Women in twenties spend £1,000 a month on the WAG lifestyle

She spends more than £1,000 a month on looking good and going out, believes she has a better sex life but less romance than her mother did at her age, and admires Victoria Beckham more than any other woman. Welcome to the world of the average twenty-something female, as surveyed by More magazine.

Rejecting the "have it all" mantra of previous generations, the majority of young women aged between 21 and 25 appear to aspire to being a "WAG" (footballer's wife or girlfriend) rather than a powerbroking executive, according to a survey.

More than half still live with their parents, only a quarter believe a career is important, and a third admit that they behave more like a child than an independent woman.

The survey of 2,000 women in their early twenties, found that they were more concerned with femininity rather than feminism. Earning an average of just over £18,000 a year, respondents spent £1,156 a month on clothes, beauty products and entertainment.

The average young woman's wardrobe contains 151 items, including 25 pairs of shoes, eight handbags and four hats, but only six per cent wear all these clothes.

Almost half have credit card debts and owe an average of £3,380. Four in ten admit that they still rely on their parents to bale them out when they overspend.

The average young woman goes out four nights a week and six out of ten women are drunk at least once every seven days.

Seven out of ten say their social life is better than their mother's at the same age, and more than half believe they have a better sex life, but 55 per cent admit that they experience less romance than their parents.

Top of the ten most admired women came Victoria Beckham, followed by Kylie Minogue, Jennifer Aniston and Jordan. The only woman to make it on to the list who is not an actress, model or singer is Tory MP Anne Widdecombe (although nine out of ten respondents said they had no interest in politics).

Donna Armstrong, editor of More magazine, said: "This generation of young women are having the time of their lives and 23 is the ultimate age. Most (six out of ten) want to be a Wag - shopping and partying with their mates and having a gorgeous, preferably rich, bloke on their arm."

But the young women in the survey are also a mass of contradictions; 92 per cent say that celebrities are too thin, but the super-slim Victoria Beckham was voted as having the second best female body. Two thirds say they care about the environment, yet only four per cent would pay more tax to protect it.

'Buying a house seems like a long way off': Sophia H, 22, temporary worker

Sophia is 22 years old and lives in Bath, where she has just started temping as an admin officer.

She says: "My friends and I do occasionally discuss what we want to do with our lives and where we might be in the future but the conversations don't usually last very long. We are all having such a good time at the moment that I'm not really thinking about pensions and mortgages, and I don't really know what I want to do as a career. I'm quite happy just to enjoy myself - buying a house seems like such a long way off; I can't really imagine when I might do it. I share a house with two friends and apart from the rent all of my money goes on clothes and shopping and going out."

She adds: "I think we do have more opportunities than our mothers when it comes to careers and things but now you also won't get looked down on if you stay at home and have children. We can do what we want and make our own decisions.But I would not say that Victoria Beckham is a role model of mine - she would be very low down the list."