Emerging adulthood

EMERGING
ADULTHOOD
A NEW LIFE STAGE FOR
FIRST WORLD BRANDS

Friday, February 3, 12

NEW LIFESTAGE DISCOVERED: EMERGING ADULTS

Defined by Jeffrey Jensen Arnett,
psychology professor at Clark
University in the 2000s

Age: 18-30
Young Adults who are in limbo between
adult responsibility and autonomy and
parental dependency

-- Have a job but still get $ from parents
-- Unemployed after college and still living
with parents but “trying to find their calling”
-- Working a temporary job while they
“figure it out”
(“WHAT IS IT ABOUT 20-SOMETHINGS?” NYT 2010)


THE IDEA HAS BEEN GAINING TRACTION

2005

2010


WHAT DO WE CALL THEM?

GENERATION D
YOUNG ADULTS

GENERATION NEXT
THE THUMB GENERATION

THE FIRST TWIXTERS
GENERATION Y

NEXTERS AND NESTERS
DIGITALS YOUTHHOOD
MILLENNIALS THRESHOLDERS

ADULTESCENCE
THE DOTCOMS 20SOMETHINGS
THE ECHO-BOOMERS KIDULTS
SOCIAL MEDIA GENERATION FLEDGLINGS
BOOMERANG KIDS THE NET GENERATION

THE DIGITAL GENERATION


WH0 DECIDES WHEN AN ADULT IS AN ADULT?
brain considered mature
by NIMH
vote median age of marriage

rent a car
last years to be on
parents’ health insurance
drink legally

18 21 25 26 28 30 34

HOW DO WE DEFINE THIS PHASE OF LIFE?

YOUNG ADULT YOUTH EMERGING ADULT
Defined in the 1950s Defined in the late 1960s Defined in the 2000s

Age: 20-40 Age: Post-Adolescent Age: 18-30

A stage of human Characterized by pervasive
Young Adults who are in
ambivalence toward self and
development, faced with the society, and enormous value limbo between adult
hurdle of intimacy vs. placed on change, transformation, responsibility & autonomy and
isolation and movement parental dependency


SCIENCE SUPPORTS “EMERGING ADULTHOOD” DEFINITION

The brain keeps changing up until 25
From 18 to 25 the most significant changes happen in the prefrontal cortex
(emotional control) and cerebellum (higher order cognitive function)

The weighing of the future keeps changing into the 20s and 30s

“The prefrontal part is the part that
allows you to... answer the question
‘What am I going to do with my life?’”

Jay Giedd, Director of NIMH study


WHY SHOULD MARKETERS CARE?

DECISIONS AND ACTIONS DURING THIS
TIME HAVE LASTING RAMIFICATIONS
Most people are accumulating formal education,
meeting future spouses, making friends they will
keep, and starting on careers that will last during
this time

Adventures, experiments, travels, relationships
are embarked on with an abandon that will
not happen again

tio n enters their
On ce this genera st
b e in the highe
30s, they will index categor
y
g
cons umer spendin
e 55)
(+270 until ag

Source?


EMERGING ADULT PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE

CHARACTERIZED BY
self-focus
identity exploration
a sense of possibilities
feeling in-between
instability
the “age 30 deadline”
ambivalence



SELF-FOCUS

The task of “finding yourself”
while struggling against
someone else’s idea of who you
should be requires some focus

College students today are
40% less empathetic than
those of 30 years ago, with
the numbers plunging
primarily after 2000
(NYT, 6/10)


IDENTITY EXPLORATION

The curiosity and desire for self-
expression that are part of growing
up are especially strong in this
generation (Roper, 2009)

Identity issues arise in young
people’s answers to many different
questions, suggesting that these
issues are so prominent that they
pervade many areas of life (Arnett, 2006)


A SENSE OF POSSIBILITIES

They have not yet
tempered their idealistic
visions of what awaits

42% say chances are
very good they will
achieve “the good life”
(Roper, 2009)


