Emerging Adulthood

A Theory of Development From the Late Teens Through the Twenties

Jeffrey Jensen Arnett

University of Maryland College Park

Emerging adulthood is proposed as a new conception of it had risen to 25 for women and 27 for men (U.S. Bureau
development for the period from the late teens through the of the Census, 1997). Age of first childbirth followed a
twenties, with a focus on ages 18-25. A theoretical back- similar pattern. Also, since midcentury the proportion of
ground is presented, Then evidence is provided to support young Americans obtaining higher education after high
the idea that emerging adulthood is a distinct period de- school has risen steeply from 14% in 1940 to over 60% by
mographically, subjectively, and in terms of identity explo- the mid-1990s (Arnett & Taber, 1994; Bianchi & Spain,
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.

rations. How emerging adulthood differs from adolescence 19961). Similar changes have taken place in other industri-
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and young adulthood is explained. Finally, a cultural con- alized countries (Chisholm & Hurrelmann, 1995; Noble,
text for the idea of emerging adulthood is outlined, and it Cover, & Yanagishita, 1996).
is specified that emerging adulthood exists only in cultures These changes over the past half century have altered
that allow young people a prolonged period of independent the nature of development in the late teens and early
role. exploration during the late teens and twenties. twenties for young people in industrialized societies. Be-
When our mothers were our age, they were engaged . . . . They cause marriage and parenthood are delayed until the mid-
at least had some idea what they were going to do with their twenties or late twenties for most people, it is no longer
lives . . . . I, on the other hand, will have a dual degree in majors normative for the late teens and early twenties to be a time
that are ambiguous at best and impractical at worst (English and of entering and settling into long-term adult roles. On the
political science), no ring on my finger and no idea who I am, contrary, these years are more typically a period of frequent
much less what I want to do . . . . Under duress, I will admit that change and exploration (Arnett, 1998; Rindfuss, 1991).
this is a pretty exciting time. Sometimes, when I look out across
In this article, I propose a new theory of development
the wide expanse that is my future, I can see beyond the void. I
realize that having nothing ahead to count on means I now have from the late teens through the twenties, with a focus on
to count on myself; that having no direction means forging one of ages 18-25. I argue that this period, emerging adulthood, is
my own. (Kristen, age 22; Page, 1999, pp. 18, 20) neither adolescence nor young adulthood but is theoreti-
cally and empirically distinct from them both. Emerging
adulthood is distinguished by relative independence from

F or most young people in industrialized countries, the

years from the late teens through the twenties are
years of profound change and importance. During
this time, many young people obtain the level of education
and training that will provide the foundation for their
social roles and from normative expectations. Having left
the dependency of childhood and adolescence, and having
not yet entered the enduring responsibilities that are nor-
mative in adulthood, emerging adults often explore a vari-
ety of possible life directions in love, work, and world-
incomes and occupational achievements for the remainder views. Emerging adulthood is a time of life when many
of their adult work lives (Chisholm & Hurrelmann, 1995; differen! directions remain possible, when little about the
William T. Grant Foundation Commission on Work, Fam- future has been decided for certain, when the scope of
ily, and Citizenship, 1988). It is for many people a time of
independent exploration of life's possibilities is greater for
frequent change as various possibilities in love, work, and
most people than it will be at any other period of the life
worldviews are explored (Erikson, 1968; Rindfuss, 1991).
course.
By the end of this period, the late twenties, most people
For most people, the late teens through the midtwen-
have made life choices that have enduring ramifications.
ties :are the most volitional years of life. However, cultural
When adults later consider the most important events in
influences structure and sometimes limit the extent to
their lives, they most often name events that took place
during this period (Martin & Smyer, 1990),
Sweeping demographic shifts have taken place over I thank the following colleagues for their comments on drafts of this
the past half century that have made the late teens and early article: Jack Brunner, James Cot& Shirley Feldman, Nancy Galambos,
twenties not simply a brief period of transition into adult Lene Arnett Jensen, John Modell, John Schulenberg, David Skeel, Dor-
roles but a distinct period of the life course, characterized othy Youniss, and James Youniss.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Jef-
by change and exploration of possible life directions. As frey Jensen Arnett, Department of Human Development, University of
recently as 1970, the median age of marriage in the United Maryland, 3304 Benjamin Hall, College Park, MD 20742. Electronic mail
States was about 21 for women and 23 for men; by 1996, may be sent to arnett@wam.umd.edu.

May 2000 • American Psychologist 469

Copyright2000 by the AmericanPsychologicalAssociation,Inc.0003,(166X/00/$5.00
Vol. 55. No. 5,469-480 DOI: 10.1037//0003-066X.55.5.469
 which adult commitments and responsibilities are delayed
while the role experimentation that began in adolescence
continues and in fact intensifies.
Another theoretical contribution can be found in the
work of Daniel Levinson (1978). Levinson interviewed
men at midlife, but he had them describe their earlier years
as well, and on the basis of their accounts he developed a
theory that included development in the late teens and the
twenties. He called ages 17-33 the novice phase of devel-
opment and argued that the overriding task of this phase is
to move into the adult world and build a stable life struc-
ture. During this process, according to Levinson, the young
person experiences a considerable amount of change and
instability while sorting through various possibilities in
love and work in the course of establishing a life structure.
Levinson acknowledged that his conception of the novice
phase was similar to Erikson's ideas about the role exper-
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.

imentation that takes place during the psychosocial mora-

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torium (Levinson, 1978, pp. 322-323).

