Becoming Adult: Meanings of
Markers to Adulthood
This essay examines a range of meanings and markers of adulthood, from biological to social, psychological, and legal. It describes a shift from more universal and traditional definitions of adulthood, which were also heavily gendered, to an increasingly diverse and personalized set of definitions. This shift reflects the prolonged, complex, and highly unequal spectrum of pathways that young people take into adulthood today. And yet, public perceptions of what adulthood is supposed to look like, and even the views of young people themselves, are often anchored in an earlier historical era. The clash between outdated ideas and the new realities of adulthood create a major set of contradictions for young people. Two contexts are shown to be crucial in determining individuals’ actual and perceived progress toward adulthood: families and institutions of higher education. But in these contexts, too, young people receive contradictory signals about their status. The essay concludes with thoughts about the changing meanings of what it means to be “young” and “adult” today.INTRODUCTION
Basic categories such as age often conceal subtle but complicated processes and take on complex social meanings. One of the ways chronological age becomes socially meaningful is through the definition of life phases and the age-related norms and expectations associated with them, especially as individuals move out of one phase (such as “childhood” or “adolescence”) and into another (such as “adulthood”). These cultural constructs are also reinforced in the organization of research, institutions, and policies.
In the last century, phases of the life course became increasingly differentiated. Childhood was segmented into “early childhood,” “youth and
adolescence,” and “post-adolescence”; adulthood into “early adulthood,” “midlife,” and “old age”; and old age into the “third and fourth ages” or the “young–old” and the “old–old”—with the latter category being further subdivided to separate out the “oldest old” as longevity has grown. It would not surprise us if “early adulthood” were soon split into “young–young” and the “old–young” to distinguish between the front and back ends of the twenties, which are very different.
Our focus is on the juncture of becoming adult. What are the meanings and markers of adulthood today? Classic work often posed these meanings
and markers as universal or, if anything, demarcated along gender lines. It emphasized a variety of markers ranging from biological, to social,
psychological, and legal, which we consider in turn, and which are often contradictory.
We then briefly highlight themes of cutting-edge research, which, in contrast with the more universal assumptions about the markers of adulthood, has unveiled an increasingly diverse—and unequal—spectrum of pathways into adulthood and resulting outcomes. There is no gold standard for defining adulthood, and its meanings and markers have become highly personalized, despite pervasive public perceptions that are often anchored in an earlier era. The clash between outdated ideas and the new realities of adulthood creates yet another set of contradictions.
We then turn to new directions for research, shining a spotlight on dynamics in two contexts that are crucial in determining individuals’ actual and perceived progress toward adulthood: families and institutions of higher education. In these contexts, too, we find contradictory expectations for young people. We conclude with reflections on the changing meanings of what it means to be “young” and “adult” today, and the many signals that affirm a sense of being “no longer adolescents but not quite adults,” to use Richard Settersten and Barbara Ray’s phrase.
Source: https://health.oregonstate.edu/sites/health.oregonstate.edu/files/faculty-staff/profilepubs/settersten_et_al-becoming_adult-emerging_trends.pdf
