Description
Book SynopsisEmerging 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.
Trade ReviewThis book is a must for those interested in, or working with, families in understanding the realities of today’s emerging adults, and also for those who are themselves emerging into adulthood. Highly recommended. * CHOICE *
Table of ContentsContributors
Foreword
Preface
I. Theoretical Foundations
- Emerging Adulthood: Understanding the New Way of Coming of Age
—Jeffrey Jensen Arnett
- Recentering During Emerging Adulthood: A Critical Turning Point in Life Span Human Development
—Jennifer Lynn Tanner
II. Individual Characteristics
- Emerging Structures of Adult Thought
—Gisela Labouvie-Vief
- Emerging Adulthood as an Institutionalized Moratorium: Risks and Benefits to Identity Formation
—James E. Côté
- Ethnic Identity Exploration in Emerging Adulthood
—Jean S. Phinney
- Mental Health During Emerging Adulthood: Continuity and Discontinuity in Courses, Causes, and Functions
—John E. Schulenberg and Nicole R. Zarrett
- Resilience in Emerging Adulthood: Developmental Perspectives on Continuity and Transformation
—Ann S. Masten, Jelena Obradovic, and Keith B. Burt
III. Contexts
- Family Relationships and Support Systems in Emerging Adulthood
—William S. Aquilino
- Friendships and Romance in Emerging Adulthood: Assessing Distinctiveness in Close Relationships
—W. Andrew Collins and Manfred van Dulmen
- "Sex Is Just a Normal Part of Life": Sexuality in Emerging Adulthood
—Eva S. Lefkowitz and Meghan M. Gillen
- School, Work, and Emerging Adulthood
—Stephen F. Hamilton and Mary Agnes Hamilton
- Emerging Adults in a Media-Saturated World
—Jane D. Brown
IV. Conclusion
- The Psychology of Emerging Adulthood: What Is Known, and What Remains to Be Known
—Jeffrey Jensen Arnett
Index
About the Editors