Perhaps the best-known theory of development in the
Jeffrey late teens and the twenties is Kenneth Keniston's theory of
Jensen Arnett youth. Like Erikson and Levinson, Keniston (1971) con-
ceptualized youth as a period of continued role experimen-
tation between adolescence and young adulthood. How-
ever, Keniston wrote at a time when American society and
which emerging adults are able to use their late teens and some Western European societies were convulsed with
twenties in this way, and not all young people in this age highly visible youth movements protesting the involvement
period are able to use these years for independent explo- of the United States in the Vietnam War (among other
ration. Like adolescence, emerging adulthood is a period of things). His description of youth as a time of "tension
the life course that is culturally constructed, not universal between self and society" (Keniston, 1971, p. 8) and "re-
and immutable. fusal of socialization" (p. 9) reflects that historical moment
I lay out the theoretical background first and then rather than any enduring characteristics of the period.
present evidence to illustrate how emerging adulthood is a More importantly, Keniston's (1971) application of
distinct period demographically, subjectively, and in terms the term youth to this period is problematic. Youth has a
of identity explorations. Next, I explain how emerging long history in the English language as a term for childhood
adulthood can be distinguished from adolescence and generally and for what later became called adolescence
young adulthood. Finally, I discuss the economic and cul- (e.g., Ben-Amos, 1994), and it continues to be used popu-
tural conditions under which emerging adulthood is most larly and by many social scientists for these purposes (as
likely to exist as a distinct period of the life course. reflected in terms such as youth organizations). Keniston's
The Theoretical Background choice of the ambiguous and confusing term youth may
explain in part why the idea of the late teens and twenties
There have been a number of important theoretical contri- as a separate period of life never became widely accepted
butions to the understanding of development from the late by developmental scientists after his articulation of it.
teens through the twenties. One early contribution was However, as I argue in the following sections, there is good
made by Erik Erikson (1950, 1968). Erikson rarely dis- empirical support for conceiving this period--proposed
cussed specific ages in his writings, and in his theory of here as emerging adulthood--as a distinct period of life.
human development across the life course he did not in-
clude a separate stage that could be considered analogous Emerging Adulthood Is Distinct
to emerging adulthood as proposed here. Rather, he wrote Demographically
of development in adolescence and of development in
young adulthood. However, he also commented on the Although Erikson (1968), Levinson (1978), and Keniston
prolonged adolescence typical of industrialized societies (1971) all contributed to the theoretical groundwork for
and on the psychosocial moratorium granted to young emerging adulthood, the nature of the period has changed
people in such societies "during which the young adult considerably since the time of their writings more than 20
through free role experimentation may find a niche in some years ago, As noted at the outset of this article, demo-
section of his society" (Erikson, 1968, p. 156). Thus, Erik- graphic changes in the timing of marriage and parenthood
son seems to have distinguished--without naming--a pe- in recent decades have made a period of emerging adult-
riod that is in some ways adolescence and in some ways hood typical for young people in industrialized societies.
young adulthood yet not strictly either one, a period in Postponing these transitions until at least the late twenties

470 May 2000 • American Psychologist

 leaves the late teens and early twenties available for ex- moving back into their parents' home and then out again at
ploring various possible life directions. least once in the course of their late teens and twenties
An important demographic characteristic of emerging (Goldscheider & Goldscheider, 1994). Frequent residential
adulthood is that there is a great deal of demographic changes during emerging adulthood reflect its exploratory
variability, reflecting the wide scope of individual volition quality, because these changes often take place at the end
during these years. Emerging adulthood is the only period of one period of exploration or the beginning of another
of life in which nothing is normative demographically (e.g., the end of a period of cohabitation, entering or
(Rindfuss, 1991; Wallace, 1995). During adolescence, up leaving college, or the beginning of a new job in a new
to age 18, a variety of key demographic areas show little place).
variation. Over 95% of American adolescents aged 12-17 School attendance is another area in which there is
live at home with one or more parents, over 98% are substantial change and diversity among emerging adults.
unmarried, fewer than 10% have had a child, and over 95% The proportion of American emerging adults who enter
are enrolled in school (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1997). higher education in the year following high school is at its
By age 30, new demographic norms have been established: highest level ever, over 60% (Bianchi & Spain, 1996).
About 75% of 30-year-olds have married, about 75% have However, this figure masks the expanding diversity in the
become parents, and fewer than 10% are enrolled in school years that follow. Only 32% of young people ages 25-29
(U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1997). have completed four years or more of college (U.S. Bureau
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In between these two periods, however, and especially of the: Census, 1997). For emerging adults, college educa-
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from ages 18 to 25, a person's demographic status in these tion is often pursued in a nonlinear way, frequently com-
areas is very difficult to predict on the basis of age alone. bined with work, and punctuated by periods of nonatten-
The demographic diversity and unpredictability of emerg- dance,. For those who do eventually graduate with a four-
ing adulthood is a reflection of the experimental and ex- year degree, college is increasingly likely to be followed by
ploratory quality of the period. Talcott Parsons (1942) graduate school. About one third of those who graduate
called adolescence the r o l e l e s s role, but this term applies with a bachelor's degree are enrolled in postgraduate edu-
much better to emerging adulthood. Emerging adults tend cation the following year (Mogelonsky, 1996). In European
to have a wider scope of possible activities than persons in countries too, the length of education has become extended
other age periods because they are less likely to be con- in recent decades (Chisholm & Hurrelmann, 1995).
strained by role requirements, and this makes their demo- Overall, then, the years of emerging adulthood are
graphic status unpredictable. characterized by a high degree of demographic diversity
One demographic area that especially reflects the ex- and instability, reflecting the emphasis on change and ex-
ploratory quality of emerging adulthood is residential sta- ploration. It is only in the transition from emerging adult-
tus. Most young Americans leave home by age 18 or 19 hood to young adulthood in the late twenties that the
(Goldscheider & Goldscheider, 1994). In the years that diversity narrows and the instability eases, as young people
follow, emerging adults' living situations are diverse. make. more enduring choices in love and work. Rindfuss
About one third of emerging adults go off to college after (1991) called the period from ages 18 to 30 "demograph-
high school and spend the next several years in some ically dense" (p. 496) because of the many demographic
combination of independent living and continued reliance transitions that take place during that time, especially in the
on adults, for example, in a college dormitory or a frater- late twenties.
nity or sorority house (Goldscheider & Goldscheider,
1994). For them, this is a period of semiautonomy (Gold-
Emerging Adulthood Is Distinct
scheider & Davanzo, 1986) as they take on some of the Subjectively
responsibilities of independent living but leave others to Emerging adults do not see themselves as adolescents, but
their parents, college authorities, or other adults. About many of them also do not see themselves entirely as adults.
40% move out of their parental home not for college but for Figure 2 shows that when they are asked whether they feel
independent living and full-time work (Goldscheider & they have reached adulthood, the majority of Americans in
Goldscheider, 1994). About two thirds experience a period their late teens and early twenties answer neither no nor y e s
of cohabitation with a romantic partner (Michael, Gagnon, but the ambiguous in s o m e r e s p e c t s yes, in s o m e r e s p e c t s
Laumann, & Kolata, 1995). Some remain at home while no (Arnett, in press). This reflects a subjective sense on the
attending college or working or some combination of the part of most emerging adults that they have left adoles-
two. Only about 10% of men and 30% of women remain at cence but have not yet completely entered young adulthood
home until marriage (Goldscheider & Goldscheider, 1994). (Arnett, 1994a, 1997, 1998). They have no name for the
Amidst this diversity, perhaps the unifying feature of period they are in--because the society they live in has no
the residential status of emerging adults is the instability of name for it--so they regard themselves as being neither
it. Emerging adults have the highest rates of residential adolescents nor adults, in between the two but not really
change of any age group. Using data from several cohorts one or the other. As Figure 2 shows, only in their late
of the National Longitudinal Study, Rindfuss (1991) de- twenties and early thirties do a clear majority of people
scribed how rates of residential mobility peak in the mid- indicate that they feel they have reached adulthood. How-
twenties (see Figure 1). For about 40% of the current ever, age is only the roughest marker of the subjective
generation of emerging adults, residential changes include transition from emerging adulthood to young adulthood. As

