LAST UPDATE | 19 Nov 2024

COULD WE COPE with a nation of teenagers? It’s what Ireland might be facing, given that our lack of affordable housing is forcing young people to stay in their childhood homes long after their teenage years should have ended.

The raging hormonal adolescent has become such a notorious stereotype that we might expect it has always been an accepted stage of development, but the concept was only introduced in Western countries at the beginning of the 20th century. Since then, researchers believe that the length of adolescence has been increasing due to societal changes. The housing crisis could be a critical factor contributing to prolonged adolescence in young Irish people, creating a generation who are forced to remain stuck in their childhood environment and cannot fully transition into adulthood.

We’re all watching the pre-election promises of political parties ahead of the General Election at the end of this month. The polling tells us that it’s a fait accompli, that the same parties will be back in, and that we can expect very little to change. Regardless of what outcome we may expect, it doesn’t change the frustration that young people feel witnessing political inaction when it comes to the housing crisis.

For the thousands of homeless in this country and the many of us trapped in the reality of never affording our own homes, it feels like housing hasn’t been discussed enough yet in this election. This housing crisis disempowers so many of us across society. It is a crisis, but we’ve perhaps heard the word for so long that it means nothing anymore. 

We feel like this for many reasons; we fear the prospect of endless renting, fighting roommates for milk well into our 30s and using our wages to pay someone else’s mortgage. It may seem like those who have the option to live with their parents are in a superior position – they can save on rent and don’t have to worry about living at the mercy of a stranger’s whims. But what are the effects of staying in one’s childhood bedroom, or returning to the scene of adolescence after you’ve supposedly grown up? 

Arrested development

I was lucky to return to the sanctuary of my family home during the first Covid-19 lockdown; I had a roof over my head, food in the fridge, and a room of my own. However, being back in this environment – one I curated for myself first as a child, and then as a teenager – made me feel like I was turning back the clock.

A whole generation is unable to grow up, living at home with family. Shutterstock / AstroStar Shutterstock / AstroStar / AstroStar

An incoherent collection of items from my life live in my room, from stuffed animals with worn-down ears, to tap dancing shoes that would only fit a nine-year-old. Makeup that I wouldn’t dare wear now sits untouched in a drawer, and my Transition Year hoodie haunts the wardrobe. Nothing about the room feels adult and, living in it, neither did I.

Returning to this familiar environment made me revert to old behaviours and routines I had long forgotten.

Despite being vegetarian for years, the only lunch option I could think of was a plain chicken sandwich on O’Hara’s sliced pan. Even though I didn’t have a pair in my Dublin home, I reached for black leggings daily like my hand was guided by teenage insecurity.

It’s well documented that our environment can influence our behaviour, and that returning to a familiar space can reignite old habits and mental states. For this reason, you may find yourself acting like a teenager again just by inhabiting the environment where you grew up. This regression is something I’ve discussed with friends, who say they must fight to get back into their adult headspace when returning to their childhood home. They related to feeling restrained by the choices they used to make as a teenager, and said they even fell into old argumentative patterns with parents and siblings, which never happened in their adult life.

If we feel this regression when we return home for Christmas or visit for the weekend, what must it do to those forced to live in their childhood homes because it’s the only option they have?

Staying in this environment could possibly create a prolonged adolescence. And what, really, is the difference between being a teenager and feeling as though you have no choice but to act like one? While we might consider adolescence to be a defined period from about 12 to 18, research defines adolescence as a period of developmental maturation which starts with biological changes and ends with social maturity.

This idea of adolescence is relatively modern, only entering the Western zeitgeist at the turn of the 20th century, with G. Stanley Hall characterising this “new” developmental stage as the period before full maturity. The Industrial Revolution and the advent of compulsory education allowed children to avoid labour, thereby prolonging their dependence on their families and offering them a slower transition into full adulthood.

Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

Adolescence does not take place during a strict set of years but, rather, is an expanding period impacted by one’s environment. Children seem to reach biological maturation significantly quicker nowadays, and the age of social maturation is being pushed further into one’s 20s. Researchers believe that adolescence may be stretched out due to social factors such as labour and lifestyle, and it’s possible that the housing crisis could play a role in extending it even further.

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No hope for a home

Due to rising housing costs and stagnant wages, many young adults cannot afford to move out and live independently. While affordable housing is incredibly difficult to find for those who move to Irish cities to work or study, people who live within a commutable distance of their occupation are not necessarily better off in the long run. Students who live at home while attending college, for instance, relinquish the opportunity to step fully into adulthood after their teenage years. If they stay in the same city for work, sky-high rent prices will have them hard-pressed to find an excuse to give up the affordability of life at home.

By making staying at home the best option for young people, the housing crisis is preventing them from transitioning into fully autonomous adulthood, keeping them in a psychological adolescence.

Forcing young people to delay their adulthood also affects Irish society on a larger scale. Data from the Central Statistics Office shows that birth rates have declined in the past decade, while the age of first-time mothers has increased, suggesting that Irish young people are delaying starting families or opting not to. After all, how can you be expected to raise a child when your environment prompts you to still behave like one?

Leaders of the main political parties campaigning in General Election 2024. Alamy Alamy

The housing crisis is keeping a generation of Irish young adults in a state of prolonged adolescence, physically stuck in their childhood homes and psychologically trapped in teenage mindsets. While there are countless reasons the government should be motivated to improve the accessibility of affordable housing, perhaps facing a generation of moody, teenage adults will be the push they need to take critical action.

But it’s clear on Friday, 29 November those of us over 18 can do one thing that younger adolescents cannot, we can vote. All parties, whether government or not, will make tantalising promises around housing. The housing crisis cannot be turned around overnight, but policy does make a difference. So do the research, speak to the candidates at the door and tell them your story. Then listen to the debates, weed through the waffle, and exercise your democratic right to vote. It’s all we have left.  

Sarah Moran is a writer, editor and researcher. She graduated from English literature and psychology at Trinity College in 2022 and has since worked as a news verification journalist and communications associate.