In the newly defined stage of "emerging adulthood," young adults in their late teens and early twenties often find themselves struggling to find a unique and individual identity that they can truly call their own. It is common to find emerging adults who either shun their parents or whose parents have thrown up their hands and given up on trying to relate to them. In these cases, young adults will often turn to their peers for advice on who they should be. Ironically, the majority of emerging adults are stuck in this same limbo stage.
It is adaptive for us to have this limbo stage of "emerging adulthood," in our culture because finding your role in society is a big part of moving on to actual adulthood. Right now, the idea of emerging adulthood is still being explored, but as it becomes a more well recognized stage of development, it would be beneficial to use this time to help these youth by enrolling them in programs that will help them learn about enriching job and life opportunities that relate to them.
My personal experience with emerging adulthood has been stressful due to my absolute uncertainty about the future. As I near graduation, my classes have helped me learn a lot about myself, but my post-college career plan is basically nonexistent. My mom (always worried about her children's futures) enrolled me in an aptitude testing program in Seattle that I will be participating in over spring break. I have heard good things about these tests, but can't speak for them from personal experience yet. My hope is that it will point me in a direction where I can find a fulfilling and stable career.
If tests like the one I will be taking are accurate and do tend to push people in a direction that is right for them, I could see this becoming a great college graduation present, especially for students with degrees that don't necessarily have an obvious career associated with them. Emerging adults need direction, but they aren't typically going to find it from their peers. As we learn more about this developmental stage, it will be interesting to see how Americans choose to address people in this age category. Ideally, we will see less ambiguity and more career counseling and direction for this very uncertain and angsty group of prospective adults.
No comments:
Post a Comment