May 2000 ° American Psychologist 471

 F i g u r e '1
Residential Change by Age, 1998
50

45

40

35

30
e.-
¢~ 25
o
o.. 20
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This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.

15

10

0 k- + m b m F I
10-14 15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-44 45-54 55+
Age
Note. Data are from "Geographic Mobility: March 1997 to March 1998," by the U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2000, Current Population Reports (Series P-20, No.
520), Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

illustrated in Figure 2, even in their late twenties and early

thirties, nearly one third did not feel their transition to
Figure 2 adulthood was complete.
Subjective Conceptions of Adult Status in Response to One might expect emerging adults' subjective sense of
the Question, Do You Feel That You Have Reached ambiguity in attaining full adulthood to arise from the
Adulthood? demographic diversity and instability described above. Per-
haps it is difficult for young people to feel they have
reached adulthood before they have established a stable
residence, finished school, settled into a career, and married
(or at least committed themselves to a long-term love
relationship). However, perhaps surprisingly, the research
evidence indicates strongly that these demographic transi-
tions have little to do with emerging adults' conceptions of
what it means to reach adulthood. Consistently, in a variety
of studies with young people in their teens and twenties,
demographic transitions such as finishing education, set-
tling into a career, marriage, and parenthood rank at the
bottom in importance among possible criteria considered
necessary for the attainment of adulthood (Arnett, 1997,
1998, in press; Greene, Wheatley, & Aldava, 1992; Scheer,
Unger, & Brown, 1994).
The characteristics that matter most to emerging
Note. N = 519. Data are from Arnett (in press). adults in their subjective sense of attaining adulthood are
not demographic transitions but individualistic qualities of

