Emerging Adulthood Theory Paper

High school graduation marks the start of young adults’ lives, a time where they are expected to decide what they want to do for the rest of their lives. Many young adults are pressured into attending college, whether they have determined their goal or not, but is it necessary? “The Case Against College,” an article written by Linda Lee, a mother who has questioned the former belief that college equals success, claims that “not everyone needs a higher education.” College, though beneficial to many, is not for everyone and should not determine an individual’s life.

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

In today’s culture, roughly 36% of Americans earn a college degree, while the remaining 64% are either presented with different options, or simply do not have the resources to go to college (Butler-Sweet, September 5, 2017). It is often assumed that a person’s college status, as well as their entire life, can be determined by examining his or her intellect, high school performance, and talents. However, C. Wright Mills proposes a new approach to this idea in his work, “The Promise.” Mills presents an idea known as the sociological imagination, which examines society on a larger scale to better grasp an individual’s life circumstances (Mills 2).

When we were younger, we were told that we had the world at our fingertips and that anything was possible. We could be anything we wanted and not have to worry about a thing, except maybe disappointing our parents. However, as we grew up, it became quite clear that that is no longer the case. The price of college has skyrocketed within the past 20 years, while the average income for a family has remained relatively the same. With a college diploma becoming more and more necessary to get a decent paying job and colleges being too much to pay for,

Although good health is generally the norm in emerging adulthood, “low birthrate, under-nutrition in infancy and rapid weight gain in early childhood tend to result in shorter height, reduced body-functioning and higher risks of disease (Berger, 2014, p. 394). Fertility is still an optimal level as it always was, however families are being started almost a decade later than they used to. Emerging adults are riskier and have more accidents, however, due to their overall good healthy, they are usually discharged from the hospital rather quickly. In sports, the thrill overwhelms reason (Berger, 2014, p. 398). Drug and alcohol abuse are exciting in emerging adults, reaching it’s peak attraction during college and declining sharply around age 20. A fifth state of though that would follow Piaget’s four stages of thought is called postformal thought. Post formal tinkers take a more flexible and comprehensive approach, using forethought, noting difficulties and anticipating problems, not denying, avoiding or procrastinating, (Berger, 2014, p. 400). Stereotype threat, which is the possibility that one’s appearance or behavior will be misread to confirm another persons’ over simplified, prejudice attitudes, can be a real problem on emerging adults who apply to and attend college. “College attendance is rapidly increasing in developing nations, as it is apparent that tertiary education improves health productivity and income.” (Berger, 2014, p. 408). During emerging adulthood, an

This generation, more than any other, displays a noticeable attachment to their childhood selves. The phenomena cannot, by any means, be random and could very much be linked to parenting styles and expectations due the economic conditions in the 90s and early 2000s that are a bleak contrast to our economy as it stands today. In 2014, The Washington Post published a piece entitled “Why are so many millennials depressed? A therapist points the finger at Mom and Dad”. In her piece, which originally appeared on Slate, Brooke Donatone profiles a young woman named Amy (not her real name) who suffers from depression and confesses that she’d rather go directly into a PhD program upon graduating graduate school for fear of having to enter the job market. Donatone reveals that Amy is just one example of the many of college students she serves as a psychologist who expresses a real fear of adulthood. She attributes this to psychologist Jeffrey Arnett’s theory of “emerging adulthood” which explains the occurrence of extended childhood in the lives of many adults, who, well, refuse adulthood. This, along with helicopter parenting, which parents.com describes as being overly controlling and involved in your children’s life, is partially how Donatone reconciles the vast tendency for millenials to delay their ascension into adulthood. She also points to the difference in economy between the late 90s and early 2000s as compared to now, in which in

Adolescence is the period between ages 13 to 19. Then, we, transition over into adulthood.

First Sections: This section talks about how in society from the past how things have changed; people are getting married a lot later in their twenty from the sociological perspective. It all triggers of the how young adult feels that they are reaching adulthood. Other questions and presentations this section deals with is how young people currently view if they have officially reached adulthood yet, some individual think it is when they go

According to Council of Economic Advisors, “about 61 percent of adult Millennials have attended college, whereas only 46 percent of the Baby Boomers did so” (www.whitehouse.gov). That is awesome; however, these young adults face an uncertain job market, student loan debt and a stable, but weak economy which determines their future financial earnings. Becoming employed is a significant period in a young adult’s life; it’s the right of passage into the adult

​ As I began senior year, I embarked on a journey of transitioning from childhood to adulthood. Even though i was about to turn 18 and on the verge of applying for college, I still felt like a kid. I wanted nothing more than to become and feel like an adult. I was tired of being a kid. I wanted all the perks and respect that an adult had. I wanted to sign my own legal documents . I wanted to be able to live on my own. I wanted to buy and place a car under my own name not my parents. I was tired of relying on my parents .

There are five key features that characterize emerging adulthood. The first s identity exploration. The second is “Instability.” For many the instability is a result of residential changes such as living in a dorm. There is also instability in friendships, romantic relationships, academia, and work. Emerging adults have few obligations, responsibilities, and commitments. Because they have so much autonomy in controlling their own lives the third key feature is “Self-Focused.” One of the most difficult

The article titled “Who is an adult?” is a blog published by Psychology Today on March 3rd, 2010, in which Jennifer Tanner attempts to show the debate on when a person is considered an adult by presenting two sides of the debate and their similarities. On one side of the debate Tanner uses Dr. Jeffry Arnett’s research study of the 1990’s. He interviewed three hundred eighteen to twenty-nine year olds to discover if they felt that they were adolescents or adults. The conclusion was that the majority of their answers were neither one or the other but “in-between.” On the other side of the debate Tanner uses The Network on Transitions to Adulthood, a network of researchers that argues there is an extended adolescence stalling-off adulthood. Tanner discusses these two sides of the age debate, while remaining neutral on the issue, in order to increase our society’s awareness of the impact of these critical years on the rest of our life.

Traditionally the typical age group for freshmen in college was between 18 to 19 years of age. That reality has slowly changed as more young adults are finding their way back in the classroom, while holding down a job. The

There are many labels, mostly negative, on my generation. Some common terms include incompetent, ghetto, lazy, apathetic, tech-savvy, procrastinators, and lacking potential for the world. In some ways these aim to be true, but in other ways they are far from the truth. I believe that my generation has more potential than we are given credit for. We are about to graduate, or have recently graduated high school or college, with some not even 18 years old yet. What has always baffled me is that we are expected by adults to know what we want to do for the rest of our lives before we’re even legal adults. Yes, colleges have undecided majors, but what happens after college when some people still don’t know exactly what they enjoy? Because of this, we are criticized for not having our lives together and “delaying life choices that traditionally signaled adulthood” (Evans, 1) as discussed in “Boomerang

A substantial amount of data exists today about the higher education system in America. One of the most staggering facts is simply, why, that in such a highly prosperous and populated country that only 36% of young adults ages 18-25 attend a college or university (Butler-Sweet, C., 2017)? The majority might attribute this number to believing that young adults are lazy, or unmotivated— the truth, however lies somewhere else. An individual’s social context plays a large role in determining one’s life. As a middle-class, white woman in America today, the chances that someone under these same circumstances would graduate high school and find herself in college had little to do with her personal work ethic or talent. The social context that I was raised in, fully shaped my future with little intrusion by my own individual characteristics.