Christian Smith 's Research And Assessment Essay

Within the book You Lost Me by David Kinnaman, the author discusses why young Christians are leaving the church and rethinking faith. He gives us an overview of the trends within the mosaic generation. Through this overview, we as student ministers can better understand the generation in which we are ministering to. With this understanding, we can reach these students and bring them back to their home, that is the Church. In this report, I will discuss the book by chapter and finish with my reflection.

The life pursuits and subjective judgments of many contemporary young people indicate that the transition to adult roles has become so delayed and prolonged that it has spawned a new transitional period extending from the late teens to the mid-to late-twenties, called emerging adulthood. During the college years, young people often refine their approach to forming their own identity. In these years, young people have left adolescence, but most have not yet assumed adult responsibilities. Many have dreams and those are what guides them in their decision making. In the video, 22 year old Casey describes her dream and comments on her identity development. Casey says that she became interested in Psychology in high school during her junior year when she took a psych course. She knew from then on that was what she wanted to do, but she hadn't picked a career yet. Casey said that she picked a career during her first year of graduate school, when she decided on gerontology. She said her happy and active grandparents had a lot to do with picking a career and wanting to work with the population. Casey thinks her identity was a gradual process and it's only really formed since last year. She feels her parents helped shape her morals and beliefs, but in between her senior year and her first year of graduate school, she started to form her own and integrated some of her own ideas. 24 year old Elizabeth and 25 year old Joel are shown discussing

Being an adult is the number one thing that children want to be: The desire to get older to do things that you want when you want and having no one say otherwise. However, what is an adult? An ambiguous term that really falls into the hands of the individual, where at Sixteen you can drive, eighteen you can vote, and twenty-one you can drink, for those in the USA, all varying ages that individuals could use as indications of adulthood. Robin Heinig wrote and article “What is it about 20- somethings?” where she discusses Arnett’s proposal about a new developmental stage, “Emerging Adulthood”. Jeffrey Jensen Arnett, an American professor in psychology, believes that we aren 't entering adulthood till the later portions of our twenties. For some, this may be true but for the general population including myself I find this hard to believe. Leo Hendry’s article, “How universal is emerging adulthood? An empirical example”, on emerging adulthood gives a deeper understanding to what this generation 's kids are going through. The late teens are a crucial part to the lives of a young adult. It 's the time that we spend trying to identify ourselves, escape the circumstance that we are put into at a younger age, or just had a better family income. Arnett is not wrong, but all other external factors need to be accounted for before we know, or even consider if emerging adulthood is a new developmental stage.

Lifespan Development course teaches that during the Emerging Adulthood young individuals are most likely to experience unstable financial and living stability. I also learned that unlike older generations that where rushed into adulthood – marriage and children- younger generations are rushing into college debt and other credit debt.

Emerging Adulthood is a time of exploration for young adults and by watching Arnett’s video emerging adulthood allows for growth that wouldn’t have happened if young adults immediately took on adult roles such us getting married. In most cultures big life events, for example, marriage and having a career were the main factors of being adult but in the last 50 years it is more than that it is also being independent and having a personal identity. Emerging adults are persistently experimenting with various choices in work and continue to explore trying to make sense of their identity. Transitions that used to happen years ago at age 20 now happen close to age 30 or more and this is because of socio-cultural and economic changes and with more

While Henig and Grossman both write about how the young adult generation has changed in their respective Times magazine articles, Grossman is more effective in accomplishing his persuasive purpose on how young adults are unable to settle down in his article “Grow up? Not so fast.” through his convincing appeals. Henig’s article “What is it about 20-Somethings?” is still effective, but Grossman’s article is more compelling. Grossman utilizes personal examples and credible sources to enhance his argument and delivers to the audience a broader understanding of the change in generations.

