Welcome back to savvy psychologist. I'm Dr. Ellen Hendrickson and I'll hope you meet life's challenges

with evidence-based research, a sympathetic ear, and zero judgment.

Failure to launch, it may be a 2006 Matthew McConaughey movie given one star by Roger Ebert,

but more often, it's the growing phenomenon of young adults not making the transition

to adulthood.

Now in most Western countries, young adults are expected to leave the nest, and while they may

need a finite amount of time to

launch themselves, ultimately the goal of everyone involved is to see the

young adult fly on their own. But when young adults stay at home, don't search for a job or contribute

financially, and begin to withdraw from the world, we have the foundation of failure to launch.

Add unrealistic goals, blaming others for their situation,

and a lack of motivation to change,

and Liftoff is almost sure to be grounded.

In the US, Failure to Launch is also known as Peter. grounded.

In the U.S. failure to launch is also known as Peter Pan Syndrome, after the famous story of the

boy who never grows up.

In Japan, a more extreme but related condition is called Hekikamori. Described as modern

hermits, hekikamori generally withdraw from society before they hit their

late 20s and can remain in the bedroom equivalent of a remote mountaintop cave for years, if not decades.

Now, no matter the culture or the label, failure to launch cases are mostly but not all young men and numbers indicate the problem is increasing.

Indeed, in 2014, over 7 million American men ages 25 to 54 were not working nor looking for work, up 25% from 10 years prior.

And while the stereotype of a basement dwelling manchild evokes labels of loser, dropout, or other unflattering descriptors, the phenomenon

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