Exploring the Role of Satisfaction With Love,Education,Work,and Leisure in Flourishing During Emerging Adulthood and Early Established Adulthood

Abstract

Using data from 857 young adults (18 to 35 years-old), we explored how satisfaction with education, work, romantic, and leisure experiences were associated with flourishing. We found associations between satisfaction and flourishing, even when accounting for having completed salient developmental tasks related to education, work, romantic relationships, and leisure. Although we did not find that gender (cisgender women compared to cisgender men) or developmental stage (emerging adult compared to early established adult) moderated associations between developmental domain satisfaction and flourishing, we did find gender and developmental stage differences in education, work, and leisure satisfaction as well as developmental task completion within those domains. By incorporating subjective satisfaction, this study offers nuance for understanding the transition to adulthood and the diverse ways individuals experience it.

Keywords

flourishing developmental tasks emerging adulthood established adulthood young adulthood

The transition to adulthood involves managing competing demands across several key developmental domains such as completing educational programs, establishing careers, initiating and sustaining romantic unions (or embracing singlehood), starting families, and maintaining healthy lifestyles (Arnett, 2000, de la Fuente et al., 2020; Mehta et al., 2020; Mehta & LaRiviere, 2023; Shulman & Connolly, 2013). According to Developmental Task Theory (DTT), completing tasks in those domains promotes young adults’ well-being (Schulenberg et al., 2004). However, the developmental periods that comprise young adulthood (i.e., emerging and established adulthood¹) are often characterized by real and perceived instability that can make task completion difficult (Arnett, 2000; Mehta et a., 2020). Young adults also vary in how they approach their early careers, relationships, and lifestyle choices depending on which domains they view as most central to achieving adulthood (Cepa & Furstenberg, 2021; Chatterjee et al., 2021; Wright et al., 2024). Young adults do not complete developmental tasks in a uniform pattern, nor do they simply complete tasks within domains once. For example, young adults may start, stop, and restart post-secondary education, be involved in several stable romantic unions, explore and and/or suspend a variety of leisure activities, and/or be employed in several different jobs before settling into a career (Millová, 2023; Ratner et al., 2025).

In previous studies on developmental tasks during young adulthood, researchers have focused on indicators of task attainment (e.g., whether a person is employed or not). However, as young adults work toward achieving developmental tasks in a context of instability, how they feel about their experiences within developmental domains may also be important for their well-being (see Shane et al., 2023). For example, how young adults feel about their career experiences may shape their well-being more (or differently) than whether they are currently employed or not. Consequently, supporting a positive transition to adulthood may require a broader approach to understanding task attainment than has previously been used. Our aim in this study was to examine whether satisfaction with developmental task domains influences young adults’ sense of flourishing, independent of their attainment of tasks within those same domains.

Emerging and Established Adulthood

In the present study we use the term young adulthood to encompass the periods of emerging adulthood and early established adulthood. Both emerging and early established adulthood are times of transition and instability (Arnett, 2014; Mehta et al., 2020). Emerging adults (ages 18 to 29 years-old) typically experience a temporary moratorium on adult responsibilities, which allows for self-focus and exploration across developmental domains (Arnett, 2000, 2024). For emerging adults, transitions and instability can provide necessary freedom and flexibility to explore education, work, love, and leisure (Arnett, 2024; Jamison & Sanner, 2021). In doing so, emerging adults may delay romantic commitment, marriage, and parenthood, move frequently, explore a variety of educational and occupational paths, and continue to develop their sense of self (Arnett, 2024; Beckmeyer & Jamison, 2023; Cepa & Furstenberg, 2021; Manning, 2020). As emerging adults navigate those changes, they may not necessarily have accomplished key developmental tasks but are making progress towards them. As such, how they feel about their experiences within different developmental domains may be especially meaningful (Oishi et al., 2021).

Established adulthood (ages 30-45) has been proposed as a unique life stage following emerging adulthood (see Mehta et al., 2020). Established adults are expected to have completed their educations and have established careers, creating stability within those life domains (Mehta & Arnett, 2023). However, they are often experiencing transitions within their family lives related to binding romantic commitments (e.g., cohabitation or marriage) and parenthood (Shane et al., 2023). Transitions in those areas can create tension as they work to balance competing demands on their time and resources (Mehta & LaRiviere, 2023). In the present study, we focused on early established adulthood (i.e., 30 to 35 years-old) because many Americans in this age range have not married or had children and people whose careers require extensive training (e.g., physicians) may not have established themselves professionally by age 30 (Martinez & Daniels, 2023; United States Census Bureau, 2018).

Although those two developmental periods have distinct qualities, there is also considerable overlap between them. Some individuals have entered established adulthood by their late twenties and others may have prolonged emerging adulthood beyond age 30. Personal, familial, and other contextual factors may influence the pacing and path they take to adulthood. Thus, there is a need to more closely examine the transition between emerging adulthood and established adulthood, particularly in terms of accomplishing key developmental tasks.