Emerging Adulthood is a fascinating period of development with the shifting of life choices thanks to people living longer in countries such as the US. The 18 to mid 20-year-old person has a different outlook on life with the competitive job market, and the decision to try to attend college at the risk of not being able to find the job they need. The days of getting married before adulthood are long gone as people try to have a social life before settling down with a single individual. Trying new things and meeting new people is exciting and has taken a stronger meeting than to buy a home and start a family. With the healthier trends, people are living longer, and the age bracket has expanded and shifted for when settling down begins. Many

In Susan Olps article Millennials Seek Spiritual Life, But Not Necessarily Church, Olp talks about several different college students and their pastors and the way they worship. By interviewing these students and leaders, Olp was able to conclude that the millennial generation, people between the ages of twelve to thirty this year, explore their faith in ways other than just showing up at church. This is a challenge for pastors and chaplains. Church leaders have decided that authenticity and technology play a huge role in the millennial generation's daily lives, so leaders have incorporated what this group of people love into their teachings. The churches that

This generation is the most relational generation yet. They strive for relationships. Rainer stated that, “Nearly nine out of ten (88 percent) told us that their parents had a positive influence on them” (pg. 18). Not only are they relational, they are learners. It was stated that this generation is the most educated generation yet with a desire for knowledge. One staggering theme that we will discuss later is the fact that this generation is looking less to religion. “The shocking reality for us is that only thirteen percent of the Millennials considered any type of spirituality to be important in their lives” (pg. 21). This must change and the church has the opportunity to do something about it.

Every individual is influenced, in some way, by the people and environment around them. I believe that experiences in one’s life, good or bad, are able to shape the individual into who they want to become. As we can see, emerging adulthood emphasizes these types of learning experiences of exploring and independently living. These times of exploration are available for individuals, who live in a developed and economic society, because these individuals “marry later, have children later, obtain more education, and have a greater range of occupational and recreational opportunities” (Arnett, 2004, p. 24), which is why I claim I am an emerging adult because this is the type of society I live in. Emerging adulthood is becoming the norm because societies advancements have granted young people the chance to extend their time of exploration and have allowed individuals like me to figure what I really want to do in life (Arnett, 2004, p. 24). The key features of emerging adulthood --identity of exploration, age of instability, self-focus, age of feeling in-between, and age of possibilities are qualities I have found that play or have played a part in my life.

Hi Haley, I enjoyed reading your post. You really hit the nail on the head when you described your experience as an emerging adult with Arnett's definition of becoming an adult, however, although we all experience growth and number it by ages in years as you informed us 18-25 is the phase of emerging adulthood our text says different, so I would have to disagree with your concept that everyone on this planet experiences the emerging adulthood phase. This profile is not universal and only "describes young people in contemporary society" (Steinberg, 2017, p. 75). Our text also informs us that emerging adulthood "particularly serves the people whose parents can support them financially while they are trying to figure out what they want to eventually

In the article, Arnett proposes a new theory of development called emerging adulthood, existing between ages 18-25, and explains why this new theory should be recognized as an independently distinct period, separated from adolescence and young adulthood. Arnett heavily relies on survey data to strengthen and establish his statements. Although emerging adulthood may seem like a new theory, Erik Erikson had also briefly mentioned this period as psychosocial moratorium, describing as “young adult through free role experimentation may find a niche in society”. Arnett emphasizes that “emerging adulthood is a period characterized by change and exploration” and it is shown through demographic, subjective ideas, and identity exploration. Arnett includes,

In a TED talk, a psychologist, Dr. Meg Jay discusses how the notion,’30 is the new 20’ idea causes people in their 20’s to become indifferent about establishing their careers and personal relationship. Dr. Jay believes that by making it a society norm people are holding off on opportunities and accomplishment they can have in their twenties. Dr Jay stated, “When you tell a 20-something they have ten more years to figure their lives out, you are, in effect, 'robbing that person of his urgency and ambition”. She goes on to describe our twenties as the defining decade of our lives and a key stage of development. It is important to ‘claiming your twenties’ by developing those relationship and building the careers you want. By using your twenties as an extended adolescence', we are hindering the progress that can be made our twenties. Dr. Jay incudes a 'developmental downtime' can lead to a person filling unaccomplished and unhappy.

For young adults transitioning from college to the work field there might be a time of self-discovery and a journey to find their meaning in the world. This is also the time where they are expected to make decisions regarding career and relationships. Young adults are at their physical and intellectual peak. In the United States, young adults now have “longer periods of education and the delay of marriage and child bearing” (TEXTBOOK). Emerging adults now have more time to make life decisions before they are forced to make a long term decision regarding career, children and

I’ve worked in youth ministry for almost 30 years and believe youth ministry is real ministry, youth ministry provides unique opportunities for transformation, and