472 May 2000 • American Psychologist

 character (Arnett, 1998). Specifically, the two top criteria school (Montemayor, Brown, & Adams, 1985; Waterman,
for the transition to adulthood in a variety of studies have 1982) and that identity development continues through the
been accepting responsibility for one's self and making late teens and the twenties (Valde, 1996; Whitbourne &
independent decisions (Arnett, 1997, 1998; Greene et al., Tesch, 1985).
1992; Scheer et al., 1994). A third criterion, also individ- The locus on identity issues in emerging adulthood
ualistic but more tangible, becoming financially indepen- can be seen in the three main areas of identity exploration:
dent, also ranks consistently near the top. love, work, and worldviews. Identity formation involves
The prominence of these criteria for the transition to trying out various life possibilities and gradually moving
adulthood reflects an emphasis in emerging adulthood on toward making enduring decisions, in all three of these
becoming a self-sufficient person (Arnett, 1998). During areas, this process begins in adolescence but takes place
these years, the character qualities most important to be- mainly in emerging adulthood. With regard to love, Amer-
coming successfully self-sufficient--accepting responsibil- ican adolescents typically begin dating around ages 12 to
ity for one's self and making independent decisions--are 14 (Padgham & Blyth, 1991). However, because any seri-
being developed. Financial independence is also crucial to ous consideration of marriage is a decade or more away for
self-sufficiency, so it is also important in emerging adults' most 12- to 14-year-olds, young people view the early
conceptions of what is necessary to become an adult. Only years of dating as primarily recreational (Roscoe, Dian, &
after these character qualities have reached fruition and Brooks, 1987). For adolescents, dating provides compan-
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financial independence has been attained do emerging ionship, the first experiences of romantic love, and sexual
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adults experience a subjective change in their developmen- experimentation; however, their dating relationships typi-
tal status, as they move out of emerging adulthood and into cally lasl only a few weeks or months (Feiring, 1996), and
young adulthood. For most young people in American few adolescents expect to remain with their "high school
society, this occurs some time during the twenties and is sweetheart" much beyond high school,
usually accomplished by the late twenties (Arnett, in press). In emerging adulthood, explorations in love become
Although emerging adults do not view demographic more intimate and serious. Dating in adolescence often
transitions as necessary for attaining adulthood, it should takes place in groups, as adolescents pursue shared recre-
be noted that parenthood in particular is often sufficient for ation such as parties, dances, and hanging out (Padgham &
marking a subjective sense of adult status. Parenthood Blyth, 1991). By emerging adulthood, dating is more likely
ranks low in young people's views of the essential criteria to take place in couples, and the focus is less on recreation
for adulthood for people in general, but those who have had
and more on exploring the potential for emotional and
a child tend to view becoming a parent as the most impor-
physical intimacy. Romantic relationships in emerging
tant marker of the transition to adulthood for themselves
adulthood last longer than in adolescence, are more likely
(Arnett, 1998). The explorations that occur in emerging
to include sexual intercourse, and may include cohabitation
adulthood become sharply restricted with parenthood, be-
(Michael et al., 1995). Thus, in adolescence, explorations
cause it requires taking on the responsibilities of protecting
in love tend to be tentative and transient; the implicit
and providing for a young child. With parenthood, the
question is, Who would I enjoy being with, here and now?
focus of concern shifts inexorably from responsibility for
In contrast, explorations in love in emerging adulthood
one's self to responsibility for others.
tend to involve a deeper level of intimacy, and the implicit
Emerging Adulthood Is Distinct for question is more identity focused: Given the kind of person
I am, what kind of person do I wish to have as a partner
Identity Explorations through life?
A key feature of emerging adulthood is that it is the period With regard to work, a similar contrast exists between
of life that offers the most opportunity for identity explo- the transient and tentative explorations of adolescence and
rations in the areas of love, work, and worldviews. Of the more serious and focused explorations of emerging
course, it is adolescence rather than emerging adulthood adulthood. In the United States, the majority of high school
that has typically been associated with identity formation. students are employed part-time (Barling & Kelloway,
Erikson (1950) designated identity versus role confusion as 1999). Although adolescents often report that their work
the central crisis of the adolescent stage of life, and in the experiences enhance their abilities in areas such as manag-
decades since he articulated this idea the focus of research ing their time and money (Mortimer, Harley, & Aronson,
on identity has been on adolescence (Adams, 1999). How- 1999), for the most part their jobs do not provide them with
ever, as noted, Erikson (1950, 1968) clearly believed that knowledge or experience that will be related to their future
industrialized societies allow a prolonged adolescence for occupations (Greenberger & Steinberg, 1986; Steinberg &
extended identity explorations. If adolescence is the period Cauffman, 1995), Most adolescents are employed in ser-
from ages 10 to 18 and emerging adulthood is the period vice' jobs--at restaurants, retail stores, and so forth---in
from (roughly) ages 18 to 25, most identity exploration which the cognitive challenges are minimal and the skills
takes place in emerging adulthood rather than adolescence. learned are few. Adolescents tend to view their jobs not as
Although research on identity formation has focused occupational preparation but as a way to obtain the money
mainly on adolescence, this research has shown that iden- that will support an active leisure life--paying for compact
tity achievement has rarely been reached by the end of high discs, concerts, restaurant meals, clothes, cars, travel, and

May 2000 • American Psychologist 473

 so forth (Bachman & Schulenberg, 1993; Shanahan, Elder, adults examine and consider a variety of possible world-
Burchinal, & Conger, 1996; Steinberg & Cauffman, 1995). views. By the end of their college years they have often
In emerging adulthood, work experiences become committed themselves to a worldview different from the
more focused on preparation for adult work roles. Emerg- one they brought in, while remaining open to further mod-
ing adults begin to consider how their work experiences ifications of it.
will lay the groundwork for the jobs they may have through Most of the research on changes in worldviews during
adulthood. In exploring various work possibilities, they emerging adulthood has involved college students and
explore identity issues as well: What kind of work am I graduate students, and there is evidence that higher educa-
good at? What kind of work would I find satisfying for the tion promotes explorations and reconsiderations of world-
long term? What are my chances of getting a job in the field views (Pascarella & Terenzini, 1991). However, it is nota-
that seems to suit me best? ble that emerging adults who do not attend college are as
Emerging adults' educational choices and experiences likely as college students to indicate that deciding on their
explore similar questions. In their educational paths, they own beliefs and values is an essential criterion for attaining
try out various possibilities that would prepare them for adult status (Arnett, 1997). Also, research on emerging
different kinds of future work. College students often adults' religious beliefs suggests that regardless of educa-
change majors more than once, especially in their first two tional background, they consider it important during
years, as they try on possible occupational futures, discard emerging adulthood to reexamine the beliefs they have
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.

them, and pursue others. With graduate school becoming learned in their families and to form a set of beliefs that is
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.

