The proverbial day of reckoning for the United States, both at the national level and in most of the respective states of this union, has arrived. In this Perspective, I want to defend that proposition.

One of my favorite authors is Kay M. Hymowitz. Her written works have helped me in developing one of the major themes of Issues in Perspective?an analysis of cultural trends, especially the growing confusion of young men in American culture. She uses the term ?pre-adult? to define a new cultural development or even a new stage in human development between the teen years and adulthood. [Other sociologists, such as Christian Smith, have called this stage, emerging adulthood.] Here are some of Hymowitz?s observations about pre-adulthood, based on her new book, Manning Up: How the Rise of Women Has turned Men into Boys.