James E. Côté

Identity and Agency in Emerging Adulthood Two Developmental Routes in the Individualization Process

The study of emerging adulthood—the prolonged transition to adulthood extending into the 20s—is a rapidly growing area of research. Although identity issues are prominent during this period, the role of personal agency and individualization in the identity formation process during these years is not well understood. This study examines three psychological aspects of identity formation (style, status, and process) in relation to personal agency associated with the individualization process. Structural equation modeling analyses suggest that higher levels of agency are positively related to exploration and flexible commitment, unrelated to conformity, and negatively related to avoidance. Cluster analysis was used to examine and support a theorized polarity between developmental and default forms of individualization. Replicated across three U.S. ethnic groups, the results suggest that emerging adults utilize agentic capacities to varying degrees, and that the degree of agency utilized is directly related to the coherence of the emerging adults identity.

Changes in the transition to adulthood in the UK and Canada: the role of structure and agency in emerging adulthood

This paper picks up from Bynners recent critique of the current formulation of emerging adulthood as presented in his recent exchange with Arnett in the Journal of Youth Studies (2005, volume 8(4) and 2006, volume 9(1)). It pays particular attention to the exclusion processes in education and the workplace that prevent young people in some socio-economic contexts from experiencing the developmental processes presumed to be of benefit to all ‘emerging adults’. In addition, an alternative to Arnetts psychological, free-choice model of emerging adulthood is offered that identifies the social and economic conditions that have produced the prolonged transition to adulthood. We argue that this hiatus in the life-course, which is increasingly referred to as emerging adulthood, can be better explained in terms of changing economic conditions leading to a lowering of the social status of the young that is contributing to increasingly precarious trajectories, and in terms of the decline in the social markers of adulthood associated with the individualization process. When these structural conditions are examined, it appears that Arnetts model ‘begs the question’ about emerging adulthood (i.e. takes for granted the very thing under contention), and mistakes the coping mechanisms of many young people for freely chosen options to delay their entry into adulthood.

The Role of Identity Capital in the Transition to Adulthood: The Individualization Thesis Examined

Theories of the life course are increasingly taking into account conditions in late-modern societies that make it necessary for people to undertake the process of individualization in the transition to, and through, adulthood. In this paper, strategic responses to this requirement of late-modernity are described in terms of the identity capital model. This social-psychological model postulates that, net of structural obstacles, those who are more agentic in investing in their adult identities are better equipped to negotiate individualized life-course passages. Although some theorists use the individualization thesis from a post-structuralist point of view, arguing that agency is more important than structural factors like social class, this paper shows that it is not necessary to take such a position when using the individualization thesis. For example, those from middle-class origins attending universities must compete with each other and adapt to late-modern circumstances if they are to improve, or even maintain, their social class origins. Thus, when only middle-class experiences are examined, the basis of differential occupational attainment and life-course fulfillment is difficult to explain from either a structuralist or post-structuralist perspective. Using longitudinal data, this paper explores the extent to which the identity capital model can account for variations in the timing of, and satisfaction with, later middle-class life-course trajectories in the transition to adulthood.

Generation on hold : coming of age in the late twentieth century

Young adults in the modern era face a completely differently set of challenges from previous generations. Tracing historical constructions of adolescence and their role in maintaining social order, James E. Cote and Anton L. Allahar persuasively argue that young people today constitute one of the most disadvantaged and vulnerable groups in society. Today, for the first time, teenagers and young adults in the United states, Canada, Japan, Scandinavia and Western Europe can expect to have a lower standard of living than their parents. Youth are conditioned to stay young linger and have, as a result, become socially and economically marginalized. Many young people amass credentials regardless of employment prospects and continue to live at home, often dependent on their parents, into their thirties. With fewer jobs available, young people are ironically targeted increasingly as consumers, rather than as producers. As new technologies continually reduce the work force and alter the social fabric, an entire generation of young people has struggled to keep up. What then does it mean to come of age in an advanced industrial or post-industrial society?

