Young Adults

Is faith losing its grip on the young? That would be one way to read a new report by the respected Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, which found that more than one-quarter of Americans age 18 to 29 have no religious preference or affiliation, and fewer than one in five attend services regularly. That makes them easily the least religious generation among Americans alive today, perhaps the least religious ever. Or does it? The Pew study found that, although young adults -- the so-called Millennial generation born after 1981 -- are shunning traditional religious denominations and services in unprecedented numbers, their faith in God and the power of prayer appears nearly as strong as that of young people in earlier generations.

Beneath the massive trees of the Malibu mountains, four small groups of people clad head-to-toe in red, green, yellow or blue stand around several long tables playing a heated game of flip cup. "Get it, blue!" a young woman shouts into a bullhorn. "You got this, green!" hollers another. It looks a little like a frat house basement dragged into the light of day, but this competition is much more innocent. It's part of Adult Color Wars, a weekend designed to give adults a chance to relive their days at camp.

If you're among the 100,000 young people who soon may be heading to Mexico to party at a cool beach resort for spring break, the U.S. State Department has a bit of advice for you. "While the vast majority enjoys their vacation without incident, several may die, hundreds will be arrested, and still more will make mistakes that could affect them for the rest of their lives. " Already one life has been lost. USC senior Samuel Levine on spring break in Cabo San Lucas fell to his death from a sixth-floor balcony.

One girl gasps as the grainy black-and-white footage rolls: Women are screaming, thrusting their babies at soldiers boarding a helicopter. In the next scene, hundreds of refugees packed in the belly of a rickety boat rock in the ocean, desperately trying to flee their homeland after the fall of Saigon. Gathered in a Garden Grove office, young adults who grew up in the shadow of war watch the images, only tasting the horrors their parents and relatives endured when South Vietnam fell to Communist forces 38 years ago. For many in immigrant communities like Orange County's Little Saigon, the memory of April 30 - "Black April" to those who lived through it - has been passed on only through photographs, stories or rough video clips.

A poll of young adults sponsored by two youth organizations shows that most do not think they will be financially better off than their parents. But they are not totally pessimistic. Though 57% are very concerned about the middle class disappearing, 77% think they personally can achieve the American dream. That means economic status may not play as large a role in defining the American dream for the 18-to-34 age group, said Chris Matthews, one of the pollsters and president of Bellwether Research & Consulting.

Beneath the massive trees of the Malibu mountains, four small groups of people clad head-to-toe in red, green, yellow or blue stand around several long tables playing a heated game of flip cup. "Get it, blue!" a young woman shouts into a bullhorn. "You got this, green!" hollers another. It looks a little like a frat house basement dragged into the light of day, but this competition is much more innocent. It's part of Adult Color Wars, a weekend designed to give adults a chance to relive their days at camp.

Books on sensitive subjects are not meant to take the place of counseling by parents, teachers, clergy, psychologists or others. Yet they can act as a helpful vehicle for expressing feelings and fears. The following are recommended by children's book specialists to help adults and youngsters approach such subjects as divorce, death, adoption, the new baby, fears, disabilities, AIDS, teen-age suicide, sex and puberty. Teen-Age Suicide "Close to the Edge" by Gloria D.

As of 2010, according to a recent report from the Pew Research Center, married couples had fallen to barely 51% of U.S. households, with a full 5% drop in new marriages between 2009 and 2010 alone. The data for 2011 aren't in yet, but if that decline continued last year, less than half of American adults are in a legal marriage now. Is marriage going the way of the electric typewriter and the VHS tape? Not exactly. The decline of marriage seems especially dramatic in comparison to the way things were 50 years ago. In 1960, almost half of 18- to 24-year-olds and 82% of 25- to 34-year-olds were married.

The healthcare law signed by President Obama last year has now helped as many as 2.5 million young adults get health insurance over the last year despite the lagging economy, new data released by the federal government indicates. And since the beginning of 2010, when the law was enacted, the percentage of Americans aged 19 to 25 without health insurance dipped from 34% to 29%. The dramatic increase in coverage for a group of Americans that has historically lacked insurance appears to be driven by a single provision in the law that allows young adults to remain on their parents' health plans until they turn 26, according to independent experts such as Paul Fronstin, senior research associate at the Employee Benefit Research Institute.

