Jeffrey Jensen Arnett defines emerging adulthood as a developmental stage between adolescence and adulthood. The given group is comprised of individuals who are no longer teenagers but did not commit themselves to conventionally adult responsibilities. In other words, it is a person who is approximately older than eighteen years old, likely to be involved in an educational process or program, and has a low-paying job. In addition, during the emerging adulthood phase, people do not commit themselves to long-term responsibilities, such as marriage, family, career, or children, since their goal is to explore opportunities and new experiences.
Emerging adulthood is a phenomenon, which is taking place in all industrialized nations, and it is not exclusive to the United States. The effects of emerging adulthood are less prominent than in nations, such as South Korea or Japan, where emergent adulthood individuals are entering adult life even later. The oldest generations can have a skewed view of the emerging adulthood stage since they will tend to value the progression of modern young people in accordance with their experience. However, parents of these emerging adulthood individuals are most likely tolerating such behavior because they are partly enablers of it.
The overall entrance into adulthood is taking much longer nowadays, mostly due to economic and social tolerance for premarital cohabitation. The first reason revolves around the fact that the jobs in the modern economy require longer preparation through prolonged educational programs, where more and more people are inclined to seek out graduate degrees and continue their education after college. Many positions are more likely to require or prefer candidates with more extensive educational backgrounds, which is why such a competitive market incentivizes young emerging adulthood individuals to postpone adulthood until they complete their education. The second reason is focused on social or societal changes in perception and tolerance of premarital relationships, where emerging adulthood individuals are not condemned for having premarital sex and cohabitation. It is manifested in the fact that the modern state of society accepted such a shift from more conservative views, where premarital sex and cohabitation were seen as outrageous or inappropriate.
I personally did not feel pressured to enter adulthood due to my parents being highly supportive. However, I have observed how many of my friends would be pressured and stressed about transitioning into more stable adult life with a wide range of commitments. I fully believe and think that recognizing the emerging adulthood developmental stage is of paramount importance in order to separate this commonly challenging and difficult phase from other ones. The majority of issues faced by emerging adulthood individuals are present among teenagers and adults, where the former is primarily involved in education, and the latter is leading a more stable life in a labor market. Emerging adulthood individuals are faced with a different set of challenges, such as properly selecting a correct career path, committing to a family, or finding a stable position. Recognizing the given developmental stage will lead to recognizing the specific issues faced by emerging adulthood individuals, which will shed more light on their critical problems and potentially result in precise and effective solutions. In other words, without recognition of the stage, these people will not be able to become visible since their specific issues will be mixed with either adolescents or adults, who have significantly different lifestyles and influences.