Today, about a third of America's millennials still live with their parents, earning us the irksome epithet "boomerang generation". We're hanging out in our parents' basements rather than marrying and starting legally recognized unions of our own. Marriage rates have skidded downward, with a little more than a quarter of 18- to 35-year-olds ball-and-chained in 2012. Partly as a result, more than half of the country is presently single. To some, this arrested development is evidence of a prolonged adolescence and a rejection of self-sufficiency, perhaps encouraged by indulgent "helicopter parenting." According to a recent survey, about three quarters of America's young adults consider millennials to be "responsible" and "hard-working," while just half of older adults agree. If character isn't the issue, perhaps it's misplaced preferences: We millennials have set aside the ideals of an "ownership society" in favor of the hippy-dippy values of a "sharing economy. " We rent, borrow or share our textbooks, cars and even dinner leftovers, so why would we bother buying a home or permanently attaching ourselves to a single romantic partner? Recent data, though, suggest that these standard, American dream-style signposts still retain an incredibly strong hold over young people's desires and aspirations. What's changed is that basic goals such as getting married, having a secure job and owning a home have drifted further out of reach.