FEELING IN-BETWEEN

60%
say they feel like both grown-
ups and not-quite-grown-ups at
the same time



INSTABILITY

Instability is the hallmark of Emerging
Adults’ school and work life

“Across the country, the American Dream
seems increasingly out of reach. But nowhere
is it in greater danger than among today’s
unemployed young people, who threaten to
become a lost generation” (Huffington Post, 9/24)


THE AGE 30 DEADLINE

“This isn’t your mother’s 30.
Buffet-of-life choices come with the pressure to
not only have it all, but to make it perfect.
In addition to the pressure for perfection, today,
we also have the added anxiety of living our
lives more publicly than ever before.”

“People have two primary questions as they
near 30: Is this what it feels like to be an
adult? And am I normal?”

(“20-somethings -- get ready for a ‘Thrisis’” CNN 11/9/10


AMBIVALENCE

They are less certain of the
future, yet also more optimistic

96% say they are very sure that
someday they will get to where
they want to be in life

But there is also a distinct sense of
dread, frustration, uncertainty, and not
quite knowing the rules of the game



NEW INSIGHTS AND EMOTIONS FOR BRANDS TO CONSIDER

{ Excitement vs. Uncertainty }

{ Wide open possibility vs. Confusion }

{ New Freedom vs. New Fears }


EXCITEMENT VS. UNCERTAINTY
{ trying new things } { am i taking the right path? }

{ will i succeed? }
{ starting something new }


WIDE OPEN POSSIBILITY VS. CONFUSION
{ not held back by what’s socially acceptable } { what do i want to do? }

going to scho
{ getting a job,
star ting an
ol,
}
{ how can i do it? }
adventure


NEW FREEDOM VS. NEW FEARS
{ no one is telling me what i have to do } { am i makin g the right choic
es? }

{ will they have negative consequences? }


RESTLESSNESS AND MOBILITY

They go through an average of
7 jobs in their 20s
more job changes than in any other stretch

1/3 of people in their
20s move to a new
residence every year


OPPRESSIVE IDEAS OF SUCCESS

“It’s somewhat terrifying to think about all the things I’m

TO DO! supposed to be doing in order to ‘get somewhere’
successful. When is there time to just be and enjoy?”

Volunteer Live your dreams

Take risks Think about or
go to grad school

Fall in love Be financially
responsible

Network with
Find mentors the right people
Follow your
Work passions

Maintain personal well-being,
mental health, and nutrition

“There is pressure to make decisions that will form the
foundation for the rest of your life in your 20s. It’s almost
as if having a range of limited options would be easier.”



DID WE MISDIAGNOSE GENERATION X?


NEW TIMETABLE OF EXPECTATIONS

Early 20s Late 20s 30s
THEIR PARENTS
EMERGING ADULTS



COMMITMENT COMING LATER AND LATER

2/3
spend at least some time living
with a romantic partner without
being married

SHIFT IN MARRIAGE AGE
1970s: 21 for women and 23 for men

2009: 26 for women and 28 for men

Anthropologically speaking cultures all over the world have
shared a common belief that marriage marks not only
the life-long joining of two people in a partnership,
(“WHAT IS IT ABOUT 20-SOMETHINGS?” NYT 2010) but also the attainment of full adult status

5 TRADITIONAL MILESTONES OF ADULTHOOD
1 Complete School 2 Leave Home 3 Financial Independence

Have a Baby 5 Get Married 4

FEWER HITTING ALL 5 “TRADITIONAL” MILESTONES

65%
of men hit all 5 in
1960

33%
of men hit all 5 in
2000

77%
of women hit all 5 in
1960

<50%
of women hit all 5 in
2000



WHAT MAKES “ME” AN ADULT?
TOP 4 Accept responsibility for the Decide on personal beliefs and values
TONES
MILES 20-
consequences of my actions independently of parents or other inﬂuences
to
according
s
so mething

Become less self-oriented, develop
Financially independent from parents
greater consideration for others

(“Emerging Adulthood,” Jeffrey Jensen Arnett)

ONE THEORY: BOOMERS WON’T GROW UP, SO NO ONE ELSE CAN

“ Aging in America is like LaGuardia on a Monday morning. A long line
of traffic and no one can take off!! The Boomers have the departures

”
blocked for the younger generations.

