At age 18, when one usually graduates high school, you are thrown into the world, expecting to know what you are going to do with your life. But what are you classified as? An adult? An adolescence? Or somewhere in between? This period of time in between adolescence and adulthood can be classified as the transition phase called “emerging adulthood”, termed by Jeffrey Arnett. What Arnett defines emerging adulthood as, is the period from late teens through mid-twenties. Although, some would say this period is still defined as adolescence (ages 12 to 24); such as childhood psychiatrist, Dr. Daniel Siegel. Although the time period may be called something else depending on who you ask, there are still commonly shared, yet to be fully debunked, myths …show more content…
And the general well-being of emerging adults”. The myth that is perceived by some is that today’s emerging adults are miserable, wracked with mental illness and unhappiness. While the other hand, some believe that they are at a very optimistic and good well-being period in their life. My reaction to this myth is neutral, nor accepting or rejecting the two hypotheses. I myself have dealt with mental illness, terror, trauma, and expressed the stereotypical overwhelming senses of helplessness and cluelessness. However, as an emerging adult, I would say I am also at a high optimistic period of my life; that keeps striving for the goal of who I want to become as an individual, and as a career …show more content…
This myth particularly was risen from the aspects of pop culture, and the statement of Peter Pan; of never wanting to grow up. In the situation of Peter Pan, Peter did not want to grow up because, “if growing up means it will beneath my dignity to climb a tree, I will never grow up, never grow up, not me!” Although in today’s society, we are nor flying or climbing trees; Peter’s aspect of not wanting to grow up relates to the avoidance of adult responsibilities. These same adult responsibilities we avoid to not pay bills, not have the same daily work, go home, make dinner, sleep (and repeat) schedule; gives us the same satisfaction to stand on our own, and make our own decisions. In fact, adult responsibilities are both a blessing, and a curse. In my opinion, I personally do take advantage of having a good relationship with my mother. When it comes to things I may not know, or when I feel uneasy to perform a task, my mother is just a call away. However, this does not mean I am in the refusal to grow up, it is simply that even as an adult, you will always turn to someone with more knowledge, more experience, and particularly, the ones who raised
In today’s culture, the number of issues that the average person has to face on a daily basis, are astronomical. Millennials, in particular, have been greatly affected by this, so much so that a new phase in the human lifespan has been created just for them! Dubbed “emerging adulthood” by psychologist Jeffrey Arnett, plopped smack dab in the middle of adolescence, and adulthood, this phase captures any, and all doubts that 20-29 year olds are plagued with. From their economic standing, to racial, ethnic, and identity issues, and to disabilities ranging from both mental, and physical, this phase captures every single uncertainty, fear, and qualm that one person can possibly have in a neat little package.
Time is a universal constant that keeps spanning no matter what happens. Maturity in a biological sense is something that has reached a point of “adulthood.” A caterpillar matures to creating its cocoon and eventually matures into a butterfly. This metamorphosis is something that we all go through at different points in different ways with different effects. Human beings turn out differently based on experience. Everyone is different and nobody has the same outcome so everyone is different in their own way right? Wrong. The way we perceive things and the decisions we make are all based on events that happened to us in our childhood and things that we’re told. There are key points that happen in the modern person’s life that you can use to
J. J. Arnett argues his theory about a developmental stage individuals go through of 18-25 year olds as a new concept, (Arnett, 2000, pp. 469). He describes emerging adulthood as being a sustained period of time where this age group, as mentioned previously, explores their roles preceding being an adult. These movements can include events similarly by taking longer than previous years to get married and have children, moving back in with their parents at a point during this age span, exploring self-identities, not feeling like an adult and feelings of self-failure. James E. Cote, who is a previous colleague of Arnett argues the opposite about this concept being an unexperienced developmental stage Arnett calls, “Emerging Adulthood”. Cote states
What is coming of age and when do we go through this? This questions is asked by many people. Coming of age is best defined by oxford as “The age or occasion when one formally becomes an adult”. When a child boy or girl changes from being immature and childless to mature. Although most boys and girls are fully mature at 26, some still mature faster and some slower. Many kids go through a sad or painful event which causes them to change. We see this occur in the short story “Walking Out” by David Quammen and the Bear by William Falkner. These stories also have the themes of boys maturing and coming of age.
