Jeffrey Jensen Arnett

Emerging adulthood. A theory of development from the late teens through the twenties.

Emerging adulthood is proposed as a new conception of development for the period from the late teens through the twenties, with a focus on ages 18-25. A theoretical background is presented. Then evidence is provided to support the idea that emerging adulthood is a distinct period demographically, subjectively, and in terms of identity explorations. How emerging adulthood differs from adolescence and young adulthood is explained. Finally, a cultural context for the idea of emerging adulthood is outlined, and it is specified that emerging adulthood exists only in cultures that allow young people a prolonged period of independent role exploration during the late teens and twenties.

Reckless Behavior in Adolescence: A Developmental Perspective

Abstract A developmental theory of reckless behavior among adolescents is presented, in which sensation seeking and adolescent egocentrism are especially prominent factors. Findings from studies of automobile driving, sex without contraception, illegal drug use, and minor criminal activity are presented in evidence of this. The influence of peers is then discussed and reinterpreted in the light of sensation seeking and adolescent egocentrism. Socialization influences are considered in interaction with sensation seeking and adolescent egocentrism, and the terms narrow and broad socialization are introduced. Factors that may be responsible for the decline of reckless behavior with age are discussed.

The neglected 95%: why American psychology needs to become less American.

This article proposes that psychological research published in APA journals focuses too narrowly on Americans, who comprise less than 5% of the worlds population. The result is an understanding of psychology that is incomplete and does not adequately represent humanity. First, an analysis of articles published in six premier APA journals is presented, showing that the contributors, samples, and editorial leadership of the journals are predominantly American. Then, a demographic profile of the human population is presented to show that the majority of the worlds population lives in conditions vastly different from the conditions of Americans, underlining doubts of how well American psychological research can be said to represent humanity. The reasons for the narrowness of American psychological research are examined, with a focus on a philosophy of science that emphasizes fundamental processes and ignores or strips away cultural context. Finally, several suggestions for broadening the scope of American psychology are offered.

Learning to Stand Alone: The Contemporary American Transition to Adulthood in Cultural and Historical Context

Conceptions of the transition to adulthood in the contemporary American majority culture are examined, and compared to conceptions cross-culturally and historically. Perspectives from other places and times are presented first, indicating that there is a widespread view that the transition to adulthood involves the gradual development of character qualities such as impulse control and diligence but culminates in marriage as the ultimate marker of the transition to adulthood. Findings from several recent American studies are then presented, indicating that for contemporary young Americans the preeminent criteria for the transition to adulthood are the individualistic character qualities of accepting responsibility for one’s self and making independent decisions, along with becoming financially independent; marriage, in contrast, ranks very low. New data are presented to illustrate young Americans’ conceptions of the transition to adulthood. Reasons are discussed for the prominence of individualistic criteria in American society and the prominence of marriage in other places and times. The concept of emerging adulthood is presented as a new way of conceptualizing the period between adolescence and young adulthood.

Sensation seeking: A new conceptualization and a new scale

A new conception of sensation seeking is presented, along with a new scale [the Arnett Inventory of Sensation Seeking (AISS)]. The new conception emphasizes novelty and intensity as the two components of sensation seeking. Two studies were conducted to validate the new scale. In the first study, the AISS was found to be more strongly related to risk behavior than Zuckermans Sensation Seeking Scale (SSS) among 116 adolescents aged 16-18 years, although the new scale contains no items related to risk behavior (in contrast to the SSS). In the second study, involving 139 adolescents, similar relations were found between the AISS and risk behavior, and the new scale was also found to be significantly correlated with the Aggression subscale of the California Psychological Inventory (CPI). In addition, adults (N = 38) were found to be lower in sensation seeking than adolescents. In both studies, males were higher in sensation seeking than females.

THE DEVELOPMENTAL CONTEXT OF SUBSTANCE USE IN EMERGING ADULTHOOD

The theory of emerging adulthood has been proposed as a way of conceptualizing the developmental characteristics of young people between the ages of 18 and 25. Here, the theory is applied to explaining the high rates of substance use in this age group. Specifically, five developmentally distinctive features of emerging adulthood are proposed: the age of identity explorations, the age of instability, the age of self-focus, the age of feeling in-between, and the age of possibilities. Then, each of these features is applied to an explanation of drug use in emerging adulthood.

Emerging Adults in America: Coming of Age in the 21st Century

by Jeffrey Jensen Arnett and Jennifer Lynn Tanner (Eds.) Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2006. 341 pp. ISBN 1-59147-329-2.

Conceptions of the transition to adulthood: Perspectives from adolescence through midlife.

79.95Reviewed by Judith L. Gibbons Brien K. Ashdown What do laboratory rats, men, and college students have in common? They have often been studied by psychologists as representatives of a larger group, such as nonhuman animals or people in general. More recently, psychologists have turned to studying the species-typical behavior of rats and the roles and behavior of men and boys with respect to their masculine gender. Likewise, college students have served psychologists as representatives of humanity in studies of cognition and social and emotional behavior, but they have been studied infrequently as occupying a distinct developmental period. With some notable exceptions (e.g., Perry, 1970/1999), studies of the development of college-age persons in their own right were scarce until 2000, when Jeffrey Jensen Arnett (2000) proposed a new developmental period. Arnett posited that in modern industrial societies there is a distinct interim between adolescence and adulthood (roughly ages 18 through 25). The term he coined for this period was

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

Conceptions of the transition to adulthood were examined among adolescents (age 13–19, N = 171), emerging adults (age 20–29, N = 179), and young-to-midlife adults (age 30–55, N = 165). The focus was on whether conceptions of the transition to adulthood would be different among young-to-midlife adults compared to the younger age groups. In all age groups, individualistic criteria were the most likely to be considered important markers of the transition to adulthood, specifically accepting responsibility for ones actions, deciding on ones beliefs and values, establishing an equal relationship with parents, and becoming financially independent. However, young-to-midlife adults were less likely than adolescents to consider biological transitions to be important, and more likely than adolescents or emerging adults to view norm compliance (such as avoiding drunk driving) as a necessary part of the transition to adulthood. In all three groups, role transitions (e.g., marriage) ranked lowest in importance.

Adolescents' Uses of Media for Self-Socialization.

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.