ADULTHOODtiming or sequencing sometimes generates public
alarm, becomes defined as a social problem, and
leads to difficulties for the young people whose
lives exhibit such patterns. Whereas parenting is
becoming more common outside of marriage (ap-
proximately one-third of births in the United States
occur to unmarried women; Spain and Bianchi
1996), it is widely thought that nonmarital birth in
the teenage years marks a too-early transition to
adulthood. Adolescent parenting is linked to school
dropout, difficulties in the job market, restricted
income and marital instability (Furstenberg, et al.
1987). (However, Furstenberg and colleagues’ 1987
study of a panel of black adolescent mothers six-
teen to seventeen years after their children were
born actually showed considerable diversity in
maternal socioeconomic outcomes.)
Still, assertions that the transition to adult-
hood is especially indeterminate, or becoming
more difficult, in contemporary Western societies
remain controversial. Graff (1995) documents the
extended and equivocal nature of this transition in
eighteenth- to twentieth-century America. Foner
and Kertzer (1978) noted ambiguity even in
premodern contexts, where elders and the rising
adult generation often struggled over the timing
of age-set transitions and corresponding transfers
of power, wealth, and privilege. It is certain, how-
ever, that the transition to adulthood assumes a
quite different character historically and across
national contexts, and may be more clear in some
than in others.
THE SUBJECTIVE TRANSITION TO
ADULTHOODA series of psychological, or subjective, changes
are expected to occur as young people move into
adulthood. The adolescent is said to be oriented to
fun, sports, popular music, and peers; receptive to
change; and ready to experiment with alternative
identities and sometimes, mood-altering substances
(Hall 1904). Youth are encouraged to enjoy them-
selves as they continue to explore their interests
and potentials. Osterman (1989) describes out-of-
school employed youth as lacking career orienta-
tion; instead, they emphasize peer relationships,
travel, adventure, and short-term jobs.
Young adults, in contrast, are expected to
relinquish such dependent, playful, experimental,
carefree, and even reckless stances of adolescence
and youth, so that they can address the ‘‘serious
business’’ of life. Those who become financially
and emotionally independent, productive, hard-
working, and responsible are considered ‘‘adult’’
(Klein 1990). Moreover, they themselves are ex-
pected to ‘‘feel like’’ adults (Aronson 1998).The concept of ‘‘maturity’’ is integrally tied to
adulthood. Most generally, it refers to the psycho-
logical competencies deemed necessary to adapt
to the roles and responsibilities of adulthood
(Galambos and Ehrenberg 1997). For Greenberger
and Sorenson (1974), the term signifies autono-
my, the capacity to make decisions on the basis of
life goals and to function independently in work
and other spheres; skills in communicating and
relating to others; and social responsibility, the
motivation and ability to contribute to the wider
society. Greenberger and Steinberg (1986) wor-
ry that teenagers who have paid jobs become
‘‘pseudomature,’’ as they take on adult identi-
ties and behavioral prerogatives without being
psychologically equipped for them. Such pseudo-
maturity can precipitate disengagement from more
beneficial, albeit dependent and childlike, roles
(especially the role of student). Bachman and
Schulenberg (1993) similarly note syndromes of
adultlike roles, activities, and identities that pro-
mote premature entry to adult family and occupa-
tional roles.But like the objective markers of transition,
beliefs about the specific attributes that define
maturity, and how these competencies may be
fostered and recognized, vary across time and
social space (Burton et al. 1996). The extent to
which youth feel that they possess such capacities,
and the likelihood that adults will attribute these
qualities to them, may be highly variable across
social situations. Furthermore, in postmaterialist
societies and especially in the more highly educat-
ed and affluent social niches within them, orienta-
tions promoting success in the economic sphere
may recede in importance as criteria of maturity,
in favor of continued ‘‘youthful’’ emphases on
freedom and self-actualization throughout adult-
hood (Vinken and Ester 1992; Inglehart 1990).Meanings and interpretations of the various
transitions signifying acquisition of adult status,
such as those linked to family formation (Modell