Dive Brief:

• A new book, "Aspiring Adults Adrift: Tentative Transitions of College Graduates," says that many newly graduated college alumni have transitioned “only partially” into their new roles as adults.
• The book blames colleges and universities, partly, for helping to prolong their students’ adolescence by emphasizing social development and personal fulfillment over academic rigor, the Chronicle of Higher Education reports.
• Despite the poor financial prospects for many recent college grads, nearly two-thirds of them believed they would be better off than their parents.

Dive Insight:

The authors of the book followed 2009 graduates, many of whom were tracked for their first book, "Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses," tracking factors such as employment success, living arrangements, relationships, and civic engagement. The results: 53% had jobs that paid less than $30,000 per year, one-third of them lived at home one year after college and nearly a quarter of them did one year later, and more than 70% needed financial assistance from parents. Only a third read newspapers daily and only 16% discussed politics and public affairs daily.