Emerging Adulthood Research Paper

Adolescence is when people are at the stage of “Coming of Age.” “Adolescence are at the threshold of adulthood” and adulthood will be their enlightenment after period of darkness (Lesko, 148)

the most part. These years in a persons life have often been referred to as emerging adulthood.

As the mother of seven grown children, I agree with most of Jeffrey Arnett’s, author of Emerging Adulthood, theories. It is a time of change, with a developmental connection between adolescence and adulthood. During this phase of development, children experience periods of self-discovery transformation. There are favorable outcomes as well as adverse effects during this developmental stage. Furthermore, this successive stage encourages and promotes the change from the dependency of their parents to the independence that is distinctive for adults. This autonomy is beneficial because it prepares the emerging adult for their future independently from their parents. Arnett believes there are five characteristics of emerging adulthood that make it distinguishable from other time periods: the age of identity explorations, the age of instability, the self-focused age, the age of feeling in-between, and the age of possibilities.

The adolescent individuals begin to reach sexual maturity and established their identity as an adult. This period marks the transition in which individuals think and reason. They also start to encounter conflicts between their family and their peers.

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.

In his essay from The Journal of Youth and Adolescence, Arnett discusses various myths attributed to young adulthood while providing evidence to refute them. Three primary myths appearing throughout literature on emerging adults include a lower mental well-being, overall selfishness and a refusal to grow up. Several parallels exist between Arnett’s observations and my own experiences in emerging adulthood, providing further proof of the falsehood of such myths. Common myths claim emerging adults experience detriment in their overall well-being.

Emerging adulthood is a period of development that coincides with college, around years 18-25 (Arnett, 2000). At this stage, young adults fully learn about themselves, their roles, and who they are.

Adolescents all have their own ways of transitioning into adults. In one way or another, we all lose our childhood innocence, whether we like it or not. Many people wonder what this stage in life may be called. The “coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The certain age at which this transition takes place changes in society, as does the nature of the change.”

Emerging adulthood: A phase of young adulthood from about age 18 to 25 during which young adults are still developing and maturing.

It comes as no surprise, in that, people should be considered adults at the age of 18 by reason of legally speaking, being considered an adult and additionally, I don’t think a few people should be considered adults at the age of 18. I believe being considered an adult could perhaps depend on your level of development, mixed with your preceding insight on life skills. I suspect it fluctuates from person to person as every person develops variously throughout life. During the thought-provoking time of emerging adulthood, young individuals generally have the ability mettle into the level of education that will aid them throughout the remainder of their working adult lives. For various people this is a time of transformation and intensified changes

Emerging adulthood is a phase of the life span between adolescence and full-fledged adulthood which encompasses late adolescence and early adulthood. Jeffrey Arnett a Psychologist suggested a new period of life called Emerging adulthood. A time of the end of adolescence to young responsible adults. As Arnett describes emerging adulthood with the age of identity exploration, age of instability, age of self-focus, age of feeling in between, and age of possibilities. Age of identity exploration is when emerging adults decide who they are, where they want to pursue an education, and what they enjoy doing. You need to learn about your interests and be creative with your life. Learning enables us to survive have full life overcome fear help us cope with change. To help us reach our full potential means we need to express our creativity our drive to bring something new into being. Age of instability once you decide if you want to attend college or move in with family or friends. Age of self-focus when you no longer depend on your parents deciding what talents you have that will help you choose a career. Talent is an ability or an aptitude that has value it is often thought as a gift in the sense that a person seems to be born with. Age of feeling in between are starting to take responsibility for but do not feel like a complete independent adult yet. Age of possibilities the feeling of being young and having free will to decide what you want to do with your life. Free will is to do what you ought to do. So many entitled kids think a good paying job will just be handed to them and they don’t have to work for it. Many if you are lucky you are born into a family where you don’t have to worry about money or getting a job but for most we need to work for what we want. In this generation many need the motivation to work. Work will enable us to provide for our families and will occupy a large part of our life. Work allows us to contribute to the building of the world and it provides us with a sense of dignity in life. This time is a critical development that reflects how you are shaped by your family, experiences, and morals. This transition works to establish your identity. Sense of identity is an individual understanding

According to Jeffrey Arnott, his idea of emerging adulthood comes from the transiton from adoloscence and aduthood. According to my own point of view, an adult is a mature male or female who can be separated amongst good and bad. This is inner voice. An adult ought to have the capacity to reason uniquely in contrast to a minor by making the best decision at the ideal time at the correct way and place. This to me characterizes an adult.. For one to move from youth into adulthood, a considerable measure happens relying upon nature of childhood. This leads to the ideas that Arnett had regarding the emerging adulthood, “whose parents can foot the bill while their trying to figure out what is that they want to do with their lives” (Arnett, 2009).

Entering adulthood can not be defined by a number. Instead, the transition is marked by discovering your purpose in life which can sometimes feel impossible. Some may transition at a very young age, like myself while others may take longer. At the young age of 13 I began my journey into adulthood.

The stage of development I am currently in is young adulthood or emerging adulthood. Emerging adulthood is the transitioning from adolescence to adulthood and is between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five (Steinberg, Bornstein, Vandell, & Rook, 2011). This is when people develop independence from parents and being to establish adult roles or tasks. For me, this meant moving to college.

From adolescence to late adulthood, our lives change drastically. Our goals, achievements and conceptions of life differentiate as we mature. As we grow older, we no longer concern ourselves with self-identity or the opinions of others, but instead we focus on our accomplishments and evaluate our life (if we lived a meaningful life). From adolescence to late adulthood, we experience different developmental tasks at a particular place in our life span.