106 ChapTer 3 Development Over the Life Span
economy, nearly 30 percent of adults ages 18 to
34 were living at home with their parents, the
highest number in 70 years. This phenomenon
has created a phase of life that some call emerging
adulthood (Arnett, 2004). When emerging adults
are asked whether they feel they have reached
adulthood, the majority say, “in some ways yes, in
some ways no.”
Watch the Video What’s In It For Me?: Identity
at MyPsychLabIn certain respects, emerging adults have
moved beyond adolescence into maturity, be-
coming more emotionally controlled, more con-
fident, less dependent, and less angry and alien-
ated (Azmitia, Syed, & Radmacher, 2008; Roberts,
Caspi, & Moffitt, 2001). But they are also the
group most likely to live unstable lives and feel un-
rooted. The Pew Research Group calls them “the
boomerang generation,” because they don’t stay
put. Emerging adults move more often than peo-
ple in other demographic groups do—to college or
work and then back to their parents’ homes, from
one city to another, from living with roommates
to living on their own (Parker, 2012.). And their
rates of risky behavior (such as binge drinking,
having unprotected sex, and driving at high speeds
or while drunk) are higher than those of any other
age group, including adolescents (Arnett, 2004).
Of course, not all young people in this age
group are alike. Some groups within the larger
society, such as Mormons, promote early mar-
riage and parenthood. And young people who are
poor, who have dropped out of school, who had a
child at 16, or who have few opportunities to get
a good job will not have the income or leisure to
explore many options. But the overall shift in all
industrialized nations toward a global economy,
increased education, and delayed career and fam-
ily decisions means that emerging adulthood isat adolescence or young adulthood; it is an ongo-
ing process. His ideas were important because he
placed adult development in the context of fam-
ily, work, and society, and he specified many of
the timeless and universal concerns of adulthood:
trust, competence, identity, generativity, and the
ability to enjoy life and accept death (Dunkel &
Sefcek, 2009).The Transitions of Life Lo 3.16
When nearly everyone your age goes through the
same experience or enters a new role at the same
time—going to school, learning to drive, having
a baby, retiring from work—adjusting to these
transitions is relatively easy. Conversely, if you
aren’t doing these things and hardly anyone you
know is doing them either, you will not feel out
of step.
In addition, however, most people will face
unanticipated transitions, events that happen
without warning, such as the sudden death of a
partner or spouse. And many people have to deal
with the fact that changes they expected have not
occurred—that they did not get a job right out of
college, did not get married when they thought
they would, failed to get an expected promotion,
cannot afford to retire, or find that they cannot
have children (Schlossberg & Robinson, 1996).
With this in mind, let’s consider some of the ma-
jor transitions of life.emerging adulthood. In industrialized na-
tions, major demographic changes have post-
poned the timing of career decisions, marriage
or cohabitation, and parenthood until a person’s
late 20s or even 30s, on the average. Many young
people between the ages of 18 and 25 are in col-
lege and at least partly dependent financially
on their parents. In 2011, because of a difficultDOONESBuRY © G. B. Trudeau. Reprinted withpermission ofuNIVERSAL PRESS SYNDICATE.All rights reserved.