The young and the relentless

For professionals, youth doesn't necessarily end at 30. Or 40.

Michael Russo (left, with Brandon Vogel at a networking party at the Beehive) says he considers himself a young professional because he's not married and "I don't have to report to anyone, for lack of a better word." (Wendy Maeda/Globe Staff)

During an afternoon Internet surf, Dennis Franczak visited a Boston Young Professionals Association message board to chat but got insecure about his right to be there. After all, he was almost 40.

"Am I too old to be in this group?" Franczak wrote in a post on the website.

Franczak, who runs the Somerville marketing firm FUSE/ideas, was soon answered by a user: "Dennis, no, you are not too old. The group is made up of people aged 21 to 45."

Franczak was relieved. "I think I'm in a tweener age," he said. "I don't really know who to network with."

At 39, Franczak is a young professional, at least by Boston's standards. Many young professionals associations across the country have seen an increase in the number of 40-somethings attending their events, and some - including the Boston Young Professionals Association - have upped the maximum age to 45.

BostonEventGuide.com, a group that also plans outings for the yuppie crowd, hosts 40-friendly events because so many older young professionals have asked for them, according to founder Jeff Popkin. In the western part of Massachusetts, the young professionals association run by the Berkshire Chamber of Commerce decided last year to set an official limit of 40 to keep out people in their mid-40s who inquired about their eligibility.

These groups say that more people in their 40s identify themselves as young professionals because they're still single, divorced, or starting new careers. The young professionals organizations that were originally created to help people start a social network and build their careers now appeal to an older age bracket whose members just happen to be in the same boat.

"We began noticing that at our events, people would come up to us and say, 'Are you sure [40] is really the end date?' " said Nathan Spencer, who recently stepped down from his post as spokesman of the Boston Young Professionals Association. "They kept identifying themselves as young and they kept appearing at [events]."

Ben Jensen, who runs the Hartford Young Professionals & Entrepreneurs, known as HYPE, said he has seen an influx of older members in his group over the past few years. HYPE has no official age limit but is supposed to cater to people who are 21 to 39. Jensen said the group now plans specific activities for what he calls the "young-at-heart division," the 40-plus crowd.

"People are getting married later," said Jensen, who is 28. "They're starting families later. There are still people in their 30s actively looking for things to do."

Harvard sociology professor Nicholas Christakis, who studies social networks, says that what the young professionals groups are seeing is "a progressive elongation of our adolescence," a symptom of people living longer and enjoying youth for a longer period of time. As they say, 40 is the new 30.

It's not a bad thing, he says. After all, people get to stay young, and 20-somethings should learn plenty from having a better social connection with people in their 40s.

But Christina Barrett, 26, of the Berkshire Chamber of Commerce, said that in her region it's hard enough for 20- and 30-somethings to find one another. The Berkshire Chamber's young professionals group began limiting its social events to the 40-and-younger crowd after noticing that its young professionals after-hours parties drew the same crowd as its full membership mixers. The organization wanted the young professionals events to be legitimately young.

"I do get comments of, 'Now you're telling me I'm old,' " she said, "but if you're going to say 'young professionals,' you need to define it somewhere."

Jon Severson said he had the same problem when he founded a young professionals group in Colorado Springs four years ago. When he began advertising events for the 20s and 30s crowd, he got some undesirable 40-somethings at events. "People who were kind of fishing for that 20-something girl and were just divorced with two kids," he explained.

At first he limited the group to the under-40 set to make the boundaries clear. But over time he started to let 40-somethings attend events because some of the original members of the Colorado Springs Young Professionals, who were in their mid-to-late 30s when the group started, wanted to stay in the mix.

"Are you going to treat it like 'Logan's Run' and take them out back and shoot 'em?" Severson said. "We try to be realistic about it."

A few weeks ago, the Boston Young Professionals hosted a party at the Beehive, the trendy new restaurant in the South End. Not surprisingly, people in their late 30s and early 40s attended. There were 20-somethings, but it wasn't uncool to be 40.

Michael Russo, 41, said during the party that he considers himself to be a young professional because he isn't married and doesn't have kids. He said he often finds that he has more in common with younger people who share his priorities.

"I don't have to report to anyone, for lack of a better word," he said.

Rod Laurenz, a 36-year-old financial adviser from Somerville, said his definition of "old" grows as he does. "The closer I get to 40, the more I think 45 sounds young," he said. "I think single people define themselves as younger."

Spencer said that even though the group he once belonged to is now welcoming 45-year-olds to its parties, he believes the age limit won't go any higher. Even at 26, Spencer was ready to leave the group to move on.

Jensen, of Hartford, agreed that by 40, he expects to have little interest in mingling with people in their 20s and early 30s.

"I already feel like I'm getting old."

Meredith Goldstein can be reached at mgoldstein@globe.com.