Originally proposed as a core element of positive youth development (Benson et al., 2011; Lerner et al., 2011), flourishing has received attention as an indicator of well-being across the life course (Brewer et al., 2018; Padilla-Walker & Nelson, 2017; Parr, 2022). Flourishing reflects a subjective sense of personal achievement and thriving, along with an overall positive assessment of one’s life (Diener et al., 2010; Padilla-Walker & Nelson, 2017). For young adults, flourishing may be an important indicator of how well they are managing common, appropriate developmental challenges. As noted above, young adulthood is a time of transition and exploration that can create competing demands across salient developmental domains including in the areas of education, career, romance, and lifestyle (Arnett, 2014; Mehta et al., 2020; Ratner et al., 2025). Researchers have shown that experiences within those domains may shape levels of flourishing (de la Fuente et al., 2023; Mock & Smale, 2023; Wagner et al., 2021). Focusing on flourishing allows us to provide insights into what helps promote emerging and established adult well-being rather than the more common focus on indicators of challenge, stress, and maladaptation.

Developmental Task Attainment and Satisfaction

DTT posits that accomplishing age-appropriate tasks leads to both happiness and greater likelihood of success in reaching future tasks (Havighurst, 1956). Developmental tasks arise from physical maturation, social pressures and expectations, and personal desires and goals. One of the strengths of DTT is that developmental tasks are not pre-determined, but they emerge from the lived experiences of the developing person (Havighurst, 1956). Although there are developmental tasks that are commonly associated with different ages and stages of maturity, the theory leaves room for flexibility in identifying new developmental tasks that may or may not have been relevant to previous generations. Therefore, we integrated DTT with emerging adult theory and growing insights into established adulthood to highlight the developmental task domains that are likely to be most salient to individuals who have passed adolescence, but who may not have fully achieved the roles and status associated with adulthood. For example, completing education, establishing a career, and gaining relationship experiences are key developmental tasks undertaken by many young adults (Arnett, 2014; Mehta & Arnett, 2023; Mehta & LaRiviere, 2023).

In the present study we focused on two aspects (attainment and satisfaction) of young adults’ experiences within the developmental domains of education, career, romantic involvement, and leisure. In line with prior DTT studies, we assessed whether young adults had accomplished salient tasks or not based on the following definitions (Shulenberg et al., 2004). Educational task attainment was defined as having completed a post-high school education program. This task reflects the growing need in the United States for education beyond high school, (e.g., advanced vocational training, apprenticeships in a trade, two-year college, four-year college, or graduate-level degrees) to secure living wage jobs (Carnevale et al., 2023; Chiang & Hawley, 2013; Krahn et al., 2012). Based on previous work using DTT (Schulenberg et al., 2004), as well as the definition of a successful school to work transition (Masdonati et al., 2021), career attainment was defined as currently having full-time employment. Many emerging adults experience significant challenges in the school to work transition such as underemployment, unregulated labor markets, and socioeconomic constraints (Masdonati et al., 2021). Understanding career trajectories is especially important because employment fluctuations during emerging adulthood (ages 18-25) predict career advancement in early established adulthood (age 32; Krahn et al., 2012).

Drawing on prior DTT research, we focused on two indicators of romantic task attainment: romantic involvement and romantic competency (Roisman et al., 2004; Shulenberg et al., 2004). If young adults reported currently having a romantic partner or having had a partner in the past, they were considered to have attained romantic involvement. Our second indicator focused on romantic competency, which reflected young adults’ perceived ability to initiate and maintain romantic relationships (Davilia et al., 2017; Riggio et al., 2013). We included romantic competency because being single during young adulthood is common and can be a purposeful choice (Beckmeyer & Jamison, 2023; Fitzpatrick, 2023). Therefore, young adults who have the capacity for romantic connection (i.e., they have developed romantic competency) have attained a salient aspect within the romantic domain even if they are single.

Finally, we defined leisure attainment as the extent to which young adults reported spending their leisure time in ways they personally desire and choose. Because leisure encompasses diverse forms and experiences (Newman et al., 2014), we contend that leisure autonomy, or freedom to pursue desirable activities, is a more meaningful indicator of leisure attainment than either the amount of time available or participation in specific types of activities. Our conceptualization aligns with Layland et al.’s (2018, p. 80) framing of leisure as “a broad context wherein participants define [it] through their own voluntarily chosen experiences accompanied by expectation of enjoyment.” Leisure is a critical developmental domain that can foster and/or reflect identity exploration, formation, and flourishing in ways not always available or observable through school or work (Hartman et al., 2022; Layland et al., 2018), making it an important domain to explore alongside education, work, and relationships.

Developmental task attainment indicates whether young adults have engaged in specific behaviors or had specific experiences within developmental domains. However, it does not reveal their feelings toward those experiences. We contend that it valuable for developmental task research to also incorporate domain satisfaction because it provides important contextual insights into young adult development. For example, individuals may engage in freely chosen leisure activities yet still experience varying levels of satisfaction or fulfillment from them (Chen et al., 2013; Matsumoto et al., 2018). Even without accomplishing tasks commonly associated with a developmental domain, satisfaction with experiences within that domain may indicate appropriate progress toward adulthood (Shane et al., 2023). Levels of satisfaction with developmental domains may also reveal which domains are prioritized when young adults encounter competing demands between domains. For example, Shulman and Connolly (2013) proposed that coordinating education and career advancement with romantic commitments is a central challenge in emerging adulthood. Similarly, established adults often balance career stressors with the demands of romantic commitment and parenting, leading to a normative but taxing “career-care crunch” (Mehta et al., 2020, p. 436). Satisfaction within developmental domains may indicate where individuals are focusing more of their intra- and interpersonal resources. Finally, satisfaction may serve as an indicator of how emerging adults interpret their experiences across developmental domains, as subjective evaluations of life experiences can have a greater impact on well-being than objective circumstances (Oishi et al., 2021).

