This limits the maturation of young adults to make decisions that may impact the rest of their lives. Schaie calls this particular stage of development the achieving stage. “During the achieving stage, young adults must confront and resolve several major issues, and the decisions they make – such as what job to take and whom to marry-have implications for the rest of their lives.” (Feldman, 2014, p. 432)             The primary reason for children having a longer residency with their parents is likely to be the introduction of financial responsibilities. “As a young adult completes education, seeks employment, and establishes a career, the financial support of family is beneficial.” (Berzin, 2011). It makes sense that a young adult in college may have trouble meeting his or her new financial obligations. Most of them cannot attend school full time while also holding down a full time job. This makes it difficult to acquire and meet costs such as rent or a mortgage and all incurred costs. In addition, the cost of a higher education is on the rise and has increased significantly in recent years.  The result is enormous amounts owed in student loans.             Achieving an education is not the only accomplishment being sought by most young adults. They are also considering life altering decisions such as career choice, marriage partner and where they plan to live as adults. These pressures prevent many from moving forward due to fear. Their dependency upon parents is increased by the added pressures of adulthood. The safety of staying under a parent’s roof adds security in the quickly changing world of a young adult. Absence of secure attachments may manifest during early adulthood. The small child who was once afraid to leave his mother’s side might not be experiencing the same emotions on a greater scale. If, in addition to that aspect, a person has not developed spiritually, his apprehension might be magnified. As proposed by Roehlkepartain, King, Wagener and Benson, “humans are intrinsically motivated to develop a spiritual identity in order to satisfy their need for connection.” (2006, p. 256). Those who have failed to do so are likely to seek connections with other people and parents usually play that role.             Secure attachm.

1. Post by Carla
In a growing trend, adult children are remaining in their
parents’ homes until later into adulthood than past decades.
This new trend can be attributed to the rising costs of living, the
attainment of higher education and differences in parenting and
attachment styles. This stage of life is called emerging
adulthood. “Emerging Adulthood encompasses the period
between 18 and the late 20’s and may be a response to shifting
cultural forces, including an increasing amount of education
needed for a good career and fewer employment opportunities
overall.” (Feldman, 2014, p. 451). Recent evidence has shown
that the developing prefrontal cortex is continuing to change
just as it did during adolescence. This limits the maturation of
young adults to make decisions that may impact the rest of their
lives. Schaie calls this particular stage of development the
achieving stage. “During the achieving stage, young adults must
confront and resolve several major issues, and the decisions
they make – such as what job to take and whom to marry-have
implications for the rest of their lives.” (Feldman, 2014, p. 432)
The primary reason for children having a longer
residency with their parents is likely to be the introduction of
financial responsibilities. “As a young adult completes
education, seeks employment, and establishes a career, the
financial support of family is beneficial.” (Berzin, 2011). It
makes sense that a young adult in college may have trouble
meeting his or her new financial obligations. Most of them
cannot attend school full time while also holding down a full
time job. This makes it difficult to acquire and meet costs such
as rent or a mortgage and all incurred costs. In addition, the
cost of a higher education is on the rise and has increased
significantly in recent years. The result is enormous amounts
owed in student loans.
Achieving an education is not the only accomplishment

2. being sought by most young adults. They are also considering
life altering decisions such as career choice, marriage partner
and where they plan to live as adults. These pressures prevent
many from moving forward due to fear. Their dependency upon
parents is increased by the added pressures of adulthood. The
safety of staying under a parent’s roof adds security in the
quickly changing world of a young adult. Absence of secure
attachments may manifest during early adulthood. The small
child who was once afraid to leave his mother’s side might not
be experiencing the same emotions on a greater scale. If, in
addition to that aspect, a person has not developed spiritually,
his apprehension might be magnified. As proposed by
Roehlkepartain, King, Wagener and Benson, “humans are
intrinsically motivated to develop a spiritual identity in order to
satisfy their need for connection.” (2006, p. 256). Those who
have failed to do so are likely to seek connections with other
people and parents usually play that role.
Secure attachments, financial planning and
encouragement are strongly needed in homes today in order to
get young adults to begin their independent lives at earlier ages
of emerging adulthood.
References
Berzin, S.(2011). Adult children living at home. Encyclopedia
of family health. Retrieved from
http://www.liberty.edu:2048/login?url=http://literati.credorefer
ence.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/content/entry/sagefamhealth
/adult_children_living_at_home/0
Roehlkepartain, E., King, P., Wagener, L., Benson, P.
(2006). The Handbook of Spiritual Development in Childhood
and Adolescence. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage
Publications, Inc.
GENERAL RULES:

3. Project 1 – Field Trip Report Guidelines
Due at 9:30am on February 6, 2014
1. Papers are not to exceed 1 page, double spaced, Time New
Roman 12 pt font.
2. Papers must be written by only one person, you! Use
appropriate formatting.
3. Civil engineers are expected to communicate professionally
with clients, therefore grammar and spelling will form a
significant portion of the report grade.
4. Papers (1 hardcopy) must be submitted on time.
FIELD TRIP PAPER GUIDELINES:
1. To write this report you must visit a facility “AUTOBEL
CAR WASH IS MY TOPIC” where you can experience a topic
relevant to environmental engineering. HOW DO THEY
RECYCLE THE WATER USED
2. For your site visit you may want to:
a. Call ahead to make sure they are willing to let you visit and
take pictures. b. Take a tour of the facility.
c. Do a little research before the visit so you can ask lots of
good questions.
3. The report must include a picture of yourself at the location
you chose for this report. 4. The report will be graded for the
following details:
a. What did you learn from the field trip? d. Overall writing
skills
e. Picture inclusion
POTENTIAL FIELD TRIP LOCATIONS (you are not limited to
these facilities):
1. Brewery
2. Discovery Place
3. Carowinds
4. Landfill
5. Hospital
6. Manufacturing Facility ( Ex. Coca-Cola)
7. If you choose to do a water treatment plant or wastewater
treatment plant, it must be a different treatment plant than the

4. ones toured for the Introduction to Environmental Lab course.
Post by Megan
This "failure to launch" issue is growing at an alarming rate.
Gill (2012) states, "Forty-two percent of adults age 20 to 29
still live with their parents. That's almost unchanged from 2006.
But it's way up from 1981 when just 27 percent of young adults
lived at home." (p. 1) The main reasons I found for this issue
is a lack of seriousness when it comes to education, and
declining role models.
The surprising thing about this issue, is that most of the
research is geared towards men having this issue. I know plenty
of girls still living with their parents late into their 20's and
there seems to be more tolerance for girls than men in that area.
In their article "Failure to launch" Van Wert and Glen (2010)
discuss the early signs of apathy toward education and how they
often lead to "failure to launch" problems in early adulthood.
They state, "Beginning in elementary school, boys earn low
grades, receiving 70% of the D's and F's, while girls earn 60%
of the A's." (p. 14) The article goes on to discuss the fact that
the classroom is geared toward female learning styles. The
classroom is quiet, orderly, and small neat notes are taken.
Boys who don't learn this way get frustrated and can develop a
bitterness toward education, which adversely affects them later
in life. These students who have problems with school when
they're young, have a higher likelihood of dropping out of high
school and college. This is a problem, esspecially when their
education could be their road to a job, which gets them off their
parents' couch long before age 29. In the bible, there is so
much talk about idleness and hardwork. Proverbs 13:4 states,
"The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the
soul of the diligent is richly supplied." While children's
frustration with school is not their fault, in their bitterness

5. toward it they can become "sluggards", which leaves them
feeling like a nothing, eventhough they are the opposite.
Another issue that can lead to a problem with "failure to
launch" is the lack of quality role models in the media and just
in life in general. Van Wert and Glen (2010) goes on to
explain, "The traditional male roles of protector, providor, and
dispenser of family wisdom..have all but vanished...today's TV
dad is a bulmbling, barely competent, overgrown teenager..." (p.
15) Our role models for adulthood are a mess. Twenty
somethings don't have a clear idea of what it means to be a
twenty something. Who do they look to, to see what's normal or
expected of them at 20 something? I think there's this great
wave of ambiguity over the 20 something generation, mixed
with their lack of role models showing them how it's done, that
leaves them paralyzed. I think this is a serious reason for their
need to be under their parent's roof at ages that their parents
were probably working, married, and with children.
1 Corinthians 13:11 says, "When I was a child, I spoke like a
child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I
became a man, I gave up childish ways." Except, now, we've
forgotten how to give up our childish ways, and instead, we're
finding comfort in them.
References
Gill, R. (2012, Sep 19). Failure to launch. Global News
Transcripts. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/1048195839?accountid=120
85
Glenn, L. A., & Van Wert, S. (2010). Failure to launch. The
New England Journal of Higher Education, 24(3), 14-16.
Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/196906298?accountid=1208
5