For awhile I’ve been wondering what happened to the mature young adult males, the hard-working yuppies who have left behind the glory days of college to take on a more grown-up position in life. They seem to be few and far between. If you listen in on the average girl talk, most of the female yuppies out there bemoan the fact that men don’t seem to be man enough anymore.

Now, instead of saving their money and purchasing or renting their own place, many still live with their parents or packed into a house with 4 of their closest friends. The weekends and even weekday nights are spent much like they were wasted in college – on video games, movies, and beer games.

I wondered if I was alone in noticing this phenomenon, until the Wall Street Journal published an article recently on this exact issue. It appears, in part, the economy and job market are to blame. Since it is so difficult to find a job and a good paying one at that, many twenty-somethings are opting to stay in school or put off making these big life choices until they feel more established.

But is that really a healthy and wise choice? If these men have a hard time making these choices now and allow others to make them instead, such as their parents, how will it become easier to make the difficult choices in their thirties? When is that level met that suddenly you are mature enough to begin truly living life?

These long-term frat boys remind me of the uncle in Napoleon Dynamite – still living out his glorious high school football victory and still hoping that some scout will still his amazing talent. His obsession with the past has him trying different get-rich-quick schemes and living in a run-down RV in the middle of nowhere.

This is not to say, that men are alone in this. There are some young women who are living the same life, but it does seem much more prevalent in the males of this generation.