Accounting for Developmental Stage and Gender

Because emerging and established adults are in different developmental stages, we anticipated differences in the tasks they have accomplished and their satisfaction within each developmental domain. Emerging adults often see their twenties as a time for exploring a range of possible futures (Arnett, 2014) and they spend more time engaging in educational and leisure pursuits (Hartman et al., 2022). That may translate into greater satisfaction with developmental domains even if they have not completed their education, started a career, or have a current romantic partner. Established adults, however, may have more negative perceptions (i.e., less satisfaction) if they have not completed these tasks due to social pressure to “reach adulthood” by their thirties (Settersten et al., 2015). Established adults are also expected to be less self-focused than emerging adults (Reifman & Niehuis, 2023), so they may place less importance on leisure (or their lives allow less time for leisure). Consequently, satisfaction in the leisure domain may have less impact on early established adults’ wellbeing compared to emerging adults (Mehta & Arnett, 2023). Finally, established adults are expected to encounter work-family conflicts (Mehta et al., 2020). This tension may lead them to be less satisfied with the work and romantic domains.

Prior research on young adults’ educational, career, romantic, and leisure experiences has illustrated that these can be gendered experiences (Norona et al., 2015). For example, women may achieve developmental tasks earlier and more consistently than men (Plagnol et al., 2008). For example, among contemporary young adults, women are more likely than men to complete a college degree. Notably, this gap widens during the transition from emerging adulthood to early established adulthood (i.e., age 25 – 34; Parker, 2021). However, women continue to face more headwinds in the school-to-work transition than their male peers (Masdonati et al., 2022). Men may benefit more than women from the resources and supports they accrue through task attainment in other domains (Plagnol et al., 2008), such as having a romantic partner (de la Fuente et al., 2020). Especially when considering the tension between career development and caregiving, women continue to engage in more family labor and can experience negative career consequences after the transition to parenthood (Kalabikhina et al., 2024). Because of the mixed picture of differences between men and women regarding the completion of, and benefits from, developmental tasks, we are not proposing specific hypotheses about how gender moderates the associations between developmental domain satisfaction and flourishing. Yet, we assert that exploring how gender moderates these associations is a meaningful line of inquiry.

Present Study

Arnett (2000) developed the concept of emerging adulthood in response to shifts in how adolescents were transitioning into adulthood around the turn of the 21st century. Two decades later, the path to adulthood appears to be even more complex, as seen in the phenomenon of established adulthood (Mehta & Arnett, 2023; Mehta et al., 2020). We contend that as the path to adulthood continues to evolve, there is a need to examine young adults’ experiences across the transition from emerging to established adulthood. To that end, we used data from emerging and early established adults to explore how developmental task completion and satisfaction were associated with their sense of flourishing. The present study builds on earlier studies about the benefits of completing developmental tasks by also incorporating young adults’ subjective assessments of their experiences within the domains of education, work, romantic relationships, and leisure. By integrating both objective and subjective measures of developmental success and examining their impact on flourishing, this study aims to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the transition to adulthood and its implications for lifelong development and wellbeing. Specifically, we tested the following hypotheses and research question:

Hypothesis 1: Satisfaction with developmental task domains is associated with greater flourishing, after accounting for developmental task attainment.

Hypothesis 2: Developmental stage (i.e., emerging versus early established adult) moderates the associations between satisfaction with developmental task domains and flourishing such that satisfaction has a stronger association with flourishing for early established adults compared to emerging adults.

Research Question 1: Does gender moderate the associations between satisfaction with developmental task domains and flourishing?

Method

Participants

The present study used data from the Identity Development During Emerging Adulthood study, which was a cross-sectional study of emerging adults (18- to 29-years-old) and early established adults (30- to 35-years-old) in the United States. Participants were recruited using Qualtrics Panel Services, which advertises research opportunities to their existing online participant panels. There were three eligibility criteria for the study. Participants had to be (1) living in the United States, (2) between 18- and 35-years-old, and (3) able to read and write English. We contracted with Qualtrics to meet a specific sampling criteria that 50% of respondents should not have a bachelor’s degree and the sample should be approximately 50% men and 50% women based on self-reported biological sex (participants also reported their gender). Those quotas were put in place to ensure a balanced sample in terms of gender and to oversample non-college-educated participants, who are often under-represented in research about young adults (Henrich et al., 2010).

Young adults who meet those criteria, and were interested in the study, were provided access to the informed consent portion of the survey. If they consented to participate, they were provided access to the full online study survey. To promote data quality, we embedded multiple attention checks into the survey and to be considered a valid survey response, participants had to complete the survey in at least 1/3 of the median survey completion time. Initially, 1,020 respondents consented to participate and submitted surveys in which all attention checks were answered correctly and met the completion time requirement. However, upon data cleaning, we identified 22 respondents who had illogical responses, excessive missing data, and/or who straight-lined the survey. After removing those respondents, the final valid sample for the study included 998 young adults.

For the present study, we limited the study sample to the participants with complete data on the variables used in our analyses (N = 857). We believe this approach is appropriate given the nature of the study design. For example, developmental task attainment and satisfaction in each domain were assessed with few items, making imputation either impossible (i.e., one-item measures) or undesirable. Because of our relatively large sample and the even distribution cross age groups and genders, we were able to retain only participants with complete data and still have a robust sample.