About one in five young adults may have high blood pressure, a new study suggests, but many of them appear unaware of it. Such are the results of the latest attempt to clarify just how many far-from-elderly Americans are putting their long-term health at risk via hypertension.  Researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill analyzed blood pressure data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, called Add Health,...

Be careful what you wish for. That was the lesson imparted by young-adult authors during a Sunday morning panel titled "Modern Cinderella Stories" at the L.A. Times Festival of Books . Audience members braved the early heat at the Young Adult Stage to listen to Jessica Morgan and Heather Cocks, authors of “Messy,” the follow-up book to “Spoiled.” They tell the story of Molly Dix, who after her mother dies discovers that her father...

Marketers increasingly are focused on teenagers and young adults who are coming of age during the digital revolution -- creating shifts in viewing behavior that likely will have profound consequences for television companies. Ratings giant Nielsen on Tuesday released a study that explored viewing behavior of the so-called millennial generation -- the demographic roughly between the ages of 14 and 34. The report found that younger Americans are more multicultural than older Americans.

If you're among the 100,000 young people who soon may be heading to Mexico to party at a cool beach resort for spring break, the U.S. State Department has a bit of advice for you. "While the vast majority enjoys their vacation without incident, several may die, hundreds will be arrested, and still more will make mistakes that could affect them for the rest of their lives. " Already one life has been lost. USC senior Samuel Levine on spring break in Cabo San Lucas fell to his death from a sixth-floor balcony.

Maybe there really are supernatural forces at work in this world. How else to explain "Beautiful Creatures"? The movie is an intriguing, intelligent enigma - three words not typically associated with teen romances. A couple of unknown heartthrobs provide the film's X-factor, while its angst lies in true love's struggle against otherworldly powers, Civil War flashbacks, literary conceits and high school friction. Besides, any film that credibly references poet Charles Bukowski has my attention.

Prodigy A Legend Novel By Marie Lu G.P. Putnam's Sons: 384 pp., $17.99, ages 12 and older The second book in any trilogy typically ends up the underachieving middle child: Instead of introducing us to a world or providing the series' climax, it's just connective tissue. This is especially true in the YA world, even in a blockbuster series - think "Crossed" (the "Matched" series), "Catching Fire" ("The Hunger Games") and "New Moon" ("Twilight"). Marie Lu has beaten the curse with "Prodigy," the second book in the "Legend" series.

What mortgage meltdown? While millions of Americans have suffered the angst of lost homes, equity and pride, nearly a third of the nation's homeowners have no mortgage at all, according to an estimate released Thursday by real estate website Zillow. The free-and-clear class includes, predictably, retirees who have chipped away at their debts for decades, but also a surprisingly high percentage of young people and those who live in relatively affordable regions. In Los Angeles and Orange counties, only 20.7% of homeowners owned their properties outright, reflecting the region's pricey real estate.

Young adults can't be expected to worry about having a heart attack or stroke. But they should consider that their lifestyle choices now may influence their health later, researchers said Monday. The scientists conducted a survey of 1,248 Americans age 18 to 44 on their attitudes about health and behaviors. The majority of people age 25 to 44 said they felt they were living a healthy lifestyle. Younger participants -- age 18 to 24 -- don't appear to thinking clearly about their health, however.

As the nation climbs slowly out of the Great Recession, young adults appear to be having the toughest time of any age group gaining a foothold in the recovering economy. Those difficulties, in turn, are shaping their decisions about careers, schooling, marriage and parenthood, according to a new report. The analysis by the Pew Research Center, released Thursday, examines the effects of the recession on the lives and attitudes of young Americans ages 18 to 34. "The economy may be improving, but in spite of the recent decline in unemployment, young people are still really struggling," said Kim Parker, associate director of Pew's Social and Demographic Trends Project and a coauthor of the study.

Among the many aftereffects of the popped housing bubble is the perception that many young adults have been spooked into doubting that they'll ever own a home — or even aspire to own one. Not true, says a new survey from a major real estate company, which contends that 18- to 35-year-olds do indeed like the idea of owning homes, and they've learned a thing or two from watching their parents struggle with the housing market. And by the way, that young adult child of yours, the one who has moved back home and established residence in your basement?

After riding out the tough economy in their parents' basements, more young American adults are starting to break out on their own, pushing up the nation's mobility rate and giving an important boost to the housing market and the broader recovery. Thanks to improving job prospects and super-low mortgage rates, adults in their 20s and early 30s are moving into their own apartments and buying homes in increasingly greater numbers, according to real estate experts and government statistics.