Emerging Adulthood Essay
1. Background and hypotheses
Based upon criteria that include finishing school, getting a job, avoiding trouble with the law, starting a family, and becoming self-sufficient, the transition of youth into adult roles and responsibilities between 18 and the mid 20s, “emerging adulthood,” has been lengthening (Arnett, 2004). In 1980 40% were married; today that fraction is cut in half. Reversing declines of the 1950s, the proportion of young men and women in their mid-20s living with their parents has increased; a quarter of white males age 25 lived at home in 2007 compared to one-fifth in 2000 and only about 13 percent in 1970 (Settersten and Ray, 2010). In the past, youth lived at home until they completed their schooling but post-secondary schooling is less and less likely for young men, who are falling behind their female counterparts. Access to good jobs for those …show more content…
without higher education has been restricted by reductions in the manufacturing sector (Settersten and Ray, 2010). Limited work opportunities for non-college youth limit self-sufficiency. As one indicator of this lag, in 2013 18% of young men 20–24 were neither enrolled in school nor working, compared with 11% in 2000; about the same proportion of women 20–24 (19%) were neither enrolled in school nor working in 2013 as in 2000 (Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, 2014).
Although transitions during this period of emerging adulthood have been studied for some time, they have been altered by a new set of circumstances: the increased fraction of young adults whose parents were immigrants.
In 2008 almost 30% of the 68 million young adults 18–34 were foreign born or had a foreign born parent (Passel, 2011). In addition, 17 million children under age 18 who are immigrants or children of immigrants will be transitioning to adulthood in the next two decades. Their transitions to adulthood differ from those of youth whose parents were born in the United States for reasons that include wide disparities in parental human capital, family and neighborhood context, varied cultural traditions, different opportunities during the school years, and differential access to citizenship (Rumbaut, 1996; Rumbaut and Komaie, 2011). As one example, young men and women born in the U.S. to foreign-born parents are more likely to live at home than those born to native-born parents (Berlin et al., 2010). We anticipate increased heterogeneity in pathways to adulthood for recent cohorts of
youth.
Besides socioeconomic disadvantage, of the 20 million young adults with immigrant parents in the U.S. in 2008, some 6 million young adults lacked legal status and, therefore, had limited access to both in-state tuition for higher education and to employment in many sectors of the economy (Passel, 2011; Rumbaut and Komaie, 2011). After June 15, 2012, immigrants under age 31 who arrived illegally as children ( family background and school-year experience that leads to success in young adulthood relative to that of natives (Tseng, 2006; Feliciano and Rumbaut, 2005; Perreira et al., 2006). How do they do it?
Based upon criteria that include finishing school, getting a job, avoiding trouble with the law, starting a family, and becoming self-sufficient, the transition of youth into adult roles and responsibilities between 18 and the mid 20s, “emerging adulthood,” has been lengthening (Arnett, 2004). In 1980 40% were married; today that fraction is cut in half. Reversing declines of the 1950s, the proportion of young men and women in their mid-20s living with their parents has increased; a quarter of white males age 25 lived at home in 2007 compared to one-fifth in 2000 and only about 13 percent in 1970 (Settersten and Ray, 2010). In the past, youth lived at home until they completed their schooling but post-secondary schooling is less and less likely for young men, who are falling behind their female counterparts. Access to good jobs for those …show more content…
without higher education has been restricted by reductions in the manufacturing sector (Settersten and Ray, 2010). Limited work opportunities for non-college youth limit self-sufficiency. As one indicator of this lag, in 2013 18% of young men 20–24 were neither enrolled in school nor working, compared with 11% in 2000; about the same proportion of women 20–24 (19%) were neither enrolled in school nor working in 2013 as in 2000 (Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, 2014).
Although transitions during this period of emerging adulthood have been studied for some time, they have been altered by a new set of circumstances: the increased fraction of young adults whose parents were immigrants.
In 2008 almost 30% of the 68 million young adults 18–34 were foreign born or had a foreign born parent (Passel, 2011). In addition, 17 million children under age 18 who are immigrants or children of immigrants will be transitioning to adulthood in the next two decades. Their transitions to adulthood differ from those of youth whose parents were born in the United States for reasons that include wide disparities in parental human capital, family and neighborhood context, varied cultural traditions, different opportunities during the school years, and differential access to citizenship (Rumbaut, 1996; Rumbaut and Komaie, 2011). As one example, young men and women born in the U.S. to foreign-born parents are more likely to live at home than those born to native-born parents (Berlin et al., 2010). We anticipate increased heterogeneity in pathways to adulthood for recent cohorts of
youth.
Besides socioeconomic disadvantage, of the 20 million young adults with immigrant parents in the U.S. in 2008, some 6 million young adults lacked legal status and, therefore, had limited access to both in-state tuition for higher education and to employment in many sectors of the economy (Passel, 2011; Rumbaut and Komaie, 2011). After June 15, 2012, immigrants under age 31 who arrived illegally as children ( family background and school-year experience that leads to success in young adulthood relative to that of natives (Tseng, 2006; Feliciano and Rumbaut, 2005; Perreira et al., 2006). How do they do it?