Demographic and descriptive statistics for the sample are provided in Table 1. Overall, the analytical sample included slightly more women (50.6%) than men (48.2%), with a small proportion of gender diverse participants (1.2%). Most participants were heterosexual (82.1%), non-Hispanic White (57.5%), had completed a 4-year college degree or more (52.5%), and were employed full-time (55.3%).

Table 1.

Sample Demographic and Descriptive Statistics

	Full sample (N = 857)	Emerging adults (n = 557)	Established adults (n = 300)
	n (%)	n (%)	n (%)
Gender
Women	434 (50.6%)	273 (49.0%)	161 (53.7%)
Men	413 (48.2%)	275 (49.4%)	138 (46.0%)
Another gender	10 (1.1%)	9 (1.6%)	1 (0.3%)
Sexual identity
Bisexual	87 (10.2%)	65 (11.7%)	22 (7.3%)
Gay or lesbian	38 (4.4%)	32 (5.7%)	6 (2.0%)
Heterosexual	704 (82.1%)	441 (79.2%)	263 (87.7%)
Another sexual identity	28 (3.3%)	19 (3.4%)	9 (3.0%)
Race ethnicity
Asian non-Hispanic	74 (8.6%)	48 (8.6%)	26 (8.7%)
Black or African American non-Hispanic	126 (14.7%)	93 (16.7%)	33 (11.0%)
Hispanic	92 (10.7%)	72 (12.9%)	20 (6.7%)
White non-Hispanic	493 (57.5%)	295 (53.0%)	198 (66.0%)
Multiracial	50 (5.8%)	38 (6.8%)	12 (4.0%)
Another race or ethnicity	22 (2.6%)	11 (2.0%)	11 (3.7%)
Level of education
High school diploma/GED or less	155 (18.1%)	133 (23.9%)	22 (7.3%)
Some college or current college student	161 (18.8%)	142 (25.5%)	19 (6.3%)
2-year, trades, or vocational degree	91 (10.6%)	69 (12.4%)	22 (7.3%)
4-year college degree or more	450 (52.5%)	213 (38.2%)	237 (79.0%)
Employment
Full time employment	474 (55.3%)	272 (48.8%)	202 (67.3%)
Part-time employment	172 (20.1%)	134 (24.1%)	38 (12.7%)
Not employed	167 (19.5%)	132 (23.7%)	35 (11.7%)
Stay-at-home parent	44 (5.1%)	19 (3.4%)	25 (8.3%)
Is a parent	289 (33.7%)	121 (21.7%)	168 (56.0%)
	M (SD)	M (SD)	M (SD)
Age	26.77 (5.24)	23.64 (3.55)	32.58 (1.85)
Flourishing	5.57 (1.04)	5.52 (1.06)	5.66 (0.99)

Measures

Flourishing

Flourishing was assessed with the Flourishing Scale (8-items; α = .91; Diener et al., 2010). Scale items capture the degree to which emerging and established adults feel they are living a purposeful life, have meaningful social relationships, and are making contributions to others. Each item was rated on a 7-point scale (1 = strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree). We computed scores by averaging across items; higher scores reflected a greater sense of personal flourishing.

Developmental Task Attainment

We included five indicators of having attained developmental tasks related to education, work, romantic involvement, and leisure. Educational attainment was operationalized as having completed a post-high school educational program. This could be a 2- or 4-year college degree, a vocational or trades program, or a graduate degree. Participants who reported being currently enrolled in a post-high school educational program were coded as having not attained in the category of education. We made this decision because a significant number of students do not complete their degrees. Approximately, 36% of those who start a four-year program do not finish within six years, and about two-thirds of those who begin a two-year program do not finish within three years (National Center for Education Statistics, 2022). Based on prior studies, work attainment was operationalized as currently having fulltime employment (Shulenberg et al., 2004). Based on prior studies, romantic attainment was assessed with two indicators (Roisman et al., 2004; Shulenberg et al., 2004). The first indicator was romantic involvement, which we operationalized as either (a) currently having a romantic partner or (b) having had a committed romantic relationship in the past. The second indicator focused on participants’ perceptions of their romantic competency, based on three items grounded in Self-Determination Theory (α = .82; Deci et al., 2001): (1) “I have been able to master the important skills I need to interact with my romantic partners,” (2) “I feel competent at forming and keeping romantic relationships,” and (3) “I am good at being in a romantic relationship.” These items were rated on a 5-point scale (1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree). We averaged these three items together and then classified participants with a score of 4 or higher (corresponding to “agree”) as having attained romantic competency. Leisure attainment was assessed with 1-item from the autonomy subscale from Martela and Ryan (2024) and adapted to the leisure domain: “The tasks I get to do during my leisure time are in line with what I really want to do.” This item was rated on a 5-point scale (1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree). We classified participants who agreed or strongly agreed with the item as having leisure attainment.

Developmental Task Satisfaction

Educational satisfaction was measured with 2 items (α = .74) adapted from Howard et al.’s (2010) measure of career satisfaction. Specifically, we changed “career” to “education” in two of their items. One item focused on satisfaction with educational experiences (“How satisfied are you with your education experiences at this point?”), which was answered on a 5-point scale (1 = extremely dissatisfied to 5 = extremely satisfied). The second item focused on having had the educational experiences they expected (“I have had/I am having the kind of education I expected to have at this stage of my life”), which was answered on a 5-point (1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree). We averaged these two items together to create an educational satisfaction scale, with higher scores reflecting greater educational satisfaction.

