Emerging Adulthood: The Winding Road from the Late Teens Through the Twenties

In recent decades, the lives of people in their late teens and twenties have changed so dramatically that a new stage of life can be said to have developed, just as the "teen" years began taking on their own identity a half century ago. In this provocative work, Jeffrey Jensen Arnett identifies emerging adulthood as distinct from both the adolescence that precedes it and the young adulthood that comes in its wake. Rather than marrying and becoming parents in their early twenties, most people in industrialized societies now postpone these rites of passage until at least their late twenties, instead spending these years in self-focused exploration as they try out different possibilities in their careers and relationships. What exactly influences and governs their thoughts, decisions, and actions during this time? What are they doing between when they leave their parents' homes for college and when they begin to live a typically adult life?

In Emerging Adulthood Arnett examines in detail this period of exploration, instability, possibility, self-focus, and a sustained sense of being in limbo. An increasing number of emerging adults emphasize meaningful and satisfying work -- not just a job -- to a degree not seen in prior generations. Marrying late, often after a series of intimate relationships, they have new and different hopes and fears about long-term commitments, love, and sex. Emerging adults face the challenge of defending their new and longer road to adulthood to parents and others who entered adulthood at an earlier age in a different time. In spite of these challenges, Arnett's research shows, emerging adults are particularly skilled at maintaining contradictory emotions -- they are confident while being wary, and optimistic in the face of large degrees of uncertainty.

Merging stories from the lives of emerging adults themselves with the findings from years of research, Emerging Adulthood covers a wide range of topics, including love and sex, relationships with parents, experiences at college and work, and views of what it means to be an adult. As the nature of American youth, American society, and the meaning of adulthood continue to evolve, Emerging Adulthood is indispensable reading for anyone wanting to understand the face of modern America.