ntire generation was lazy, complaining and lacking in goals. As a result, the members of the generation were labeled with such negative stereotypes as "slackers" and "whiners." The 1990 Time article also introduced the idea that previous generations had left a lot of problems for the new generation to clean up. Thus, people in their twenties were described as being "paralyzed by the social problems they see as their inheritance: racial strife, homelessness, AIDS, fractured families and federal deficits" (Gross & Scott, 1990, p. 57). Today's youth are faced with a "monstrous" national debt of $4 trillion, and with "the worst job market since World War II" (Giles, 1994, p. 65). In addition, they have been left with the responsibility of cleaning up the environment, which was destroyed by the neglect of their elders.
The Time article also indicated that the "twentysomethings" were "children of divorce," with 40 percent of them having divorced parents (Gross & Scott, 1990, p. 58). The article also pointed out that the young were "the children of neglect" (Shapiro, 1993, p. 53). Many of them had been "latchkey kids," which means they had to take care of themselves after school while waiting for their parents to come home from work. Thus, in the words of Time, the new generation was "the first to experience the downside of the two-income family" (Gross & Scott, 1990, p. 58). In terms of dating, the article noted that the rise of AIDS had caused many young people to turn away from casual relationships. For couples wishing to have sex, it indicated that "responsibility is the watchword" (Gross & Scott, 1990, p. 59). This is in sharp contrast to the attitude of sexual freedom that characterized the previous generation during the 1960s and 1970s. It also noted that, for the most part, the members of the younger generation had rejected the drug-abusing lifestyle of their parents. Nevertheless, certain drugs that exist today wer...