Work satisfaction was measured with Howard et al.’s (2010) 3-item career satisfaction scale (α = .93). The first item focused on career satisfaction (“How satisfied are you with your career at this point?), which was answered on a 5-point scale (1 = extremely dissatisfied to 5 = extremely satisfied). The second item captured job attainment (“I have the kind of job I expected to have this stage of life”) and the third item captured how well their work life has worked out (“My career has worked out the way I hoped it would”). The second and third items were rated on a 5-point scale (1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree). We averaged the three items together to create a work satisfaction scale, with higher scores reflecting greater work satisfaction.

Love life satisfaction was measured with the Satisfaction with Love Life Scale (5-items; α = .92; Neto, 2005). Scale items captured participants’ feelings about the conditions of their current love life and satisfaction with prior romantic experiences. Each item was rated on a 7-point scale (1 = strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree). We computed scores by averaging across the items; high scores reflect participants being more satisfied with their love life.

Leisure satisfaction was measured with one item that was created for this study: “All things considered, how satisfied are you with your leisure experiences?” Leisure studies have shown that single-item scales are useful in capturing the leisure satisfaction construct (see Matsumoto et al., 2018; Shin & You, 2013). The item was rated on a 7-point scale (1 = extremely dissatisfied to 7 = extremely satisfied).

Developmental Stage

We classified participants as either emerging adults or early established adults based on their age at the time of the study. Emerging adults were the participants between 18- and 29-years-old. Early established adults were the participants between 30- and 35-years-old.

Control Variables

We included control variables for participant age, gender (cisgender women, cisgender men, or gender diverse), sexual identity (heterosexual versus non-heterosexual), and if they were a parent. From a social determinants of health perspective, those characteristics can play important roles in well-being (Solar & Irwin, 2010). In our analytical sample, only 10 participants identified as gender diverse, so we could not include these participants in our gender moderation analyzes. However, we included descriptive statistics about their developmental task attainment and satisfaction in Table 3 to document their experiences.

Analysis Plan

All analyses were conducted using SPSS version 29. First, we computed descriptive statistics for developmental task attainment and satisfaction. Next, we tested if participants’ satisfaction with specific developmental task domains differed based on whether they had attained that developmental task or not. We also tested if task attainment and/or satisfaction differed based on developmental stage or gender. We used hierarchical multiple regression (HMR) to test if satisfaction within developmental task domains was significantly associated with flourishing, after accounting for task attainment. The regression model had four steps: step 1 included the control variables, step 2 added the developmental task attainment variables, step 3 added the developmental task satisfaction variables, and step 4 added interaction terms to test for developmental stage or gender moderation. Specifically, the fourth step was used to test if task domain satisfaction was moderated by developmental stage (i.e., emerging versus early established adulthood) and/or gender (i.e., women vs men). In the model testing gender moderation, we limited the analytical sample to the participants who identified as cisgender men and women.

Results

Developmental Task Attainment and Satisfaction

Romantic involvement was the most commonly attained developmental task with 89.8% meeting the criteria for attainment, followed by leisure (66.5%), education (63.1%), work (55.3%), and romantic competency (52.6%). The mean levels for satisfaction with developmental tasks indicate moderate satisfaction with each domain (see Table 2). Satisfaction with each developmental task was greater when participants had attained that task (see Table 2).

Table 2.

Differences in Developmental Task Satisfaction based on Developmental Task Attainment

	Emerging adults (n = 557)	Established adults (n = 300)	χ²(1)
Education attained	282 (50.6%)	259 (86.3%)	106.79***
Work attained	272 (48.8%)	202 (67.3%)	27.00***
Romantic involvement attained	482 (86.5%)	288 (96.0%)	19.15***
Romantic competency attained	283 (50.8%)	168 (56.0%)	2.11
Leisure attained	364 (65.4%)	206 (68.7%)	0.96
	Emerging adults (n = 557)	Established adults (n = 300)	t (855)
Education satisfaction	3.87 (0.91)	3.97 (0.90)	−1.58
Work satisfaction	3.43 (1.05)	3.49 (1.11)	−0.81
Love life satisfaction	4.83 (1.60)	4.99 (1.64)	−1.33
Leisure satisfaction	5.30 (1.42)	5.40 (1.37)	−1.04
	Task Not attained	Task attained
	M (SD)	M (SD)	t (855)
Education satisfaction	3.36 (1.03)	4.05 (0.80)	−5.85***
Work satisfaction	3.16 (1.08)	3.68 (1.00)	−7.34***
Love life satisfaction^a	3.88 (1.74)	5.00 (1.56)	−6.29***
Love life satisfaction^b	4.02 (1.58)	5.67 (1.19)	−17.39***
Leisure satisfaction	4.73 (1.48)	5.64 (1.25)	−9.41***

^aBased on romantic involvement attainment.

^bBased on romantic competency attainment.

***p < .001.

Table 3.