If all Arnett’s talk about emerging adulthood sounds vaguely familiar . . . well, it should. Forty years ago, an article appeared in The American Scholar that declared “a new stage of life” for the period between adolescence and young adulthood. This was 1970 when the oldest members of the baby boom generation — the parents of today’s 20-somethings — were 24. Young people of the day “can’t seem to ‘settle down,’ ” wrote the Yale psychologist Kenneth Keniston. He called the new stage of life “youth.”
stage (age 0 - 22), the early adulthood stage (age 17 - 45), the middle adult
Emerging Adulthood represents the period of development from late teens through their twenties, mainly focusing on the ages 18-25. This is the period which people start exploring and realizing the capabilities of their lives, which then helps them characterize as adults and no longer teenagers. This topic of psychology is compelling to me because it’s a stage that every adult has lived through, it’s interesting that we have all experienced it differently based on our life circumstances and demographics. It’s interesting to see the changes throughout the years and eventually it will be easier for young people to explore these years as more young adults are going to school nowadays. It teaches me to further understand why emerging adults go through
“Though the age boundaries are not set in stone, we will consider middle adulthood as the developmental period that begins at approximately 40 to 45 years of age and extends to about 60 to 65 years of age” (Santrock, 2013, p. 485). I interviewed two individuals for this paper. Each person was asked the same fifteen questions (Appendix). I interviewed a male and a female who fell in the midrange of middle adulthood.
Adulthood has often been associated with independence. It serves as a turning point in life where one has to take responsibility for oneself and no longer being dependent on his or her family. Early adulthood, usually begins from late teens or early twenties and will last until the thirties (Santrock, 2013). Early adulthood revolves around changes and exploration while middle and late adulthood are more of stability. The transition from adolescence and adulthood differs among every individual. The onset of the transition is determined by many factors such as culture, family background, and the personality of the individual. Emerging adulthood (as cited in Santrock, 2014) is the term to describe the transition period from adolescence to adulthood.
Everyone that have ever lived to adulthood, understand that difficulty of the transition to it from childhood. As of right now, I am in the prime of the “coming of age “transition. The overwhelming pressure of our society that forces the adolescence to assimilate the social norms is felt by many. Just as in our first steps, our first words or anything that is expected in our human milestones, coming of age is one of them. It may variety from different societies, religious responsibility or modern legal convention; everyone had to reach this point eventually.
Young adulthood refers to adults aged 20 to 40 (Berk, 2003). Young adults are at the peak of their physical development (Papalia, Olds, & Feldman, 2004). During this time, individuals will have more concerns about their health. Their health issues may include diet, weight, exercise, and addiction (Santrock, 2002).
When you turn eighteen you are expected to just be mature. You’re allowed to buy a house, a car, get a credit card, it seems like you can do whatever you want. Maturity basically gets thrown at you, so hopefully you are prepared for it. High school responsibilities, like getting a job, budgeting your time and learning to drive teach you skills that you can use in your adult life, if you choose to apply them. Maturity is about choice. You can be given every skill that you need to survive and if you are mature enough you will use them.
Childhood and adulthood are two different periods of one’s lifetime but equally important. Childhood is the time in everybody’s life when they are growing up to be an adult. This is when they are being considered babies because of their youthfulness and innocence. Adulthood is the period of time where everybody is considered “grown up,” usually they begin to grow up around the ages of eighteen or twenty-one years old but they do remain to develop during this time. However, in some different backgrounds, not everybody is not fully adults until they become independent with freedom, responsible for their own actions, and able to participate as an adult within society. Although childhood and adulthood are both beneficial to our lives, both periods share some attributes such as independence, responsibility, and innocence that play distinctive roles in our development.
Becoming an adult, also known as young adulthood, is a very crucial stage in one’s life. This is the climax of physical and health processes. This is the point in life when we make plans of our futures. It is the time when we think of what life will be like as an adult and make plans for the future. Most importantly, it is when we lay the starting point for developmental changes that we will undergo throughout our lives. An adult is a person who is fully grown or developed. Some people believe that you become an adult when you are 18 years old, other believe you are an adult when you can legally buy and consume alcohol, that is, at age 21 in the United States. Others believe that you are an adult when you are supporting yourself
Indeed, adolescent may be defined as the period within the life span when most of a person’s biological, cognitive, psychological and social characteristics are changing from what is typically considered child-like to what is considered adult-like (Learner and Spainer, 1980). This period is a dramatic challenge for any adolescent, which requires adjustment to change one’s own self, in the family, and in the peer group. Contemporary society presents adolescents with institutional changes as well. Among young adolescents, school setting is changed; involving a transition from elementary school to either junior high school or middle school; and late adolescence is accompanied by transition from high school to the worlds of work, University or childrearing. An adolescent experiences it all ranging from excitement and of anxiety, happiness and troubles, discovery and bewilderment, and breaks with the past and yet links with the future (Eya,