Emerging Adulthood Research

The main ideas/themes of emerging adulthood include: career exploration, college vs. no college, postponing marriage, being economically stable without support, addressing emerging adulthood in other cultures, and community engagement. These may be important milestones in the emerging adulthood/adult phase of life that may look different in each culture, and each route that the young adult pursues.
The idea of the phase emerging adulthood evolved from the American psychologist, Jeffrey Arnett (Berk & Meyers, 2013). The five features of his movement include feeling in between, identity exploration, self-focus, instability, and possibilities (Berk & Meyers, 2013). Arnett states that the transition to adult roles has become so delayed that it
has created this new period to allow exploration time for teens to phase into adults (Berk, 2013).
There seemed to be two main routes that young adults would pursue in emerging adulthood. Either a teen/young adult would attend post-secondary education to start the exploration phase to eventually become an adult, or that young adult may have other commitments, such as culture that steers them in a different direction to fulfill becoming an adult (Mitchell & Syed, 2015).
Previously mentioned, the idea of the movement is limited to certain populations and cultures. There are young adults who may be attending college, or may choose to join the workforce or the military after high school. Socio economic status, culture, and resources may be determining factor as to why someone may attend college or not.
Culture was a main theme of understanding the movement of the emerging adulthood phase. Emerging adulthood may be limited to cultures who encourage women to go to college, are industrialized nations, and those countries who require a higher education for many positions. In America, a marker of mature adulthood may be going to college, marriage, having a family and being financially independent. In other cultures, such as Asian, African-American, and Hispanic, their marker of adulthood may be considered as caring for a family (Berk & Meyers, 2013).
If young adults chose the route of college, they may later end up transitioning back into their parent’s home because of a job market that is struggling and the cost of living is cheaper to live at home with parents or guardians (Berk & Meyers, 2013). However, transitions may apply to adults at all ages of adult life. A worker may be laid off from their job, and must move in with a parent to support themselves until they can transition into another position. This may confuse past family dynamics, and parents may forget that their children are adults as well (Parra, Olivia, & Reina, 2015).
Although there are many clear-cut ideas about challenges in emerging adults’ lives, there are continuing controversies such as involvement in communities.
Studies show that emerging adults are as likely as senior citizens to work with others on local projects and raise funds for charitable causes (Flanagan & Levine, 2010). This is controversial because emerging adults maintain a lazy and unmotivated reputation due to their lack of advancement into adulthood. Emerging adults are likely to be involved in the community because they are so involved with the social aspects of their lives and they value relationships (Crocetti, Scrignaro, Sica & Magrin, 2012). Since relationships and involvement with others creates the opportunity to have multiple perspectives on challenges emerging adults may face, this is the perfect time to discover their identity (Crocetti, Scrignaro, Sica & Magrin, 2012). One major challenge for emerging adults, and a contribution to the reason why it takes them longer than adults in the past, is their struggle to discover who they are. It’s almost as though emerging adults want to have themselves completely figured out before they experience life, rather than learning along the
way.

Connection to a Theory

We connected our emerging adulthood phase to Vygotsky’s Cognitive Development Theory. We focused more on college students, and we said how we thought it would affect them by leaving home. We first discussed the comfort zone and how it would be at home or even at their high school that they went to. This was just the normal life that usual 18 or 19 year olds are used to. Next, we looked at Vygotsky’s ZPD and we explained it as a young adult going on to college and changing their whole life by having to make new friends and not living with their family anymore. It is hard at first, but with a little determination they will do just fine. Lastly, we went on to explain the panic zone. An idea that we thought would fall into this category would be a freshman studying abroad, or just any student for the first time. This would be a completely different environment and a whole different culture that we may not be used to and would have to adapt to. Overall, college is the start to really growing up, and some young adults may not be ready for this. Feelings like nerves and anxiety may kick in, because they are leaving their comfort zone for the first time. But in the long run, they will make college their new comfort zone after settling in and making new friends.

Conclusion Emerging adulthood has been postponed in recent years due to social aspects such as the economy and education.
Emerging adults cannot struggle to leave home and go to college, so by postponing their education, it often acts as a chain reaction causing them to get married at later times and giving them a longer period of time to explore their inner self. With a longer period for emerging adults to explore their personal qualities, it allows them to recognize all of the talents they do or do not have, which can push them into trouble when deciding what career they are ready to dedicate their life to. In various cultures, adolescents are considered adults once they are financially stable and ready to support a family. However, the economy in some countries does not allow for emerging adults to accomplish both of those challenges within a timely manner. A concept that better illustrates emerging adulthood is Vygotsky’s Cognitive Development theory. In his theory, emerging adults in college might struggle with the transition to being independent at school, which may affect their ability to discover who they are. Overall, emerging adults are taking longer to discover themselves which is causing them to achieve well-known milestones, such as school and marriage, later in life. Although this concept can be viewed negatively, these adults are doing their best adapting to the ever changing economy and the social aspects that are quickly advancing around
them.