Differences in Developmental Task Attainment and Satisfaction Based on Gender

	Women (n = 434)	Men (n = 413)	Gender diverse (n = 10)	χ²(2)
Education attained	301 (69.4%)	238 (57.6%)	2 (20.0%)	23.73***
Work attained	207 (60.3%)	265 (64.2%)	2 (20.0%)	28.32***
Romantic involvement attained	393 (90.6%)	367 (88.9%)	10 (100.0%)	1.81
Romantic competency attained	213 (49.1%)	233 (56.4%)	5 (50.0%)	4.60
Leisure attained	262 (60.4%)	300 (72.6%)	8 (80.0%)	15.13***
	M (SD)	M (SD)	M (SD)	F (2, 854)
Education satisfaction	4.64 (1.62)_a	5.13 (1.58)_b	5.54 (1.24)_ab	10.40***
Work satisfaction	3.28 (1.04)_a	3.61 (1.08)_b	3.63 (1.17)_ab	9.97***
Love life satisfaction	3.94 (0.84)	3.87 (0.98)	3.80 (1.01)	0.80
Leisure satisfaction	5.16 (1.41)_a	5.52 (1.35)_b	5.10 (1.91)_ab	7.49***

Notes. ***p < .001; means with different subscripts are significantly different at p < .001.

We also compared the proportion of emerging adults and early established adults who had attained each developmental task (see Table 2). A greater proportion of early established adults had attained the education, work, and romantic involvement tasks. The proportion of romantic competency and leisure task attainment did not differ between emerging and early established adults. We did not find significant differences in task domain satisfaction between emerging adults and early established adults (see Table 2).

Differences in task attainment between women, men, and gender diverse participants are presented in Table 3. Women and men appeared more likely to have attained the education and work tasks than the gender diverse participants. Men and gender diverse participants appear more likely to have attained the leisure task than women. In terms of task domain satisfaction, men were more satisfied than women with the education, work, and leisure domains. The gender diverse participants’ satisfaction did not significantly differ from cisgender men or women. We did not find significant gender differences in satisfaction with the romantic task domain.

Flourishing

The results for the regression model for flourishing are presented in Table 4. The second step of the regression model, which contained the developmental task attainment variables, accounted for approximately 22% of the variance in flourishing (F(5, 845) = 49.66, p < .001). Education (β = .06, p = .011), work (β = .08, p = .019), romantic competency (β = .39, p <. 001), and leisure (β = .18, p < .001) task attainment were positively associated with flourishing. The third step of the regression model, which added the developmental task satisfaction variables, accounted for an additional 25% of the variance in flourishing (F(4, 841) = 106.69, p < .001). Education (β = .23, p < .001), work (β = .24, p < .001), love life (β = .10, p = .002), and leisure (β = .22, p < .001) satisfaction were all associated with greater flourishing. Further, three of the developmental task attainment variables (education, work, and leisure) became non-significant once the developmental task satisfaction variables were added to the model.

Table 4.

Regression Results Exploring the Associations Between Developmental Task Attainment, Satisfaction, and Flourishing (N = 857)

	Step 1 Demographics			Step 2 Demographics + task attainment			Step 3 Demographics + task Attainment + task satisfaction
	B	SE	β	B	SE	β	B	SE	β
Age	−0.00	0.01	.00	−0.02	0.01	−.11	−0.00	0.01	−.00
Female	−0.14	0.07	−.07	−0.07	0.07	−.03	0.04	0.06	.02
Heterosexual	0.10	0.09	.04	0.08	0.08	.03	0.13	0.07	.05
White non-Hispanic	0.04	0.07	.02	0.01	0.06	.01	−0.02	0.05	−.01
Is a parent	0.26	0.08	.12**	0.07	0.07	.03	−0.04	0.06	−.02
Established adult	0.04	0.13	.02	0.17	0.12	.08	0.05	0.10	.02
Education attainment				0.13	0.08	.06*	−0.05	0.07	−.02
Work attainment				0.17	0.07	.08*	0.04	0.06	.02
Romantic involvement attainment				−0.02	0.11	−.01	0.12	0.09	.03
Romantic competency attainment				0.81	0.07	.39***	0.44	0.06	.12***
Leisure attainment				0.40	0.07	.18***	0.11	0.06	.05
Education satisfaction							0.26	0.03	.23***
Work satisfaction							0.23	0.03	.24***
Love life satisfaction							0.06	0.02	.10**
Leisure satisfaction							0.16	0.02	.22***
F	3.59**			49.66***			106.69***
ΔR²	.03			.22			.25
Total R²				.25			.50

Notes. *p < .05; **p < .01; ***p < .001.

Developmental Stage Moderation

To test if developmental stage moderated the associations between task domain satisfaction and flourishing, we re-ran the HMR model with an additional fourth step. The fourth step of the regression model, which included the interaction terms between each task satisfaction and developmental stage, did not account for a significant amount of variance in flourishing (ΔR² = .003, F(4, 837) = 1.22, p = .299). Therefore, we did not find evidence that the associations between developmental task satisfaction and flourishing were different for emerging adults and early established adults. Because our dichotomous indicator of developmental stage (emerging adults vs early established adults) did not moderate the associations between developmental task satisfaction and flourishing, we decided to test if age acted as a moderator. The age moderation variables also did not account for a significant amount of variance in flourishing (ΔR² = .01, F(4, 838) = 2.26, p = .060).

Gender Moderation

To test if gender (cisgender women versus cisgender men) moderated the associations between task domain satisfaction and flourishing, we re-ran the HMR model with an additional fourth step. The fourth step of the regression model, which included the interaction terms between each task satisfaction and identifying as a man, did not account for a significant amount of variance in flourishing (ΔR² = .00, F(4, 828) = 1.21, p = .306). Therefore, we did not find evidence that the associations between developmental task satisfaction and flourishing were different for cisgender men and women.

