Emerging Adulthood is a phase of a human’s lifetime between adolescence and full-fledged adulthood. The age range for this group is approximately 18-25 years old. Emerging adults are not fully ready to take on adult responsibilities, but are expected to step up from childhood. This allows for new experiences, enrolling into college, understanding one’s own sexual identity, and to seek out what future they want for themself. Most emerging adults will move out from their parents home to get their own apartment, dorm, or house and will usually have roommates to help pay for their rent. Jeffery Arnett suggests, “that emerging adulthood is a distinct period demographically, subjectively, and in terms of identity explorations” (Arnett, 2000, pg. 469). This allows the individual to get independence and self-reliability within themselves to get an idea of what it will be like to be living as an adult in the later years to come. After living on their own, many young adults will move back in with their parents after college or if they were not successful living on their own.
According to Arnett, “during Emerging Adulthood, young people are in the process of developing the capacities, skills, and qualities of character deemed by their cultures as necessary for completing the transition to adulthood” (Arnett, 1998, p. 312). The majority of Americans see big life events as reaching and achieving adulthood. It is portrayed that those who have succeeded these events are more independent,
1) I would consider myself to be in the emerging adulthood because I had many decisions that will possibly benefit my future. For example , I decided I would go out of state for college and be away from my parents . I picked the major that best fit my interest and I had made the decision to get a job to earn a s source of income. Emerging adulthood refers to a period where an individual transits from adolescence to adulthood . This is a period where the individual begins to establish independences from parents and take on adult roles (Steinberg, Bornstein, Vandell & Rook ,2011) .
Emerging adults have reached a step up from childhood but are not yet ready to fully take on adult responsibilities. This part of life is open to many new experiences which can be very good for the morality of this upcoming generation of adults. People find themselves changing majors in college or taking different classes to explore their interests and find out where they best belong in their future career field.
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.
In the magazine article "What Is It About 20-Somethings," Robin Marantz Henig discussed the stagnant transcendence of adolescents into adulthood with society and economy evolve to accomodate people's needs. Most make it into the realm of adulthood once they surpass these milestones: "completing school, leaving home, becoming financially independent, marrying and having a child". However, some linger in a new stage called the "emerging adulthood," where they spend more time than others to explore their identity and to develop "sense of possibilities". Causes for the delay include cultural expectation, dependence on parents, change in hierarchy of needs, and adolescent brain development. And as a result, society become uncertain whether to extend
They also expressed that, while they know it is quite common, they hoped for themselves to be living with a partner or in apartment on their own once they were over the age of 30 if they could not live in a home of their own. It was at this point that I began to see that the ideals of centuries past continue to be relevant within our modern context. However, the autonomy to choose the timing of attainment is fundamental to becoming an independent adult. My respondents, therefore, supported previous literature which suggests that conventional transitions to adulthood are occurring but at rather delayed and individualistic rates. But where does this delay come
Many older adults are pondering at the fact that many young adults are taking longer to become a fully independent adult. Young adults in today's time are still being supported by their parents and when push comes to shove, young adults rely on their parents to bail them out of a situation. In What Is It About 20-Somethings by Henig Robin Marantz, Henig addresses this ongoing situations that is affecting many young adults and informs us that this phase is referred to as “Emerging Adulthood” (Henig 200). “Emerging Adulthood” is defined as a stage of life where young adults gain insight to their own goals and aspirations in life. Although Henig only addresses “Emerging Adulthood” through Psychologist Arnett’s work, many young adults seem to be able to relate to the theory of “Emerging Adulthood.”
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
However, few young adults are out there in society developing healthy life style decisions which they begin a foundation how life works and accept reality. Not every young adult stays in their shell and parents are willing to accept and know their child’s status. Based on “What Is It About 20-Somethings” by Robin Marantz Henig, it has defined the “transition to adulthood” by five milestones: graduating, leaving home, becoming financially stable, marrying, and having kids. From my personal perspective, I disagree due to the fact between rural and urban countries.
F. (2013). Transitions to adulthood: What we can learn from the West. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 646(1), 28-41. Goldscheider, F., Bernhardt, E., & Lappegård, T. (2015).
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.
The authors Frank F. Furstenberg, Jr., Sheela Kennedy, Vonnie C. McLoyd, Ruben G. Rumbaut, and Richard A. Settersten, Jr. in their text “Growing Up Is Harder to Do” (2004) acknowledges how the meaning of being considered an adult has changed over the decades. In the passage they compare what being considered an adult meant in the late 19th and early 20th century to what it is considered as now in today’s day and age. The authors discuss how the time period has lengthen over the years for humans to grow as adults (meaning age wise.) Although the authors of “Growing Up Is Harder to Do” have brought to light how times have changed and differ, from their very opinionated point of view, today’s adolescents have allowed us to really see for ourselves
While I believe emerging adulthood is a stage of development for many, I did not witness it in Jack’s development. Because he did not finish school or take time off to think about what he wanted to do with his life, it was hard to pinpoint where emerging adulthood would even take place. Since Jack started working as a sophomore in high school, to owning his own roofing company, he was always focused on supporting his family, not thinking about his next steps. I had a genuine, eye-opening experience interviewing Jack about his life story. It was gratifying and delightful to hear Jack share with me his views on his past.
I am in the emerging adulthood phase because I am in that age group. At first I thought emerging adulthood was the start of paying bills, and having all kinds of new responsibilities that adults usually do like car payments, applying for insurance, finding a new doctor, maybe starting a family, etc. Pretty much not being under your parents financial support is what I’m trying to say. Recently my thoughts on emerging adulthood changed. Emerging adulthood is the time to prepare and ‘evolve’ one’s self into becoming a young adult. Right after I graduated high school I wanted to have a source of income so I do not have to rely on my parents too much. I wanted to prove to them I can attend school and have a job simultaneously. I was surprised I
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
This stage is characterized by a single young adult leaving home in order to establish herself or himself as an independent adult. The successful achievement of the task characteristic of this stage depends largely on the degree, quality and completeness of the young adult’s relationships with parents, siblings and extended family members while growing up.