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Emerging Adulthood Analysis

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What is emerging adulthood? What makes young adults go through this stage, and why should it be considered a stage? Robin Marantz Henig, a freelance journalist, author, and science writer, explains in her article, “What is it about 20-somethings?”, along with Dr. Jeffrey Jensen Arnett, a psychology professor at Clark University. Henig and Arnett discuss the reasons why many 20-somethings struggle to transition from adolescence to adulthood. Arnett calls this period of time “emerging adulthood”, and believes that it should be considered a stage of life. Because many young adults go through this and feel different, emerging adulthood should be recognized as a new stage of life, as it explains to people why it is okay to transition into adulthood …show more content…

Arnett believes this is because young adults do not have the same expectations and responsibilities their parents had decades ago. Henig states, “during this period he calls emerging adulthood, Arnett says that young men and women are more self-focused than at any other time of life, less certain about the future and yet also more optimistic, no matter what their economic background” (273). This demonstrates that because young adults during this period do not have the same social pressure to get married or have kids at a certain age, therefore they feel less worried about it and instead focus on themselves. Young adults around this time also have a “sense of possibilities”, where they are not quite sure of what is going to happen yet, however they are optimistic about it. Arnett argues that “the dreary, dead-ends jobs, the bitter divorces, the disappointing and disrespectful children… none of them imagine that this is what the future holds for them” (273). This shows that during emerging adulthood, adolescents tend to be optimistic about their future even when things like awful jobs and divorces can probably happen to them in the future. Arnett also admits that there are also downsides to it as young adults might feel dreadful, frustrated, uncertain, and have

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