Discussion

The path to adulthood is rarely linear. For most, it is characterized by starts and stops as young people explore their needs, desires, and goals (Ratner et al., 2025). Even as young adults make meaningful strides toward achieving developmental tasks, their feelings about work, education, love, and leisure may vary depending on personal aspirations and lived experiences (Oishi et al., 2021). Young adulthood is also a time marked by tension as individuals attempt to simultaneously complete their educations, build careers, form romantic relationships, and discover fulfilling ways to use their leisure time (Arnett, 2014; Mehta & Arnett, 2023; Shulman & Connolly, 2013). Considering how young adults feel about those aspects of their lives provides insights into how they are navigating the competing demands that accompany the transition to adulthood.

Our findings illustrate that when young adults feel more satisfied with their accomplishments in key life domains, they also report higher levels of flourishing. Flourishing itself represents young adults’ subjective evaluations of their current life and its trajectory (Diener et al., 2010; Padilla-Walker & Nelson, 2017). In-keeping with this idea, our data suggest that how young adults feel about key life domains may be just as important, if not more so, than whether they have achieved the objective milestones typically associated with success in those areas. For example, we found that the benefits of satisfaction persisted even when accounting for the completion of developmental tasks such as completing post-secondary education, securing full-time employment, engaging in romantic relationships, or participating in meaningful leisure activities. Further, satisfaction in each individual domain was positively associated with flourishing. This challenges conventional assumptions that whether young people have entered adulthood is determined by meeting developmental milestones (e.g., Chatterjee et al., 2021). By incorporating subjective satisfaction, our study offers nuance for understanding the transition to adulthood and the diverse ways individuals experience it.

Although we expected that gender and developmental stage would moderate the associations between task domain satisfaction and flourishing, we did not find these effects. In terms of gender, this may be an indication that gender norms are shifting or softening among contemporary young adults (Meeussen et al., 2016). Despite the lack of moderation effects, we found descriptive differences in developmental task attainment and average satisfaction for men and women across some domains. Specifically, men were more likely to have achieved work and leisure tasks and were more satisfied with their educational, work, and leisure experiences compared to women. These findings challenge recent narratives that young men have fallen behind in education and work compared to young women (Mulenga, 2024; Reeves, 2022; Thomas & Kinzer, 2024). On the contrary, men’s higher satisfaction in these domains may reflect that educational, occupational, and leisure systems are more responsive to their needs.

We also observed some differences between gender-diverse young adults and their cisgender peers. Given the small size of our gender-diverse sample (n = 10), we did not include them in the statistical analysis and cannot conclude that descriptive mean differences reflect broader patterns in the population. However, the findings do offer some preliminary insight that gender-diverse young adults may experience developmental task attainment and satisfaction differently from their cisgender peers. For example, gender-diverse respondents reported lower rates of educational and work attainment, but higher levels of leisure attainment, than cisgender men and women (see Table 3). These differences warrant further exploration, particularly in terms of how social structures and cultural expectations influence the developmental trajectories of young adults across gender identities.

We also did not find moderation effects with respect to developmental stage (i.e., emerging adults vs early established adults), which may indicate that the benefits of satisfaction are consistent across both developmental periods. We did observe significant differences in task attainment between emerging adults and early established adults. Early established adults were more likely to have completed education, work, and romantic involvement tasks, while both groups showed similar levels of attainment in leisure and romantic relationships. These findings provide modest support that established adulthood is a distinct developmental stage, as proposed by Mehta et al. (2020), and that task attainment may be a key marker of this transition. Interestingly, established adults also reported higher satisfaction across several domains. Perhaps, with time, individuals may find greater alignment between their experiences and their personal preferences or goals whether through stable careers, supportive relationships, or more intentional leisure pursuits.

Future Directions

The findings from this study provide initial support for the value of incorporating subjective aspects of developmental task attainment within research on emerging adult development and the transition to adulthood. However, there remain contextual influences and underlying processes that require more exploration in future research. For example, in the present study we did not account for participants’ goals in different domains. Previous research on young adults’ romantic development has demonstrated the importance of understanding what young adults want for their romantic lives before testing how their status or experiences affect their wellbeing (see Watkins et al., 2024). Similarly, understanding young people’s career, educational, work, and leisure goals are critical for contextualizing both their feelings and their outcomes. Future research should also address how individuals prioritize and perceive developmental tasks based on sociocultural influences (e.g., family, peers, society; Seaman et al., 2023) and individual identities (e.g., race, culture, social class; Kefalas et al., 2011; Ratner et al., 2025).

Future research could also expand the range and the sources of influence on the developmental domains under investigation. Although we focused on key areas identified in prior developmental task research, additional domains such as friendship, parenting, identity development, community belongingness, and financial security likely play a significant role in young adults’ flourishing as well. Efforts to investigate these co-occurring developmental tasks and experiences is an opportunity for interdisciplinary collaboration that brings together scholars from adjacent fields. For example, the inclusion of leisure in the present study is the result of a collaboration between two relationship scientists and a leisure scientist who all study emerging adulthood. Continued attention to interdisciplinarity will likely lead to more complete developmental science and more effective prevention and intervention.

