"If you want me to treat you like an adult, start acting like one!" Comparing the criteria that emerging adults and their parents have for adulthood.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was (a) to identify the criteria parents of emerging adults consider necessary and important for their children to achieve adulthood, (b) to compare parents' criteria for adulthood with the criteria espoused by emerging adults, and (c) to examine how these criteria might differ on the basis of gender of the parent and gender of the child. Participants included 392 unmarried college students, ages 18-25, and at least 1 of their parents (271 fathers, 319 mothers). Results revealed that (a) as did their children, most parents did not yet view their children as adults, (b) there was disagreement between children and their parents in the emphasis they placed on various criteria for adulthood, (c) mothers and fathers did not always agree on the importance of various criteria, and (d) the gender of both the parent and the child played a role in the criteria parents deemed important for adulthood. Taken together, the findings suggest that parents and children view the transition to adulthood differently, which might have implications for the parent-child relationship during this period of development.

Friendship and Romantic Relationship Qualities in Emerging Adulthood: Differential Associations with Identity Development and Achieved Adulthood Criteria

“…Some work has been done considering the relation between adulthood indicators and relationships with parents (see Nelson et al 2007;Shulman and Ben-Artzi 2003), but it would be helpful to study the ensemble of emerging adults' relationships in concert, including groups of friends, mentors, and colleagues.…”

Affording Emerging Adulthood: Parental Financial Assistance of their College-Aged Children

“…In examining why the majority of young people do not feel like adults, young people cite criteria that they do not yet feel they have achieved, including indicators of self-reliance such as financial independence and independent decision making (Arnett 2003;Nelson and Barry 2005;Nelson et al 2007). Taken together, theoretical and empirical evidence suggests that emerging adulthood is not a period in which young people gain independence, but rather are striving to become independent individuals (i.e., self-reliant).…”

Academic Versus Non-academic Emerging Adult College Student Technology Use

“…These emerging adults seem to be more slowly approaching traditional markers of adulthood such as leaving home, starting a family and being economically independent (Nelson et al 2007;Settersten et al 2005). This phase of life between adolescence and adulthood is ''not merely a transition but a separate period of the life course,'' with distinct features and needs (Arnett This work was originally presented at the International Conference on Cognition and Exploratory Learning in Digital Age in October 2014, Porto, Portugal.…”