an increasingly common choice after an undergraduate the product of their own independent reflections (Arnett &
degree is obtained, emerging adults' educational explora- Jensen, 1999; Hoge, Johnson, & Luidens, 1993).
tions often continue through their early twenties and mid- Although the identity explorations of emerging adult-
twenties. Graduate school allows emerging adults to switch hood make it an especially full and intense time of life for
directions again from the path of occupational preparation many people, these explorations are not always experi-
they had chosen as undergraduates. enced as enjoyable. Explorations in love sometimes result
For both love and work, the goals of identity explo- in disappointment, disillusionment, or rejection. Explora-
rations in emerging adulthood are not limited to direct tions in work sometimes result in a failure to achieve the
preparation for adult roles. On the contrary, the explora- occupation most desired or in an inability to find work that
tions of emerging adulthood are in part explorations for is satisfying and fulfilling. Explorations in worldviews
their own sake, part of obtaining a broad range of life sometimes lead to rejection of childhood beliefs without
experiences before taking on enduring--and limiting-- the construction of anything more compelling in their place
adult responsibilities. The absence of enduring role com- (Arnett & Jensen, 1999). Also, to a large extent, emerging
mitments in emerging adulthood makes possible a degree adults pursue their identity explorations on their own, with-
of experimentation and exploration that is not likely to be out the daily companionship of either their family of origin
possible during the thirties and beyond. For people who or their family to be (Jonsson, 1994; Morch, 1995). Young
wish to have a variety of romantic and sexual experiences, Americans ages 19-29 spend more of their leisure time
emerging adulthood is the time for it, because parental alone than any persons except the elderly and spend more
surveillance has diminished and there is as yet little nor- of their time in productive activities (school and work)
mative pressure to enter marriage. Similarly, emerging alone than any other age group under 40 (Larson, 1990).
adulthood is the time for trying out unusual work and Many of them see the condition of the world as grim and
educational possibilities. For this reason, short-term volun- are pessimistic about the future of their society (Arnett,
teer jobs in programs such as Americorps and the Peace 2000b). Nevertheless, for themselves personally, emerging
Corps are more popular with emerging adults than with adults are highly optimistic about ultimately achieving their
persons in any other age period. Emerging adults may also goals. In one national poll of 18- to 24-year-olds in the
travel to a different part of the country or the world on their United States (Hornblower, 1997), nearly a l l - - 9 6 % - -
own for a limited period, often in the context of a limited- agreed with the statement, "I am very sure that someday I
term work or educational experience. This too can be part will get to where I want to be in life."
of their identity explorations, part of expanding their range
of personal experiences prior to making the more enduring
Other Notable Findings on
choices of adulthood. Emerging Adulthood
With regard to worldviews, the work of William Perry The three areas outlined above--demographics, subjective
(1970/1999) has shown that changes in worldviews are perceptions, and identity explorations--provide the most
often a central part of cognitive development during emerg- abundant information on the distinctiveness of emerging
ing adulthood. According to Perry, emerging adults often adulthood. However, evidence is available from other areas
enter college with a worldview they have learned in the that suggests possible lines of inquiry for future research on
course of childhood and adolescence. However, a college emerging adulthood. One of these areas is risk behavior.
education leads to exposure to a variety of different world- Although there is a voluminous literature on adolescent risk
views, and in the course of this exposure college students behavior and relatively little research on risk behavior in
often find themselves questioning the worldviews they emerging adulthood (Jessor, Donovan, & Costa, 1991), the
brought in. Over the course of their college years, emerging prevalence of several types of risk behavior peaks not

474 May 2000 ° American Psychologist

 during adolescence but during emerging adulthood (ages in the early twenties during the role hiatus of emerging
18-25). These risk behaviors include unprotected sex, adulthood, declines steeply and sharply following mar-
most types of substance use, and risky driving behaviors riage, and declines further following the entry to parent-
such as driving at high speeds or while intoxicated (Arnett, hood. The responsibilities of these roles lead to lower rates
1992; Bachman, Johnston, O'Malley, & Schulenberg, of risk behavior as emerging adulthood is succeeded by
1996). Figure 3 shows an example for binge drinking. young adulthood.
What is it about emerging adulthood that lends itself Research on family relationships among emerging
to such high rates of risk behavior? To some degree, adults has also been conducted. For American emerging
emerging adults' risk behaviors can be understood as part adults in their early twenties, physical proximity to parents
of their identity explorations, that is, as one reflection of the has been found to be inversely related to the quality of
desire to obtain a wide range of experiences before settling relationships with them. Emerging adults with the most
down into the roles and responsibilities of adult life. One of frequent contact with parents, especially emerging adults
the motivations consistently found to be related to partici- still living at home, tend to be the least close to their
pation in a variety of types of risk behavior is sensation parents and to have the poorest psychological adjustment
seeking, which is the desire for novel and intense experi- (Dubas & Petersen, 1996; O'Connor, Allen, Bell, &
ences (Arnett, 1994b). Emerging adults can pursue novel Hauser, 1996). In European studies, emerging adults who
and intense experiences more freely than adolescents be- remain at home tend to be happier with their living situa-
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.

cause they are less likely to be monitored by parents and tions than those who have left home; they continue to rely
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.

can pursue them more freely than adults because they are on their parents as a source of support and comfort, but
less constrained by roles. After marriage, adults are con- they also tend to have a great deal of autonomy within their
strained from taking part in risk behavior by the responsi- parents' households (Chisholm & Hurrelmann, 1995).
bilities of the marriage role, and once they have a child, Thus, for emerging adults in both the United States and
they are constrained by the responsibilities of the parenting Europe, autonomy and relatedness are complementary
role. In one example of this, Bachman et al. (1996) used rather than opposing dimensions of their relationships with
longitudinal data to show how substance use rises to a peak their parents (O'Connor et al., 1996).

