Gen-Y spending holiday with friends

WASHINGTON, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- Young U.S. adults increasingly are bucking the tradition of spending Thanksgiving with family and instead are hosting dinners for their friends.

Rasmussen Reports found 8 percent of those surveyed are spending the holiday with friends rather than family. Experts say the trend is rapidly growing among people in their 20s, also known as Generation Y, The Christian Science Monitor reported Wednesday.

Experts said the trend may be partially attributed to the high cost of travel and the increasing amount of time young adults are spending living on their own between college and marriage.

"It's too early for this to show up as a verifiable trend in census data, but it's absolutely clear that with the extended rise of education and delay of marriage it is something that is occurring more than just anecdotally," said Stephanie Coontz, a professor of history and family studies at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash.

Coontz said friendship networks and support systems are becoming increasingly important as young professionals spend more time unmarried. Census reports show it is not uncommon for men and women to remain unmarried 15 years into adulthood.