Emerging Adulthood: A Theory of Development From the Late Teens Through the Twenties
– Jeffrey Jensen Arnett
For 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 incomes and occupational
achievements for the remainder of their adult work lives. Because marriage and parenthood are
delayed until the midtwenties or late twenties for most people, it is no longer normative for the late
teens and early twenties to be a time of entering and settling into long-term adult roles. On the
contrary, these years are more typically a period of frequent change and exploration.
In this article, I propose a new theory of development from the late teens through the twenties, with
a focus on ages 18-25. I argue that this period, emerging adulthood, is neither adolescence nor young
adulthood but is theoretically and empirically distinct from them both. Emerging adulthood is
distinguished by relative independence from social roles and from normative expectations. Having
left the dependency of childhood and adolescence, and having not yet entered the enduring
responsibilities that are normative in adulthood, emerging adults often explore a variety of possible
life directions in love, work, and worldviews.
Like adolescence, emerging adulthood is a period of the life course that is culturally constructed, not
universal and immutable.
The theoretical background
Erikson wrote of development in adolescence and of development in young adulthood. However, he
also commented on the prolonged adolescence typical of industrialized societies and on the
psychosocial moratorium granted to young people in such societies "during which the young adult
through free role experimentation may find a niche in some section of his society" (Erikson, 1968, p.
156). Thus, Erikson seems to have distinguished--without naming--a period that is in some ways
adolescence and in some ways young adulthood yet not strictly either one, a period in which adult
commitments and responsibilities are delayed while the role experimentation that began in
adolescence continues and in fact intensifies.
Levinson called ages 17-33 the novice phase of development and argued that the overriding task of
this phase is to move into the adult world and build a stable life structure. 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.
Like Erikson and Levinson, Keniston (1971) conceptualized youth as a period of continued role
experimentation between adolescence and young adulthood. However, Keniston wrote at a time
when American society and some Western European societies were convulsed with highly visible
youth movements protesting the involvement of the United States in the Vietnam War (among other
things). His description of youth as a time of "tension between self and society" (Keniston, 1971, p. 8)
and "refusal of socialization" (p. 9) reflects that historical moment rather than any enduring
characteristics of the period.
, Emerging adulthood is distinct demographically
Demographic changes in the timing of marriage and parenthood in recent decades have made a
period of emerging adulthood typical for young people in industrialized societies. Postponing these
transitions until at least the late twenties leaves the late teens and early twenties available for
exploring various possible life directions.
The wide scope of individual volition during these years. Emerging adulthood is the only period of life
in which nothing is normative demographically (Rindfuss, 1991; Wallace, 1995). During adolescence,
up to age 18, a variety of key demographic areas show little variation, e.g., over 95% of American
adolescents aged 12-17 live at home with one or more parents. By age 30 new demographic norms
have been established.
In between these two periods, however, and especially from ages 18 to 25, a person's demographic
status in these areas is very difficult to predict on the basis of age alone. Emerging adults tend to
have a wider scope of possible activities than persons in other age periods because they are less
likely to be constrained by role requirements, and this makes their demographic status
unpredictable.
One demographic area that especially reflects the exploratory quality of emerging adulthood is
residential status. Most young Americans leave home by age 18 or 19. In the years that follow,
emerging adults' living situations are diverse. Amidst this diversity, perhaps the unifying feature of
the residential status of emerging adults is the instability of it. Emerging adults have the highest rates
of residential change of any age group. Frequent residential changes during emerging adulthood
reflect its exploratory quality, because these changes often take place at the end of one period of
exploration or the beginning of another (e.g., the end of a period of cohabitation, entering or leaving
college, or the beginning of a new job in a new place).
School attendance is another area in which there is substantial change and diversity among emerging
adults. Overall, then, the years of emerging adulthood are characterized by a high degree of
demographic diversity and instability, reflecting the emphasis on change and exploration. It is only in
the transition from emerging adulthood to young adulthood in the late twenties that the diversity
narrows and the instability eases, as young people make more enduring choices in love and work.
Emerging adulthood is distinct subjectively
Emerging adults do not see themselves as adolescents, but many of them also do not see themselves
entirely as adults. Only in their late twenties and early thirties do a clear majority of people indicate
that they feel they have reached adulthood. However, age is only the roughest marker of the
subjective transition from emerging adulthood to young adulthood.
Consistently, in a variety of studies with young people in their teens and twenties, demographic
transitions such as finishing education, settling into a career, marriage, and parenthood rank at the
bottom in importance among possible criteria considered necessary for the attainment of adulthood.
The characteristics that matter most to emerging adults in their subjective sense of attaining
adulthood are not demographic transitions but individualistic qualities of character. Specifically, the
two top criteria for the transition to adulthood in a variety of studies have been accepting
responsibility for one's self and making independent decisions (Arnett, 1997, 1998; Greene et al.,
