Mary Philbrick
Elisha Emerson
English 110-H6
15 September 2017
Acknowledging Emerging Adulthood
Imagine giving children a period of time solely for them to find a passion and discover themselves. Jeffrey Arnett, a Psychology Research Professor at Clark University, defines “emerging adulthood” as a life phase between adolescence and full-fledged adulthood where young adults experience an immense amount of development. As a group, young adults would take a longer amount of time to develop, which would affect society in the long run. As individuals, this phase of “emerging adulthood” would give young adults time to find a purpose in life that they are passionate about. This is important according to Thomas King, a young entrepreneur that spoke on Ted Talks. This passion would also give young adults the initiative that Robin Henig, a writer about young adult development, believes they lack. Acknowledging “emerging adulthood” as an official life stage would not only be helpful to young adults as a whole, but would be beneficial to young adults as individuals as well.
Giving young adults time to find themselves has a great impact on their development. “Emerging adulthood” can be compared to a gap year, but just an extended amount of time. According to the American Gap Association, sixty percent of
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students said that a gap year helped them decide what subject they wanted to study in the future. Sixty-six percent of students took their school work more seriously after
participating in a gap year. Eighty percent of students thought that their gap year added to their employability (Emerging Data About Gap Years). If a gap year could make that many improvements for young students, “emerging adulthood” could be a positive experience for them as well.
This period of “emerging adulthood” given to young adults rewards them with the ability to travel as well. It has been proven that traveling expands the mind and provides individuals with the opportunity to meet new people. Traveling teaches students how to adapt to new situations. The life experience gained from traveling would be beneficial to students while also furthering their education and eventually pursuing a career. In his speech, Thomas King describes his experiences that he’s been through, despite being such a young age. King states, “Since the age of thirteen, I’ve lived with indigenous communities in the Borneo Jungle to develop conservation projects, stood on the steps of parliament speaking to a crowd of thousands about the atrocities of live export, helped later campaign with the team of ten to twenty-six year olds that later raised 1.6 million dollars to alleviate extreme poverty. I’ve volunteered as a journalist at the London Olympic Games reporting for athletes from developing nations so that their families at home could track their performance” (10:14). These are the kind of trips young adults deserve to be experiencing, trips that alter their view on life and give them opportunities to create changes in the world. If given an extended amount of time to explore their career
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options, young adults will more likely be positive about the field of work they have chosen.
Having certainty when it comes to an individual’s career gives that individual the advantage of having a passion for what they are doing. On the career front, maintaining a passion can have a positive impact in many ways. Thomas King states life is about “sticking to discover our passions and live a life that makes us excited to get up each morning” (8:38). According to King, finding what makes you happy is the main goal of life. Jeffrey Arnett believes emerging adulthood is the best time for individuals to pursue this happiness that King mentions. In Henig’s acrticle, she quotes Arnett saying, “Just as adolescence has its particular psychological profile, Arnett says, so does emerging adulthood: identity exploration, instability, self-focus, feeling in-between, and a rather poetic characteristic he calls ‘a sense of possibilities.’ A few of these, especially identity exploration, are part of adolescence too, but they take on new depth and urgency in the 20s” (200). Emerging adulthood would provide adults with this ability of exploration, right when they need it most. Passion raises the confidence level of an individual and also gives the individual a higher sense of persistence, which awards them with higher effort. Those are the individuals that will enrich the work force and add something valuable to professional service. One’s certainty and confidence in a job often have more than just economical benefits to young adults, but would have health and mental benefits to young adults as well. Being passionate reduces stress of the employee, while passion in the career field also enhances relationships between the laborer and their clientele.
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Looking forward to going to work can increase mental health and energy which fuels success in an individual’s career.
The phase of emerging adulthood would also increase the period of time in which young adults continue to live with their parents. Many believe that this may put a strain on parents. In her article, Henig says, “The expectation that young men and women won’t quite be able to make ends meet on their own, and that parents should be the ones to help bridge the gap, places a terrible burden on parents who might be worrying about their own job security, trying to care for their aging parents, or grieving as their retirement plans become more of a pipe dream” (208). Henig’s point is that an extended amount of time together would be putting stress on parents of emerging adults. But young adults would not be struggling to make ends meet. They would spend their time exploring themselves and and searching for their desired career path. In the long run, they would be becoming more ambitious as workers.
This elongated amount of time spent with family, would reap many benefits for developing adults and their parents as well. In her writing piece concerning young adults, Robin Henig says, “Parents might regret having themselves jumped into marriage or a career and hope for more considered choices for their children” (205). In relation to this quote, my mother has a similar story. At the age of about six or seven, her mother moved out, leaving her to become a teenager raised by her father and two older brothers. Lacking a prominent female role model in her life, she made many bad decisions when it came to school, boys and drinking. She says now that she wishes she had had someone to advise her when it came to these issues.
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Raising me, she was always sure to provide me warnings and advice. She worked hard to be a positive role model for me, in contrast with how she was raised. If “emerging adulthood” became an official life phase, parents could continue to advise their children during one of the most developmental times of their child’s life. In this phase, where so much viable development occurs in emerging adults, being surrounded by loved ones and continuing to receive advice from their superiors would have a positive impact on their lives and their future.
Acknowledging Arnett’s theory of “emerging adulthood” as an official life stage would be a positive act for not just young adults as individuals but for society as a whole. Regulating emerging adulthood as a phase in young adults’ lives would give them the ability to travel and explore their options. Giving emerging adults this official phase of life would be beneficial to their mental health and career passion level as well as the advisory relationship between developing adults and their parents. It would also increase the quality level and determination of employees and individuals in general, that are being produced and entering society.
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Works Cited:
Henig, Robin Henig. “What Is It about 20-Somethings?” Emerging: Comtemporary Readings for Writers, edited by Barclay Barrios. 3rd ed., Bedford/St. Martin, 2016, pp 198-213.
King, Thomas. “Adults, we need to have the talk.” Youtube. TEDx Melbourne, Nov 2015. Web. Accessed 15 September 2017.
Tinker, Ryan, ed. American Gap Association. American Gap Association, 2015, americangap.org/data-benefits.php. Accessed 15 September 2017.
