>8 year olds used to find gainful employment. By 15 or 16, these "children" were relatively self sufficient. To add to this (and because of the education bubbl

>8 year olds used to find gainful employment. By 15 or 16, these "children" were relatively self sufficient. To add to this (and because of the education bubble making higher education effectively compulsory), children aren't self-sufficient until they're 23-25. So the 15-20 years of relative freedom to live one's life at a self-sufficient stage (assuming children are had at 30-35 years of age) has narrowed down to 5-10. There's been some creeping ageism (because of the lack of maturity that self-sufficiency and responsibility normally cultivates) which has made the problem even worse. 1958 was a record year for teenage pregnancies, and it's not hard to see why- you were guaranteed a job that paid the bills straight out of high school. >Japan 2d partners: What's up with that country? Massively inflated working hours. Women don't find it worthwhile to keep a partner who is only at home one day a week and emotionally available for even a fraction of that time, to speak nothing of the shrinking dating pool (since why would anyone forced to go through the absolutely insane education culture there suddenly give all that up at 25-30 to have a family?).