Figure 3
Rates of Binge Drinking (Five or More Alcoholic Drinks in a Row) in the Past Two Weeks at Various Ages
50

45

40

35

•O•30
¢...
(1) 25
o
Q.. 20

15

10

t t--
13-14 15-16 17-18 19-20 21-22 23-24 25-26 27-28 29-30
Age
Note. Data are from "Transitions in Drug Use During Late Adolescence and Young Adulthood," by J. G. Bachman, L. D. Johnston, P. O'Malley, and J. Schu[enberg,
in TransitionsThroughAdolescence:InterpersonalDomainsand Context(p. 118), by J. A. Graber, J. Brooks-Gunn, and A. C. Petersen (Eds.), 1996, Mahwah, N J:
Erlbaum. Copyright 1996 by Erlbaum. Used with permission. Data also available at http://www.moniloringthefuture.org/data/99data/pr99tlc.pdf.

May 2000 • American Psychologist 475

 These findings provide a foundation for research into transition took place at that age. Education ended earlier,
development during emerging adulthood. Of course, much work began earlier, and leaving home took place later.
more work remains to be done on virtually every aspect of Marriage and parenthood did not take place for most people
development during this period. To what extent do emerg- until their early twenties or midtwenties (Arnett & Taber,
ing adults rely on friends for support and companionship, 1994), which may have been why Hall designated age 24 as
given that this is a period when most young people have the end of adolescence. (Hall himself did not explain why
left their families of origin but have not yet entered mar- he chose this age.)
riage? To what extent are the explorations of emerging In our time, it makes sense to define adolescence as
adulthood different for men and women? Do emerging ages 10-18. Young people in this age group have in
adults have especially high rates of media use, given that common that they live with their parents, are experiencing
they spend so much time alone? These and many other the physical changes of puberty, are attending secondary
questions about the period await investigation. Establishing school, and are part of a school-based peer culture. None of
emerging adulthood as a distinct developmental period may this remains normative after age 18, which is why it is not
help to promote this research. adequate simply to call the late teens and early twenties late
adolescence. Age 18 also marks a variety of legal transi-
Why. Emerging Adulthood Is Not tions, such as being allowed to vote and sign legal
Adolescence documents.
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It is widely known that the scientific study of adoles- Although some scholars have suggested that the late
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.

cence began with the publication of G. Stanley Hall's teens and early twenties should be considered late ado-
two-volume magnum opus nearly a century ago (Hall, lescence (e.g., Elliott & Feldman, 1990), for the most
1904). What is less widely known, however, is that in part scholars on adolescence focus on ages 10-18 as the
Hall's view adolescence extended from age 14 to age 24 years of adolescent development. Studies published in
(Hall, 1904, p. xix). In contrast, contemporary scholars the major journals on adolescence rarely include samples
generally consider adolescence to begin at age 10 or 11 with ages higher than 18. For example, in 1997, 90% of
and to end by age 18 or 19. The cover of every issue of the studies published in the Journal of Research on
the Journal of Research on Adolescence, the flagship Adolescence and the Journal of Youth & Adolescence
journal of the Society for Research on Adolescence, were on samples of high school age or younger. College
proclaims that adolescence is defined as "the second students have been the focus of many research studies,
decade of life." What happened between Hall's time and but most often as "adults" in social psychology studies.
our own to move scholars' conceptions of adolescence Sociologists have studied the late teens and the twenties
earlier in the life course? for patterns of demographic events viewed as part of the
Two changes stand out as possible explanations. One transition to adulthood (e.g., Hogan & Astone, 1986;
is the decline that has taken place during the 20th century Rindfuss, 1991). However, few studies have recognized
in the typical age of the initiation of puberty. At the the late teens through the twenties as a distinct devel-
beginning of the 20th century, the median age of menarche opmental period.
in Western countries was about 15 (Eveleth & Tanner,
1976). Because menarche takes place relatively late in the
Why the Forgotten Half Remains
typical sequence of pubertal changes, this means that the Forgotten
initial changes of puberty would have begun at about ages In 1987, a distinguished panel of scholars and public policy
13-15 for most people, which is just where Hall designated officials was assembled by the William T. Grant Founda-
the beginning of adolescence. However, the median age of tion and asked to address the life situations of young people
menarche (and by implication other pubertal changes) de- who do not attend college after high school, especially with
clined steadily between 1900 and 1970 before leveling out, respect to their economic prospects. They produced an
so that now the typical age of menarche in the United States influential and widely read report entitled The Forgotten
is 12.5 (Brooks-Gunn & Paikoff, 1997). The initial changes Hal/? Non-College-Bound Youth in America (William T.
of puberty usually begin about 2 years earlier, thus the Grant Foundation Commission on Work, Family, and Cit-
designation of adolescence as beginning with the entry into izenship, 1988), which contained an analysis of the circum-
the second decade of life. stances of the "forgotten halt"' and a set of policy sugges-
As for the age when adolescence ends, the change in tions for promoting a successful transition from high school
this age may have been inspired not by a biological change to work.
but by a social change: the growth of high school atten- Over a decade later, the forgotten half remains forgot-
dance that made high school a normative experience for ten by scholars, in the sense that studies of young people
adolescents in the United States. In 1900, only 10% of who do not attend college in the years following high
persons ages 14-17 were enrolled in high school. How- school remain rare. Why did the Grant commission's
ever, this proportion rose steeply and steadily over the widely acclaimed report not inspire more enduring schol-
course of the 20th century to reach 95% by 1985 (Arnett & arly attention to young people not attending college in this
Taber, 1994). This makes it easy to understand why Hall age period? One reason is practical. Studies of college
would not have chosen age 18 as the end of adolescence, students are ubiquitous because college students are so easy
because for most adolescents of his time no significant to find--most scholars who teach at colleges or universities

