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

by Arnett, Jeffrey Jensen; Tanner, Jennifer L.

• ISBN13: 9781591473299
• ISBN10: 1591473292
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-12-15
• Publisher: American Psychological Association

Summary

Emerging Adults in America: Coming of Age in the 21st Century portrays the lives of young Americans between adolescence and young adulthood, a distinct developmental stage that editor Jeffrey Jensen Arnett describes as emerging adulthood. Over the past 40 years, the average age of marriage and parenthood has risen dramatically, and the years from the late teens through the mid-20s are no longer dedicated to settling into traditional adult roles. Instead, the focus has shifted to pursuing higher education, self-exploration, and shaping a future that best suits personal goals and desires.
 
Along with coeditor Jennifer Lynn Tanner, Arnett has compiled a collection of chapters in this groundbreaking work that cover a range of topics from relationships with parents to views about love, sex, and marriage; from experiences in college to those in the work place; and from religious beliefs to beliefs about the concept of adulthood. This insightful book will be a valuable resource for developmental psychologists, therapists, and mental health practitioners who work with emerging adults and will appeal to young people and their families.
 

Author Biography

Jeffrey Jensen Arnett, PhD, of Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, is the originator of the term emerging adulthood. He has published numerous articles on emerging adulthood and is the author of the book Emerging Adulthood: The Winding Road From the Late Teens Through the Twenties (2004). In addition, he is the author of the textbook Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood: A Cultural Approach (2004). He is the editor of the Journal of Adolescent Research and of three forthcoming encyclopedias: the Routledge International Encyclopedia of Adolescence (four volumes), the Encyclopedia of Children, Adolescents, and the Media (two volumes), and the Encyclopedia of Emerging Adulthood (one volume). His other scholarly interest includes the psychology of globalization.
 
Jennifer Lynn Tanner, PhD, is a research assistant professor at Simmons College, Boston, Massachusetts. She is coinvestigator of the Simmons Longitudinal Study, a longitudinal study of mental health and adaptation from childhood through age 30, funded by the National Institute of Mental Health. Her work converges around the theme of mental health and adaptation across the life span, with a focus on the influence of early family experiences on pathways of adjustment during emerging adulthood. She has published work on changing relationships between fathers and adult children after parental divorce, adolescent depression and suicidal ideation, and psychiatric disorder during emerging adulthood. In addition to her studies of emerging adult development and adjustment, Dr. Tanner studies the intergenerational transmission of risk for psychopathology from emerging adult parents to their offspring.
 

Table of Contents

Contributors	xi
Foreword	xv
Preface	xvii
Part I. Theoretical Foundations	1	(56)
Emerging Adulthood: Understanding the New Way of Coming of Age	3	(18)
Jeffrey Jensen Arnett
Recentering During Emerging Adulthood: A Critical Turning Point in Life Span Human Development	21	(36)
Jennifer Lynn Tanner
Part II. Individual Characteristics	57	(134)
Emerging Structures of Adult Thought	59	(26)
Gisela Labouvie-Vief
Emerging Adulthood as an Institutionalized Moratorium: Risks and Benefits to Identity Formation	85	(32)
James E. Cote
Ethnic Identity Exploration in Emerging Adulthood	117	(18)
Jean S. Phinney
Mental Health During Emerging Adulthood: Continuity and Discontinuity in Courses, Causes, and Functions	135	(38)
John E. Schulenberg
Nicole R. Zarrett
Resilience in Emerging Adulthood: Developmental Perspectives on Continuity and Transformation	173	(18)
Ann S. Masten
Jelena Obradovic
Keith B. Burt
Part III. Contexts	191	(110)
Family Relationships and Support Systems in Emerging Adulthood	193	(26)
William S. Aquilino
Friendships and Romance in Emerging Adulthood: Assessing Distinctiveness in Close Relationships	219	(16)
W. Andrew Collins
Manfred van Dulmen
``Sex Is Just a Normal Part of Life'': Sexuality in Emerging Adulthood	235	(22)
Eva S. Lefkowitz
Meghan M. Gillen
School, Work, and Emerging Adulthood	257	(22)
Stephen F. Hamilton
Mary Agnes Hamilton
Emerging Adults in a Media-Saturated World	279	(22)
Jane D. Brown
Part IV. Conclusion	301	(30)
The Psychology of Emerging Adulthood: What Is Known, and What Remains to Be Known?	303	(28)
Jeffrey Jensen Arnett
Index	331	(10)
About the Editors	341