(Marian Salzman, Futurist)

FAILURE TO LAUNCH

Boomers not wanting
Young Adults
to let go
not
ready to grow up

Helicopter parents problem
solve for children long past
40% when children should be
problem solving for themselves
move back home
Parents regret having jumped
with their parents into marriage or career, so
at least once they push their children to make
more considered choices

BOOMERS HOLD ON EMOTIONALLY

Helicopter parents need their center of gravity
Parents’ sense of well-being depends largely on how close they are to
their grown children and how their children are faring
-- Karen Fingerman, Developmental Psychologist, Purdue University

MORE SUPPORTIVE THAN EVER

{ 86%
month
had provided advice in the previous

Less than half had done so in 1988
{
{ 2 in 3 had given their son or daughter
practical assistance in the previous month
1 in 3 had in 1988
{


BOOMERS HOLD ON FINANCIALLY

American parents give an average of
10% of their income to their 18-21
year--old children This percentage is basically the same no
matter the family’s total income, meaning
that upper-class kids tend to get more than
working-class ones



IS THIS TEMPORARY OR A PERMANENT CHANGE?

CULTURAL, LEGITIMATE NEW
ECONOMIC vs. LIFE STAGE THAT IS
FORCES UNIVERSAL


SOCIO-ECONOMIC FORCES CREATED ADOLESCENCE

Adolescence was made in America
Created by psychologist G.
Stanley Hall in 1904

With the passage of child labor
laws, children under 16 were
forced to stay in secondary
school, prolonging the period of
dependence

And now it’s global

This distinct stage is characterized by
emotional upheaval (storm and stress)
and a curve of dependency that starts
at age 11 and wanes over time



SOCIO-ECONOMIC FORCES ARE CREATING “EMERGING ADULTS”

The need for more education to survive in an
information-based economy

Fewer entry-level jobs even after all that schooling

Less rush to marry because of general acceptance
of premarital sex, cohabitation, and birth control

Women can delay pregnancy beyond their most
fertile years due to wide range of career options
and access to reproductive technology

A FIRST WORLD SELF-ACTUALIZATION PHENOMENON?
Emerging Adults are at
liberty to pursue more
elevated goals since
their basic needs of
food, shelter and sex
Self- are being met
actualization

Esteem

Love/Belonging

Safety

So
urc
e:
M
as
Physiological

low

WILL EMERGING ADULTHOOD GO GLOBAL?

WILL IT BE AN EXPORT ECONOMY FOR THE FIRST WORLD?

First World
Young people are allowed to forestall adult
obligations without fear of public censure - so
the rate of societal maturation can finally fall
into better sync with the maturation of the brain

“It is a double-edged sword, because on the one hand
I am so blessed with my experience and endless
options, but on the other hand, I still feel like a child.”

“Walking home, in the shoes my father bought
me, I still feel I have yet to grow up.”

Industrial and Developing World
More often, people are forced to adopt
adult responsibilities early, whether or not
their brains are ready. Is this changing?



APPENDIX


YOUNG ADULTS

Defined by Erik Erikson in 1950
as a stage of human development
in Childhood and Society

Age: 20-40
The primary conflict is intimacy
vs. isolation
During this stage, Young Adults
decide whether to commit to a
lifelong intimate relationship and
choose the person to commit to


YOUTH

Defined by Yale psychologist
Kenneth Keniston in the late
1960s

Age: Post-Adolescent
Post-adolescents who have not settled questions
whose answers once defined adulthood:
questions of relationship to the existing society,
vocation, social role and lifestyle.
Characterized by pervasive ambivalence
toward self and society, and enormous value
placed on change, transformation, and
movement


Emerging adulthood

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