Discusses the definitions and characteristics of the age group (12-18) that librarians call young adults.

1. LIB 617 Research in Young
Adult Literature
Fall 2014
Who or
What is a
Young
Adult?

2. 2
That Depends!
• "Young adult" is a euphemism for an
adolescent. The usage was introduced
in the late 20th century / early 21st
century due to a growing reluctance
on the part of some people to refer
to this age group as children, or even
by older terms for the intermediate
period between adulthood and such as
adolescent, youth or teenager.
• Older Wikipedia entry
“Young Adult”
Now changed—see slide 2!

3. 3
Wikipedia disambiguation
page for “Young Adult”
Young adult may refer to:
• Young adult (psychology)
• Young-adult fiction, works
targeted at ages 14 to 21
• Young Adult (film), a 2011
film
• Youth
– Wikipedia entry “Young Adult”

4. 4
Who are young adults, then?
• The Young Adult Library Services
Association (YALSA) defines them
as individuals between the ages of
12 and 18.1
– 1. Young Adult Library Services Association.
Directions for Library Service to Young
Adults. 2nd ed. ALA, 1993.
• No Limits: READ! Young Adult Reading
Club and Programming Manual
Introduction

5. 5
Isn’t that adolescence?
• Adolescence is one of the most
fascinating and complex
transitions in the life span: a
time of accelerated growth and
change second only to infancy; a
time of expanding horizons, self-discovery,
and emerging
independence; a time of
metamorphosis from childhood to
adulthood. . . . The events of
this crucially formative phase can
shape an individual’s life course
and thus the future of the whole
society.
– Great Transitions: Preparing Adolescents
for A New Century: Introduction

6. 6
Who are our adolescents?
• Generation Y
– a cohort of individuals characterized as
Generation X on steroids.
– Generation Y includes those born
between the second half of the 1970s
and the first half of the 1990s,
although some experts believe these
dates to be debatable. Several other
terms for this group have been tossed
around, including Echo Boomers,
Millenium Generation, iGeneration,
Einstein Generation and Google
Generation.
• Understanding Generation Y by Sophia Yan

7. 7
Or maybe they’re Generation Z?
• The earliest children of Generation Z are
those born in and after 1990 and are often
the children of generation X. They are unique
as they have grown up with the internet. This
generation is very networked with social
networks and many means of communication
and means of entertainment at their finger
tips such as Cell Phones, iPod, Facebook,
YouTube and IM. Digital networking and
sharing is common and many have not known a
time without the internet and are often
referred to as digital natives.
– by xSpartan117x Jan 7, 2010
– Urban Dictionary Generation Z (definition 2)

8. 8
AKA “Millennials”
• Born between 1982 and 2000, the
millennials are described as the hard-driving,
heavily scheduled children of
so-called “helicopter” parents, who have
a tendency to hover. The millennials
have been characterized as . . . “More
Confident, Assertive, Entitled — and
More Miserable Than Ever Before” (in
the subtitle of the recent book
Generation Me by San Diego State
University associate professor of
psychology Jean M. Twenge).
– The Millennials: Always On
by Anne Taubeneck

9. 9
What about them?
• They’re a group of fast-paced, multi-taskers
walking around with camera phones and iPod
headphones in their ears. The minute they
walk in the door, they open their laptops and
hop on MySpace while watching a reality TV
show, instant messaging friends and doing
homework all at the same time.
– My Generation: Is Life a cake walk for Millenials
by Allison Casassa
» OCTOBER 25, 2005 03:34 PM

10. 10
Now they’re talking
Generation M2 !
Published online: 26 Jan 2013

11. 11
Some statistics
• By only their seventh birthday, most
children in the United States will have
talked on a cell phone, played a computer
game and mastered a TV-on-demand device
like TiVo, much to the amazement of
technically challenged parents. By 13,
researchers say, the same children will have
gone through several software editions of
instant messaging, frequented online chat
rooms and downloaded their first illegal song
from BitTorrent.
– The 'millennials' usher in a new era
– By Stefanie Olsen
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
November 18, 2005 4:00 AM PT

12. 12
Characteristics of millennials
• Far more direct
• More nomadic
• Confident
• Direct
• Experimental
• More liberal & more conservative at same
time
• Multitaskers
• Experiential learners
• Delay choice (question, question, question)
– List from The Kids are Alright! Millennials and
their Information Behavior in lauren’s
library blog posted
June 27th, 2006

13. 13
Confirmed by Pew Research
• The Millennials: Confident. Connected.
Open to Change.
– 24 Feb 2010
– Generations, like people, have
personalities, and Millennials – the
American teens and twenty-somethings
currently making the
passage into adulthood – have begun
to forge theirs: confident, self-expressive,
liberal, upbeat and
receptive to new ideas and ways of
living.pewsocialtrends.org

14. 14
But—there are problems
• With all the innovative gadgets and
information at the click of a button, this
generation is built on instant gratification. It’s
hard for them to think long-term and anything
that doesn’t produce immediate results bores
them.
• “I think we really value convenience and crave
instant results,” says Mallory Brown, a 16-
year-old San Rafael High School student
– My Generation

15. 15
Adolescence: a transition
•

16. 16
Point to Ponder
•

17. 17
Quiz: See How You Compare
to the Millennial Generation
• Take our 14 item quiz and
we’ll tell you how "Millennial"
you are, on a scale from 0
to 100, by comparing your
answers with those of
respondents to a scientific
nationwide survey. You can
also find out how you stack
up against others your age.