Future research can build on our findings by employing longitudinal designs to capture the dynamic interplay between task completion and satisfaction over the course of young adulthood. As researchers plan longitudinal studies, an important consideration will be the spacing of assessments. Longitudinal studies on emerging adult development often focus on yearly assessments. However, if the period between assessments is too long, researchers may miss key moments of instability and change. Capturing short-term fluctuations in both task attainment and subjective appraisal could provide richer insights into how these factors evolve and interact over time. Longitudinal designs could also illuminate the ways that accomplishment or satisfaction with one or more domains can act as a protective influence when young people face adversity in another domain. For example, does having positive experiences with love and leisure help to buffer against floundering (the inverse of flourishing) when a young person loses their job or faces a setback in their intended educational pathway? Understanding the interplay between domains is necessary to understand how to promote flourishing in young adults.

Qualitative methods, such as in-depth interviews, narrative, and discursive methods, are also well-suited to exploring the processes underlying developmental task attainment and satisfaction (e.g., Hartman & Bonica, 2019; McLean et al., 2017). For example, future qualitative studies can elucidate how young adults prioritize competing developmental goals, the order in which they pursue them, and the reasons they may opt out of certain tasks altogether. Qualitative research may also be particularly effective for understanding the goals that underly young adults’ sense of purpose, integration, and accomplishment across different domains (Beckmeyer & Jamison, 2023; Shulman & Connolly, 2013).

Beyond implications for future research, we also believe our findings have modest implications for educators and practitioners who work with young adults. Rather than focusing solely on whether young adults have achieved conventional milestones, interventions can help individuals identify and enhance the aspects of their careers, relationships, and personal development that contribute to their sense of satisfaction and purpose. Helping young adults reflect on what makes their work meaningful, what they seek in relationships, and how they define longterm success may foster a stronger sense of agency and well-being (Napier et al., 2024). Practitioners can also use these insights to reframe perceived “failures” or delays in milestone attainment by encouraging clients to focus on the quality of their experiences rather than their conformity to external timelines.

Limitations

The findings of this study should be interpreted with consideration for the study’s methodological limitations. First, the data are correlational, meaning that we cannot draw conclusions about causality or directionality. It is possible that flourishing influences how individuals evaluate their accomplishments across developmental domains, rather than the other way around. For example, individuals with higher levels of well-being may be more inclined to view their careers, education, relationships, and leisure through a more positive lens (e.g., Bialowolski & Weziak-Bialowolska, 2021). Although our sample is drawn from across the United States, it is not a probability sample. These young adults may have different patterns of task attainment and satisfaction than other samples of young adults in the United States.

Another limitation is the absence of data on family formation and parenting satisfaction, which are particularly relevant for established adults. These aspects of development are central to many individuals’ senses of identity and fulfillment in adulthood, and their exclusion may limit the comprehensiveness of our findings. Future research should incorporate these domains to better capture the full range of developmental experiences, especially for those who have transitioned into family life. Similarly, we did not ask about household income, which may have impacts on both the attainment of our focal domains (e.g., lack of money to pursue higher education) and participants’ satisfaction within them (e.g., having the time and money to pursue leisure they enjoy). Without income information, we were unable to explore or control for these variations in participants’ experiences on the variables of interest.

Additionally, our measures of task attainment, particularly in the work and career domains, had limitations. In our study, attainment was assessed using binary indicators (e.g., employed vs. unemployed), which do not capture the complexity or quality of these experiences. For instance, being employed does not necessarily mean that the job is stable, pays a living wage, or involves a schedule that feels sustainable (e.g., night shift). Similarly, in-keeping with previous literature using developmental task theory, romantic relationship attainment was measured based on whether a person had ever been in a relationship. This did not provide insight about whether participants were currently involved in the type of relationship (or single life) they desire. Future studies should adopt more nuanced measures that assess not only whether a task has been completed, but to what extent different aspects of a milestone have been reached. Finally, flourishing as a general construct, involves a level of happiness and satisfaction with one’s life. That may lead to conceptual overlap between flourishing and satisfaction within the developmental domains we considered in our study. This may account for some of the strength of the associations between flourishing and domain satisfaction.

Conclusion

Our results underscore the importance of moving beyond traditional milestone-based models to consider young adults’ subjective experiences across developmental domains. Specifically, satisfaction within key life domains such as education, work, relationships, and leisure is a stronger predictor of flourishing than task attainment alone. These insights challenge conventional assumptions about what it means to “succeed” in young adulthood and highlight the value of aligning life experiences with personal values and aspirations.

Supplemental Material

Supplemental Material - Exploring the Role of Satisfaction With Love, Education, Work, and Leisure in Flourishing During Emerging Adulthood and Early Established Adulthood

Supplemental Material for Exploring the Role of Satisfaction With Love, Education, Work, and Leisure in Flourishing During Emerging Adulthood and Early Established Adulthood by Jonathon J. Beckmeyer, Tyler B. Jamison, Cindy L. Hartman in Emerging Adulthood

Footnotes

ORCID iDs

Jonathon J. Beckmeyer

Tyler B. Jamison

Cindy L. Hartman

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Transparence and Openness Statement

The study data for this manuscript are not publicly available. The study survey is not publicly available. Inquiries about the study data and materials should be addressed to the authors. This study was not pre-registered.

Supplemental Material

Supplemental material for this article is available online.

Note

Author Biographies

Jonathon J. Beckmeyer, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences at Illinois State University. His research focuses intimate relationships and emerging adult development.

Tyler B. Jamison, PhD is an Associate Professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies at the University of New Hampshire. Her research focuses on romantic development during young adulthood.

Cindy L. Hartman, PhD is an Associate Professor in the Department of Recreation Management and Policy at the University of New Hampshire. Her research focuses on connections between leisure experiences and identity development during young adulthood.

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