Defining Adult Experiences

Abstract

This study explored the roles and psychological experiences identified as defining adult moments using mixed methods with a racially, ethnically, and socioeconomically diverse sample of young adults both enrolled and not enrolled in college (N = 726; ages 18-35). First, we evaluated results from a single survey item that asked participants to rate how adult they feel. Consistent with previous research, the majority of participants (56.9%) reported feeling “somewhat like an adult,” and older participants had significantly higher subjective adulthood, controlling for other demographic variables. Next, we analyzed responses from an open-ended question asking participants to describe instances in which they felt like an adult. Responses covered both traditional roles (e.g., marriage, childbearing; 36.1%) and nontraditional social roles and experiences (e.g., moving out of parent’s home, cohabitation; 55.6%). Although we found no differences by age and college status in the likelihood of citing a traditional or nontraditional role, participants who had achieved more traditional roles were more likely to cite them in their responses. In addition, responses were coded for psychological experiences, including responsibility for self (19.0%), responsibility for others (15.3%), self-regulation (31.1%), and reflected appraisals (5.1%). Older participants were significantly more likely to include self-regulation and reflected appraisals, whereas younger participants were more likely to include responsibility for self. College students were more likely than noncollege students to include self-regulation and reflected appraisals. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Money and Emerging Adults: A Glimpse into the Lives of College Couples’ Financial Management Practices

“…Traditional milestones of adulthood (e.g., marriage, parenthood, financial independence, and home ownership) have become progressively obscure to many young (Lowe et al, 2013). In the early 1970s, over 75% of women and 65% of men had met these traditional milestones, whereas fewer than half had done so in the 2000s (Furstenberg et al, 2004).…”

“…During the launch to adulthood, young adults face many life choices such as cohabitating, getting married, graduating from college, or moving out of their parents' home (Lowe, Dillon, Rhodes, & Zwiebach, 2013). These choices shape the ways in which launching adults live in the present and in the future.…”

Emerging adulthood features and criteria for adulthood: Variable- and person-centered approaches

“…The reason seems to be linked to an increasing uncertainty about the criteria used to define adulthood. Indeed, the traditional transitional markers used in the past as rites of passage from adolescence to adulthood (financial independence, employment, house ownership, marriage, and parenthood) are increasingly delayed, and there is a debate on whether these factors are still important to the definition of adulthood (Arnett 1998;Lowe et al 2013;Nelson and Barry 2005;Reitzle 2006).…”

Links between parental autonomy support and psychological control and Chinese emerging adults' conceptions of adulthood

“…It is notable that although more than half of the participants in this study considered marriage (57.3%) and having at least one child (52.7%) to be unimportant or very unimportant for adulthood, these two markers of adulthood were retained in this study. Those who have experienced role transitions may tend to emphasize the critical role these events play in their feelings of being an adult (e.g., getting married, having a full‐time job, having children) (Kirkpatrick Johnson et al, 2007; Lowe et al, 2013). Zhong and Arnett (2014) showed that Chinese emerging adult women who were married and had children were more likely to see themselves as adults.…”