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In many ways, the nation’s housing stock has grown out of sync with these shifting demographics.
在许多方面，美国的住房存量已经与这些不断变化的人口结构脱节。
Many solo adults live in homes with at least three bedrooms, census data shows, but find that downsizing is not easy because of a shortage of smaller homes in their towns and neighborhoods.
人口普查数据显示，许多单身成年人住在至少有三间卧室的房子里，但他们发现缩小住房面积并不容易，因为他们所在的城镇和社区缺少较小的房子。
Compounding the challenge of living solo, a growing share of older adults — about 1 in 6 Americans 55 and older — do not have children, raising questions about how elder care will be managed in the coming decades.
让独居挑战雪上加霜的是，越来越多的老年人——55岁及以上的美国人中约有六分之一——没有子女，这引发了未来几十年如何照顾老年人的疑问。
“What will happen to this cohort?” Dr. Schafer asked. “Can they continue to find other supports that compensate for living alone?”
“这群人会怎么样呢？”谢弗问道，“他们还能找到其他帮助，以补偿独居的孤寂吗？”
For many solo adults, the pandemic highlighted the challenges of aging.
对于许多单身成年人来说，大流行突显了老龄化的挑战。
Ms. Selman, the 55-year-old professor, lived in Terre Haute, Ind., when Covid-19 hit.
当新冠肺炎来袭时，现年55岁的塞尔曼教授住在印第安纳州的特雷豪特。
Divorced for 17 years, she said she used the enforced isolation to establish new routines to stave off loneliness and depression.
离婚17年的她说，她利用强制隔离期来养成新的习惯，以缓解孤独和抑郁。
She quit drinking and began regularly calling a group of female friends.
她戒酒了，并开始定期给一群女性朋友打电话。
This year, she got a new job and moved to Normal, Ill., in part because she wanted to live in a state that better reflected her progressive politics.
今年，她找到了一份新工作，搬到了伊利诺伊州的诺默尔，部分原因是她想生活在一个更能反映她的进步主义政治的州。
She has met new friends at a farmers’ market, she said, and is happier than she was before the pandemic, even though she occasionally wishes she had a romantic partner to take motorcycle rides with her or just to help carry laundry up and down the stairs of her three-bedroom home.
她说，她在一个农贸市场结识了新朋友，比疫情前更快乐，尽管她偶尔希望有一个恋人和她一起骑摩托车，或者只是在她的三居室家里帮忙把洗好的衣服搬到楼上楼下。
She regularly drives 12 hours round trip to care for her parents near Detroit, an obligation that has persuaded her to put away her retirement fantasy of living near the beach, and move someday closer to her daughter and grandson, who live in Louisville, Ky.
为了照顾住在底特律附近的父母，她经常开车往返12个小时，这一义务使她放弃了退休后住在海滩附近的幻想，也让她需要在将来搬到离住在肯塔基州路易斯维尔的女儿和孙子更近的地方。
“I don’t want my daughter to stress out about me,” she said.
“我不想让女儿为我感到有压力。”她说。
Watching their own parents age seems to have had a profound effect on many members of Gen X, born between 1965 and 1980, who say they doubt that they can lean on the same supports that their parents did: long marriages, pensions, homes that sometimes skyrocketed in value.
看到自己父母变老似乎对出生于1965年至1980年之间的X世代产生了深远影响，他们说，他们怀疑自己能否拥有像父母那样的依靠：长久的婚姻、养老金，以及有时价值飙升的住房。
When his mother died two years ago, Mr. Miles, the videographer, took comfort in moving some of her furniture into his house in New Haven, Conn.
摄影师迈尔斯的母亲两年前去世，然后他把母亲的一些家具搬到了他位于康涅狄格州纽黑文的家中，这让他感到慰藉。
“It was a coming home psychologically,” he said, allowing him to feel rooted after decades of cross-country moves and peripatetic career explorations, shifting from the music business to high school teaching to producing films for nonprofits and companies.
“从心理上讲，这是一次回家。”他说，这让他在经历了数十年的旅居各地和跨界职业探索后感到扎下了根，他从音乐行业转向高中教学，再到为非营利性组织和公司制作影片。
“I still feel pretty indestructible, foolishly or not,” he said.
“我仍然觉得自己坚不可摧，不管这是不是愚蠢。”他说。
Still, caring for his divorced mother made him think about his own future.
尽管如此，照顾离异的母亲还是让他思考了自己的未来。
She had a government pension, security he lacks. Nor does he have children.
他的母亲有政府养老金，这种保障是他所缺乏的。他也没有子女。
“I can’t call my kid,” he added, “the way I used to go to my mom’s house to change light bulbs.”
“我不能打电话给子女，”他补充道，“没有人像我过去那样去我妈妈家换灯泡。
His options for maintaining independence are “all terrible,” he said. “I’m totally freaked out by it.”
他说，他为保持独立所做的选择“都很糟糕”。“我完全被它吓坏了。”
Several Gen X solo dwellers said they had begun exploring options to live communally as they age, inspired, in part, by living arrangements they had enjoyed in college years and young adulthood.
几个X世代的独居者说，随着年龄增长，他们已经开始探索集体生活的可能性，部分灵感来自于在大学和年轻时的生活安排。
“I’ve been talking to friends about end-of-life issues and how we might want to get together,” said Patrick McComb, 56, of Riverview, Mich., a graphic artist.
56岁的帕特里克·麦库姆住在密歇根州的里弗维尤，是一位平面艺术家，他说：“我一直在和朋友们讨论临终问题，我们可能想要住在一起。”
“Being alone till the end would not be the worst thing in the world. But I would prefer to be with people.”
“孤独终老并不是世界上最糟糕的事情。但我更喜欢和其他人在一起。”
