\n<\/p>\n
In a cafe in central Athens, Maria sits facing her laptop, with a coffee that has already gone cold next to her. As a freelancer in advertising, she works endless hours, chasing deadlines and salaries that are never enough to cover her real needs. \u201cI don\u2019t have my own house, nor a steady salary, and yet I am considered [an] independent [adult]. How is that possible?\u201d she asks herself. She is 32 years old and her formal coming of age in 2011 coincided with Greece\u2019s deep 10-year economic crisis. Now, in her fourth decade of life, she is trying to balance expectations with reality. The word that could describe Maria, but also a large part of today\u2019s Greek 30-somethings, is \u201calmost\u201d: almost financially independent, almost sure of their future and almost adults.<\/p>\n
Evangelia Galanaki, professor of psychology and director of the Psychology Laboratory in the Primary Education Department of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (EKPA), explains. \u201cAccording to our research data, \u2018adulthood\u2019 for young people in Greece means that the individual possesses mental traits and moral qualities, such as responsibility, autonomous decision-making, control of emotions, compliance with the laws of society and concern for others.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\u2018Young Greeks tend to consider that all the traditional and tangible milestones of adulthood are part and parcel of financial independence\u2019<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
However, in Greece, adulthood also has another parameter: financial independence. \u201cYoung Greeks tend, more than their peers in other countries \u2013 mainly Western ones \u2013 to consider that all the traditional and tangible milestones of adulthood are part and parcel of financial independence: completing their education, living independently, working full-time, buying a house, getting married and having a child,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n
In Greece, however, according to Eurostat, the average age for leaving one\u2019s parental home is 30.6 years, while the European average is 26.3. Young Greeks\u2019 desire for independence clashes with the housing crisis in large cities, where rental rates are increasing dramatically, while short-term rentals have made the dream of an affordable apartment, at least in the center of Athens or Thessaloniki, seem unattainable. If we add job insecurity, the economic consequences of the \u201cgig economy\u201d \u2013 seasonal work, fixed-term contracts, and undeclared work \u2013 we realize that the problem is intensifying, often acquiring psychological implications.<\/p>\n
According to Merck\u2019s 2024 \u201cFuture Barometer\u201d survey, 63% of young Greeks often or very often experience physical or emotional discomfort, while the corresponding European average is 52%. \u201cIn our research, those young people who faced greater financial hardship and anxiety about it compared to others tended to stagnate on their path to adulthood, while presenting a profile of delinquency. Specifically, they were more likely to experience difficulties in exploring and conquering their identity.\u201d<\/p>\n
What does it really mean to be 30 in Greece?<\/p>\n
For today\u2019s 30-somethings, adulthood feels like a perpetual dialogue between \u201cshoulds\u201d and \u201cwants.\u201d Against a backdrop of economic insecurity and social change, this generation is being asked to redefine what it means to \u201cgrow up\u201d \u2013 and perhaps that in itself is a step toward maturity.<\/p>\n
Pericles, who just turned 35, works for a multinational company and has recently felt financially independent, as he no longer relies on his parents\u2019 help to \u201cmake ends meet.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMy father, at my age, already had two children, had built a house and was pouring concrete for a summer house. If I get my own apartment then I might say I\u2019ve truly grown up. At the moment, I\u2019m saving up money to take a trip to Latin America,\u201d he tells Kathimerini. Although this generation struggles with economic difficulties, social expectations, and a job market that often does not meet their needs, this reality also brings with it a sense of liberation. The typical milestones of adulthood \u2013 marriage, starting a family, acquiring a home \u2013 are no longer self-evident, but choices that go through a more personal redefinition of priorities. For Pericles, starting a family is a distant plan, which does not concern him today.<\/p>\n
The choice not to have a family or children is not only linked to financial woes, but also to their personal priorities. Katerina, 34, has lived alone since she was 18. \u201cI am not interested in having a family or children, at least not at this point. I want to focus on my career and my personal interests,\u201d she explains. For her, adulthood is the gradual process of recognizing your needs and desires, but also being able to satisfy them. \u201cSelf-protection, that is the word I would choose for adulthood. At a younger age, I let everyone influence me, especially my employers. Now I know how to protect my mental health,\u201d she adds. Her approach is particularly interesting, especially when one considers that according to research by EY Greece, Hellas EAP and the Experimental Psychology Laboratory of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, younger employees are the ones who present higher levels of anxiety, depression, somatization, loneliness and anger than their older colleagues, while they also exhibit lower levels of quality of personal and professional life.<\/p>\n
\u2018Legal versus social\u2019<\/h3>\n
Christos sees adulthood differently. At 37, he says that \u201clegal adulthood and social adulthood are very far apart.\u201d Although he gained the right to vote about two decades ago, until recently he had no idea how to cook anything more complex than a plate of spaghetti. \u201cI didn\u2019t even need to. I lived in a loft above my parents\u2019 house for seven years. I had a hard time detaching myself, both practically and emotionally, from the security of my family,\u201d he says. The decision to leave his parents\u2019 house was not an easy one, but he felt he had to take this step. He now lives with his partner, but he is not considering a further \u201ccommitment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Anastasia, on the other hand, has adapted her ambitions to the circumstances of the time. \u201cWhen I was 18, I couldn\u2019t wait for my 20s to be over so I could finally have a good job, my own house with a big balcony in the center of Athens, and of course a car. I\u2019m 30 years old, I rent, but I go to the supermarket on a weekly basis. I prefer a full refrigerator to the expense of a car. You can\u2019t have both,\u201d she tells Kathimerini. \u201cWe [30-year-olds] have no purchasing power, most of my friends\u2019 agendas don\u2019t include starting a family, and I think very few work at something they actually enjoy. On second thought, though, maybe adulthood isn\u2019t about achieving these traditional goals, but about accepting that growing up can mean something different to everyone.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n