476 May 2000 • American Psychologist

 have ready access to them. Studying young people who are occupational path. The majority of people ages 18-25 are
not in college is more difficult because they are not readily unmarried, whereas the majority of people in their thirties
accessible in any institutional setting. Other ways of ob- are married. The majority of people ages 18-25 are child-
taining research participants in this age period must be less, whereas the majority of people in their thirties have
used, such as contacting community organizations or tak- had at least one child. The list could go on. The point
ing out newspaper ads, and these samples often have the should be clear. Emerging adulthood and young adulthood
liability of being nonrepresentative. The same conditions should be distinguished as separate developmental periods.
apply to research on college students after they leave col- It should be emphasized, however, that age is only a
lege. Few studies exist of young people in their midtwen- rough indicator of the transition from emerging adulthood
ties to late twenties, in part because they are not available to young adulthood. Eighteen is a good age marker for the
in any institutional setting. Notable exceptions to this rule end of adolescence and the beginning of emerging adult-
include some excellent longitudinal studies (the National hood, because it is the age at which most young people
Longitudinal Studies, e.g., Rindfuss, 1991; the Monitoring finish secondary school, leave their parents' home, and
the Future studies, e.g., Bachman et al., 1996; O'Connor et reach the legal age of adult status in a variety of respects.
al., 1996; Offer & Offer, 1975). However, the transition from emerging adulthood to young
However, the dearth of studies on young people in adulthood is much less definite with respect to age. There
their late teens and twenties is not due only to the difficulty are 19-year-olds who have reached adulthood--demo-
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.

of finding samples in this age group. It also arises from the graphically, subjectively, and in terms of identity forma-
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.

lack of a clear developmental conception of this age group. tion--and 29-year-olds who have not. Nevertheless, for
Scholars have no clearly articulated way of thinking about most people, the transition from emerging adulthood to
development from the late teens through the twenties, no young adulthood intensifies in the late twenties and is
paradigm for this age period, so they may not think about reached by age 30 in all of these respects.
young people at these ages as a focus for developmental Emerging adulthood differs both from adolescence
research. Emerging adulthood is offered as a new para- and from young adulthood in that it is, to some extent,
digm, a new way of thinking about development from the defined by its heterogeneity. As noted, in emerging adult-
late teens through the twenties, especially ages 18-25, hood, there is little that is normative. Emerging adulthood
partly in the hope that a definite conception of this period is very much a transitional period leading to adulthood, and
will lead to an increase in scholarly attention to it. different emerging adults reach adulthood at different
points. Also, the possibility of devoting the late teens and
Why Emerging Adulthood Is Not early twenties to explorations of various kinds is not
Young Adulthood equally available to all young people, and in any case,
people vary in the degree of exploration they choose to
But (some might object) is there not already a paradigm for pursue.
the years of the late teens and the twenties? Is that not what The heterogeneity of emerging adulthood represents
young adulthood is? The answer is no. There are a number both a warning and an opportunity for those who wish to
of reasons why young adulthood is unsatisfactory as a study this age period. The warning is to be cautious in
designation for this developmental period. making sweeping statements about emerging adults. Al-
One reason is that the use of young adulthood implies most: always, such statements need to be qualified by men-
that adulthood has been reached at this point. As we have tioning the heterogeneity of emerging adulthood. The op-
seen, most young people in this age period would disagree pommity is that this heterogeneity makes emerging adult-
that they have reached adulthood. They see themselves as hood an especially rich, complex, dynamic period of life to
gradually making their way into adulthood, so emerging study.
adulthood seems a better term for their subjective experi-
ence. More generally, the term emerging captures the dy- Emerging Adulthood Across Cultures
namic, changeable, fluid quality of the period.
Also, if ages 18-25 are young adulthood, what would Thus far, the focus of this article has been on emerging
that make the thirties? Young adulthood is a term better adulthood among young people in the West, especially in
applied to the thirties, which are still young but are defi- the United States. Is emerging adulthood a period of life
nitely adult in a way that the years 18-25 are not. It makes that is restricted to certain cultures and certain times? The
little sense to lump the late teens, twenties, and thirties answer to this question appears to be yes. For example,
together and call the entire period young adulthood. The Schlegel and Barry (1991), in their comprehensive integra-
period from ages 18 to 25 could hardly be more distinct tion of information on adolescence in 186 traditional non-
from the thirties. The majority of young people ages 18-25 Western cultures, concluded that adolescence as a life stage
do not believe they have reached full adulthood, whereas is virtually universal, but that a further period between
the majority of people in their thirties believe that they have adolescence and adulthood (youth, in the terminology they
(Arnett, in press). The majority of people ages 18-25 are used) existed in only 20% of the cultures they studied. In
still in the process of obtaining education and training for the cultures in their sample, adulthood was typically signi-
a long-term adult occupation, whereas the majority of fied by entry into marriage, and marriage usually took place
people in their thirties have settled into a more stable at about ages 16 to 18 for girls and at about ages 18 to 20

