Are the Features of Emerging Adulthood Developmentally Distinctive? A Comparison of Ages 18

Abstract

A large national sample of adults ages 18–60 was surveyed on features proposed in the theory of emerging adulthood, including identity explorations, self-focus, feeling in-between, instability, and possibilities/optimism. Additional items were included on feeling that this time of life is a time of freedom and a time that is fun and exciting and on feelings of anxiety and depression. Emerging adults (ages 18–25) were more likely to endorse nearly all the items proposed in the theory of emerging adulthood, yet a surprisingly high proportion of adults in the older age groups (26–29, 30–39, and 40–60) also agreed that the items apply to their current time of life. Thus, the results indicate that the features proposed in the theory of emerging adulthood are more likely to be found among 18- to 25-year-olds than among people in older age groups, but they may not be as distinctive to emerging adulthood as the theory predicted.

Keywords

emerging adulthood adult development identity mental health optimism

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Arnett

J. J.

(1998). Learning to stand alone: The contemporary American transition to adulthood in cultural and historical context. Human Development, 41, 295–315.

Arnett

J. J.

(2000). Emerging adulthood: A theory of development from the late teens through the twenties. American Psychologist, 55, 469–480.

Arnett

J. J.

(2004). Emerging adulthood: The winding road from the late teens through the twenties. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Arnett

J. J.

(2005). The vitality criterion: A new standard of publication for Journal of Adolescent Research. Journal of Adolescent Research, 20, 3–7.

Arnett

J. J.

(2011). Emerging adulthood(s): The cultural psychology of a new life stage. In Jensen

L. A.

(Ed.), Bridging cultural and developmental psychology: New syntheses in theory, research, and policy (pp. 255–275). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Arnett

J. J.

(2015b). Does emerging adulthood theory apply across social classes? National data on a persistent question. Emerging Adulthood, 4, 227–235.

Arnett

J. J.

(2015a). Emerging adulthood: The winding road from the late teens through the twenties (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Arnett

J. J.

Žukauskienė

Sugimura

(2014). The new life stage of emerging adulthood at ages 18–29 years: Implications for mental health. The Lancet Psychiatry, 1, 569–576.

Barlett

C. P.

Barlett

N. D.

(2015). The young and the restless: Examining the relationships between age, emerging adulthood variables, and the Dark Triad. Personality and Individual Differences, 86, 20–24.

10.

Benetsky

M. J.

Burd

C. A.

Rapino

M. A.

(2015). Young adult migration, 2007–09, 2010–12. Washington, DC: U.S. Bureau of the Census.

11.

Blumberg

S. J.

Luke

J. V.

(2013). Wireless substitution: Early release from National Health Interview Survey. Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

12.

Crocetti

Tagliabue

Sugimura

Nelson

L. J.

Takahashi

Niwa

… Jinno

(2015). Perceptions of emerging adulthood: A study with Italian and Japanese university students and young workers. Emerging Adulthood, 3, 229–243.

13.

Erikson

E. H.

(1950). Childhood and society. New York, NY: Norton.

14.

Hill

J. M.

Lalji

van Rossum

van der Geest

V. R.

Blokland

A. A.

(2015). Experiencing emerging adulthood in the Netherlands. Journal of Youth Studies, 18, 1035–1056.

15.

Huberty

C. J.

Morris

J. D.

(1989). Multivariate analysis versus multiple univariate analyses. Psychological Bulletin, 105, 302–308.

16.

Kessler

R. C.

Chiu

W. T.

Demler

Walters

E. E.

(2005). Prevalence, severity, and comorbidity of 12-month DSM-IV disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication. Archives of general psychiatry, 62, 617–627.

17.

Nelson

L. J.

Luster

(2015). Conceptions of adulthood. In Arnett

J. J.

(Ed.), Oxford Handbook of Emerging Adulthood. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

18.

Reifman

Arnett

J. J.

Colwell

M. J.

(2007). Emerging adulthood: Theory, assessment and application. Journal of Youth Development, 2, 37–48.

19.

Schwartz

S. J.

Zamboanga

B. L.

Luyckx

Meca

Richie

(2015). Identity. In Arnett

J. J.

(Ed.), Oxford Handbook of Emerging Adulthood. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

20.

Sirsch

Dreher

Mayr

Willinger

(2009). What does it take to be an adult in Austria? Views of adulthood in Austrian adolescents, emerging adults, and adults. Journal of Adolescent Research, 24, 275–292.

21.

United States Census Bureau. (2017). Statistical abstract of the United States. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office.

Are the Features of Emerging Adulthood Developmentally Distinctive? A Comparison of Ages 18–60 in the United States

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References