In this essay, Kip Kline and Kathleen Knight Abowitz use Walker Percy's novel "The Moviegoer" to examine the existential plight of young Americans today who, as they turn the broad and long corner from youth to adulthood, are engaged in a search for self-knowledge and identity construction. They are particularly interested in the young…

The purpose of this study is to examine the debt burdens, perceived capabilities, and mental health of young adults. Panel data constructed from the 2009 to 2013 waves of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) and its Transition to Adulthood (TA) supplement are used in this study. The multinomial logistic regression analysis findings showed…

Adventure-based learning is used by behavioral health providers to connect clients to therapeutic activities outside traditional settings. These approaches often aim to build internal and external assets that support positive youth development. Here we evaluate the impact of an experiential learning curriculum on youth development and identify…

Emerging adulthood has been defined as a distinct developmental stage in which youth experience opportunities for identity development and transition toward independence. While this period has been examined for youth in the general population, less is known about how foster youth experience this transition. This study uses qualitative interviews…

This study investigates the relation of young adult identities (ages 18-22 years), reflecting subjective age and psychosocial maturity, to educational and career attainment in young adulthood (ages 25-29 years). Add Health data show that having an older subjective age alone does not curtail attainment; the critical issue is the level of…

The experiences of emerging adulthood may vary in different historical and cultural contexts. Little research has been dedicated to how non college students view adulthood in developing countries. Currently, millions of young people are migrating from rural villages to industrial cities in China. The purpose of this study was to investigate…

In the study of young people's relationships with residential contexts, it is important to consider the role of developmental tasks (e.g. identity construction, academic and professional choices, etc.) in influencing Place Identity and Sense of Community. Residential mobility may represent an adaptive strategy for modifying some aspects of one's…

This study examines the experience of emerging adult immigrants, a group simultaneously attempting to navigate the developmental period of exploration and experimentation of emerging adulthood, together with the need for re-organization of the self, following immigration. In this study, in-depth interviews were conducted, with 41 emerging adult…