May 2000 • American Psychologist 477

 for boys. This early timing of marriage allowed for a period experience their late teens and twenties as a volitional
of adolescence but not for a period of emerging adulthood. period. The young woman who has a child outside ot
Emerging adulthood, then, is not a universal period marriage at age 16 and spends her late teens and early
but a period that exists only in cultures that postpone the twenties alternating between welfare and low-paying jobs
entry into adult roles and responsibilities until well past the has little chance for exploration of possible life directions,
late teens. Thus, emerging adulthood would be most likely nor does the young man who drops out of school and
to be found in countries that are highly industrialized or spends most of his late teens and early twenties unem-
postindustrial. Such countries require a high level of edu- ployed and looking unsuccessfully for a job (Cote & Alla-
cation and training for entry into the information-based har, 1996). Because opportunities tend to be less widely
professions that are the most prestigious and lucrative, so available in minority cultures than in the majority culture in
many of their young people remain in school into their most industrialized countries, members of minority groups
early twenties and midtwenties. Marriage and parenthood may be less likely to experience ages 18-25 as a period of
are typically postponed until well after schooling has independent exploration of possible life directions (Morch,
ended, which allows for a period of exploration of various 1995). However, social class may be more important than
relationships before marriage and for exploration of various ethnicity, with young people in the middle class or above
jobs before taking on the responsibility of supporting a having more opportunities for the explorations of emerging
child financially. Table 1 shows the median ages of mar- adulthood than young people who are working class or
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.

riage in a range of highly industrialized countries, con- below. Alternatively, it may be that explorations are not
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.

trasted with the median ages of marriage in selected devel- fewer in the working class but different, with more empha-
oping countries. sis on work explorations and less emphasis on education.
Although median marriage ages are typically calcu- These are possibilities to be investigated.
lated on a countrywide basis, it should be noted that emerg- In economically developing countries, there tends to
ing adulthood is best understood as a characteristic of be a distinct cultural split between urban and rural areas.
cultures rather than countries. Within some highly indus- Young people in urban areas of countries such as China and
trialized countries, members of minority cultures may have India are more likely to experience emerging adulthood,
cultural practices that lead to a shortened period of emerg- because they marry later, have children later, obtain more
ing adulthood or no emerging adulthood at all. For exam- education, and have a greater range of occupational and
ple, in the United States, members of the Mormon church recreational opportunities than young people in rural areas.
tend to have a shortened and highly structured emerging in contrast, young people in rural areas of developing
adulthood. Because of cultural beliefs prohibiting premar- countries often receive minimal schooling, marry early, and
ital sex and emphasizing the desirability of large families, have little choice of occupations except agricultural work.
considerable social pressure is placed on young Mormons Thus in developing countries emerging adulthood is often
to marry early and begin having children. Consequently, experienced in urban areas but rarely in rural areas.
the median ages of marriage and first childbirth are much However, it should also be noted that emerging adult-
lower among Mormons than in the American population as hood is likely to become more pervasive worldwide in the
a whole (Heaton, 1992), and young Mormons are likely to decades to come, with the increasing globalization of the
have a much briefer period of exploration before taking on world economy. Between 1980 and 1995, the proportion of
adult roles. young people in developing countries who attended sec-
Limitations in educational and occupational opportu- ondary school rose sharply, and the median ages of mar-
nities also influence the extent to which young people can riage and first childbirth rose in these countries as well
(Noble et al., 1996). As developing countries are becoming
more integrated into a global economy, there is an increas-
ing number of higher-paying jobs in these countries, jobs
Table 1 that require young people to obtain higher education. At the
Median Marriage Age of Women in same time, as technology becomes increasingly available in
Selected Countries
these countries, particularly in agriculture, the labor of
Industrialized Developing young people is becoming less and less necessary for
countries Age countries Age family survival, making it possible for many of them to
United States 25.2 Egypt 21.9 attend school instead.
Canada 26.0 Morocco 22.3 These changes open up the possibility for the spread
Germany 26.2 Ghana 21.1 of emerging adulthood in developing countries. Economic
France 26.1 Nigeria 18.7 development makes possible a period of the independent
Italy 25.8 India 20.0 role exploration that is at the heart of emerging adulthood.
Japan 26.9 Indonesia 21.1 As societies become more affluent, they are more likely to
Australia 26.0 Brazil 22.6 grant young people the opportunity for the extended mor-
atorium of emerging adulthood, because they have no
Note. Data are from The World's Youth, by J. Noble, J. Cover, and M.
Yanagishita, 1996, Washington, DC: Population ReferenceBureau. Copyright urgent need for young people's labor. Similarly, economic
1996 by the Population ReferenceBureau. Reprintedwith permission. development is usually accompanied by increased life ex-
pectancy, and devoting years to the explorations of emerg-

478 May 2000 • American Psychologist

 ing adulthood becomes more feasible and attractive when The' individualization of religious beliefs among people in their twen-
ties. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Society for the
people can expect to live to be at least 70 or 80 rather than Scientific Study of Religion, Boston, MA.
40 or 50. Thus it seems possible that by the end of the 21st Arnett, J., & Taber, S. (1994). Adolescence terminable and interminable:
century emerging adulthood will be a normative period for When does adolescence end? Journal of Youth & Adolescence, 23,
young people worldwide, although it is likely to vary in 517-537.
length and content both within and between countries (Ar- Bachrnan, J. G., Johnston, L. D., O'Malley, P., & Schulenberg, J. (1996).
Transitions in drug use during late adolescence and young adulthood. In
nett, 2000a). The growth and variability of emerging adult- J. A. Graber, J. Brooks-Gunn, & A. C. Petersen (Eds.), Transitions
hood in countries and cultures around the world would through adolescence: Interpersonal domains and context (pp. 111-
make an important and fascinating topic for a nascent t40). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
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and gradually arrive at more enduring choices in love, ica. Population Bulletin, 5I(3), 1-48.
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work, and worldviews. Not all young people experience Brooks-Gunn, J., & Paikoff, R. (1997). Sexuality and developmental
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their late teens and twenties as years of change and explo- transitions during adolescence. In J. Schulenberg, J. L. Maggs, & K.
Hurrelmann (Eds.), Health risks and developmental transitions during
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480 May 2000 • American Psychologist