Identity Studies: How Close Are We to Developing a Social Science of Identity?—An Appraisal of the Field

This article presents a “tree-tops” overview of the field of Identity Studies with an eye to identifying (a) the commonalities that stimulate scholars to organize their work around the concept of identity as well as (b) the cleavages that have created various camps within the field. Given the fact that Identity Studies is one of the fastest growing areas in the social sciences, it is argued that there is an urgent need to develop a common taxonomy that attends to the multidimensionality represented by the various approaches sharing the term identity. After proposing a way to understand these commonalities and cleavages as a basis for this taxonomy, the question of what is to be gained by a common purpose in a social science of identity is explored. It is further proposed that, in searching for this common purpose, scholars need to focus not only on what they can recommend to individuals looking for direction in their lives, but also on what practicable frameworks they can provide policymakers who are in positions to ameliorate social and economic conditions that undermine the formation and maintenance of viable ego, personal, and social identities.

A formulation of Erikson's theory of ego identity formation

Abstract This paper provides a comprehensive formulation of Erik Eriksons theory of ego identity formation as it pertains to both the identity stage and to the remainder of the life cycle. The structure of the identity stage is discussed in terms of its more universal features and in terms of features more specific to North American society. The role played by “institutionalized moratoria” in influencing the outcome of the identity crisis and subsequent development is discussed in the context of two Eriksonian notions ignored in the literature: the value orientation stages and the struggle between the ego and superego for dominance of the personality. As part of the discussion, several constructive criticisms of Eriksons work are offered with the intent of making the theoretical formulation presented in this paper an appropriate basis for subsequent empirical investigations of his theory. One of the important implications of this paper is that it suggests that questions should be raised regarding the validity of the dominant research strategy currently in use.

Attitude versus Aptitude Is Intelligence or Motivation More Important for Positive Higher-Educational Outcomes?

This longitudinal study explores the relationships among a set of student input and environmental throughput variables in predicting output human capital skills acquisition and academic achievement at a large Canadian university. The framework for exploring these relationships is referred to as the integrated paradigm of student development. To our surprise, it was found that the input intelligence quotient was negatively related to output human capital skills and to various measures of adjustment to this university setting. In contrast, a measure of input motivation for personal and intellectual development best predicted output skills acquisition and academic achievement, independent of intelligence quotient. Although these counterintuitive findings may be sample- and university-specific, the instrument package representing the integrated paradigm of student development appears to provide a useful diagnostic battery for evaluating how well different types of students make the transition to different types of university settings.

Towards a new political economy of youth

The roots of the political-economy-of-youth perspective can be traced to the neo-Marxist attempts to account for the youth movements and countercultures of the 1960s and to argue that youth constitute a potentially revolutionary ‘class’. Although this perspective influenced subcultural views of youth, since the 1980s sociological and cultural studies approaches to youth studies have tended to focus on the disadvantaged and working class rather than the entire youth segment of the population, while becoming increasingly preoccupied with subjectivities rather than the material conditions. Although these approaches to class divisions within the youth segment are useful, there is recent evidence of a systemic proletarianisation of the entire youth population in many countries, raising again materialist concerns and the issue of youth-as-class. Evidence for class-relations between youth and adults with respect to reduced earning power and education-to-work prospects is presented, followed by a critique of current youth-studies approaches that do not provide explanations of the root causes of youth proletarianisation. The paper ends with a call for a revival of the political-economy-of-youth perspective that is capable of generating ideas about solutions to this proletarianisation.

The Dangerous Myth of Emerging Adulthood: An Evidence-Based Critique of a Flawed Developmental Theory

This article examines the theory of emerging adulthood, introduced into the literature by Arnett (2000), in terms of its methodological and evidential basis, and finds it to be unsubstantiated on numerous grounds. Other, more convincing, formulations of variations in the transition to adulthood are examined. Most flawed academic theories are simply ignored by scientists. However, Arnetts unsubstantiated formulations have found their way to journalists, who are influencing public opinion, and policymakers, who are determining the fate of youth populations. As such, the article argues that an academic myth is being created that has serious economic and emotional repercussions for the many young people facing difficult circumstances in their transition to adulthood. Consequently, this myth requires corrections from the scientific community, one of which is provided here.

Adolescent storm and stress : an evaluation of the Mead-Freeman controversy

Contents: The Mead-Freeman Controversy: Mead on Trial. Freemans Case Against Mead. Meads Culpability. A Social History of Adolescence in Samoa: Precontact Culture. A Social History of Adolescence in Samoa: Changes in Samoan Culture. Meads Samoa. Coming of Age in Contemporary Samoa. Conclusion: Meads Samoa in Sociological Perspective.