Emerging Adulthood Essay
1. Background and hypotheses
Based upon criteria that include finishing school, getting a job, avoiding trouble with the law, starting a family, and becoming self-sufficient, the transition of youth into adult roles and responsibilities between 18 and the mid 20s, “emerging adulthood,” has been lengthening (Arnett, 2004). In 1980 40% were married; today that fraction is cut in half. Reversing declines of the 1950s, the proportion of young men and women in their mid-20s living with their parents has increased; a quarter of white males age 25 lived at home in 2007 compared to one-fifth in 2000 and only about 13 percent in 1970 (Settersten and Ray, 2010). In the past, youth lived at home until they completed their schooling but post-secondary schooling is less and less likely for young men, who are falling behind their female counterparts. Access to good jobs for those …show more content…
In 2008 almost 30% of the 68 million young adults 18–34 were foreign born or had a foreign born parent (Passel, 2011). In addition, 17 million children under age 18 who are immigrants or children of immigrants will be transitioning to adulthood in the next two decades. Their transitions to adulthood differ from those of youth whose parents were born in the United States for reasons that include wide disparities in parental human capital, family and neighborhood context, varied cultural traditions, different opportunities during the school years, and differential access to citizenship (Rumbaut, 1996; Rumbaut and Komaie, 2011). As one example, young men and women born in the U.S. to foreign-born parents are more likely to live at home than those born to native-born parents (Berlin et al., 2010). We anticipate increased heterogeneity in pathways to adulthood for recent cohorts of
Based upon criteria that include finishing school, getting a job, avoiding trouble with the law, starting a family, and becoming self-sufficient, the transition of youth into adult roles and responsibilities between 18 and the mid 20s, “emerging adulthood,” has been lengthening (Arnett, 2004). In 1980 40% were married; today that fraction is cut in half. Reversing declines of the 1950s, the proportion of young men and women in their mid-20s living with their parents has increased; a quarter of white males age 25 lived at home in 2007 compared to one-fifth in 2000 and only about 13 percent in 1970 (Settersten and Ray, 2010). In the past, youth lived at home until they completed their schooling but post-secondary schooling is less and less likely for young men, who are falling behind their female counterparts. Access to good jobs for those …show more content…
In 2008 almost 30% of the 68 million young adults 18–34 were foreign born or had a foreign born parent (Passel, 2011). In addition, 17 million children under age 18 who are immigrants or children of immigrants will be transitioning to adulthood in the next two decades. Their transitions to adulthood differ from those of youth whose parents were born in the United States for reasons that include wide disparities in parental human capital, family and neighborhood context, varied cultural traditions, different opportunities during the school years, and differential access to citizenship (Rumbaut, 1996; Rumbaut and Komaie, 2011). As one example, young men and women born in the U.S. to foreign-born parents are more likely to live at home than those born to native-born parents (Berlin et al., 2010). We anticipate increased heterogeneity in pathways to adulthood for recent cohorts of