ERIC Number: EJ750711
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2007-Feb
Pages: 17
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0001-8791
EISSN: N/A
The Effects of Work- and Family-Related Transitions on Young People's Perception of Being Adult
Reitzle, Matthias
Journal of Vocational Behavior, v70 n1 p25-41 Feb 2007
Using a nationwide sample of 2656 eighteen- to twenty-nine-year-olds, the first part of the present study addressed the question of how non-traditional as compared to traditional living arrangements related to young people's self-perception of being either adolescent or adult. Being in a romantic relationship increased the likelihood of feeling adult. Modern adult living arrangements (living alone in a single household or sharing an apartment with peers) increased the likelihood of feeling adolescent. Employing a longitudinal sample of 461 twenty- to twenty-seven-year-olds, changes in job status and sources of income were studied with regard to their connections to the emergence of subjective adulthood or the regression to subjective adolescence, respectively. No association between adult or adolescent self-perception and issues of work and material autonomy was found, but the emergence of subjective adulthood was related to romantic relationships and parenthood. Findings are discussed with reference to young people's volatile living conditions and transient commitments implied by social change.
Descriptors: Social Change, Adolescents, Critical Theory, Personal Autonomy, Social Science Research, Longitudinal Studies, Cognitive Structures, Self Concept, Phenomenology, Social Indicators, Family Work Relationship, Midlife Transitions
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A