Recession generation? Young adults brace for simpler lifestyle

The Millennial generation, or Gen Y, ranges from people in their 20s to those still in grade school. But what they all have in common is the knowledge that the recession has in some way shattered the world they thought they knew. And, depending upon how long the downturn lasts, historians, economists and psychologists say it could shape Millennials’ values and attitudes in much the same way the Depression shaped the attitudes of those growing up in the 1930s.

I call it the end of Disney World,” says Michael Bradley, an adolescent psychologist in suburban Philadelphia. But now, young people are reordering their values.

“It is their version of the American Dream,” he says. “They talk more about having autonomy and freedom, and in so doing, not being as enslaved to material goals that they perceived their parents being caught up in. They do talk about life happiness not based on economic success or achievement as much.”

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