Jeffrey Jensen Arnett
Biographic Data
| ID | 146142 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Jeffrey Jensen Arnett |
| GIVEN NAMES | Jeffrey Jensen |
| FAMILY NAME | Arnett |
| SIGNATURE | ARNETT J J |
| AFFILIATIONS | Clark University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-6968-7168 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 101 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 4227 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 91 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 10 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1989 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 18 |
Career Projects of Young Chinese Migrant Women Workers
In recent decades, millions of Chinese women workers have migrated from their remote villages to the industrial factories in the modern cities, but little is known about their career development. The present study aimed to examine the diverse work experiences of young Chinese migrant women workers from the perspective of the Trajectory Equifinality Approach and the Chaos Theory of Careers. The semi-structured interviews were conducted individuall…
Exploring Emerging Adulthood(s) in India
The current study investigated emerging adulthood in India using a survey design ( N = 342, M age = 24.33 years) including the Inventory of Dimensions of Emerging Adulthood (Reifman et al., 2007) and the Flourishing scale (Diener et al., 2010). Most participants endorsed the characteristics of emerging adulthood as representative of the current time of their life. Self-focus was the highest rated, followed by emerging adulthood being a time of po…
Achieving adult status in Greece in the aftermath of the global financial crisis
Emerging Adulthood
This is the original book presenting the theory of emerging adulthood, which offered a new conception of development from the late teens through the 20s. The book presents emerging adulthood as a new life stage that has arisen over the past half century in developed countries. It is not merely “late adolescence,” because emerging adults are not going through puberty, are not as dependent on their parents, and are not minors under the law. Nor is …
Family relationships and family predictors of psychological distress in emerging adult college students
During emerging adulthood, family relationships remain salient. This study examined, from a gender perspective, continuity/discontinuity and stability/instability in family relationships, in a two-time repeated-measures study with Spanish emerging adult college students. It also analyzed the implications of the quality of parent–child relationships for emerging adults’ psychological distress. A sample of 400 Spanish college students aged between …
Manifesto for new directions in developmental science
Although developmental science has always been evolving, these times of fast-paced and profound social and scientific changes easily lead to disorienting fragmentation rather than coherent scientific advances. What directions should developmental science pursue to meaningfully address real-world problems that impact human development throughout the lifespan? What conceptual or policy shifts are needed to steer the field in these directions? The p…
The neglected 95% revisited
The field of psychology prides itself on being a data-driven science. In 2008, however, Arnett brought to light a major weakness in the evidence on which models, measures, and theories in psychology rest. He demonstrated that the most prominent journals in six subdisciplines of psychology focused almost exclusively (over 70% of samples and authors) on a cultural context, the United States, shared by only 5% of the world's population. How can psyc…
Rethinking adult development
This is the introduction for the special issue of American Psychologist titled "Rethinking Adult Development: New Ideas for New Times." It highlights the main themes of the special issue and discusses the implications of current trends for future directions. Entry to adult family and work roles now comes later than ever before. More adults than in the past remain single, or coupled but "child-free," and fertility rates have declined, so that cari…
Established adulthood
In developed countries, the years from Age 30 to 45 are, for many, the most intense, demanding, and rewarding years of adult life. During this period of the life span most adults must negotiate the intersecting demands of progressing in a chosen career, maintaining an intimate partnership, and caring for children. Successes or difficulties in meeting these simultaneous demands have the potential to profoundly influence the direction of a person's…
Mind games
Although parental psychological control has been consistently linked with negative outcomes in the child and adolescent literature, little is known about how it functions during the developmental time frame of emerging adulthood, which is characterized by increased freedom and instability. Consequently, this study examined the extent to which paternal and maternal psychological controls were directly and indirectly (via self-esteem) related to ha…
Failure to Grow Up, Failure to Pay? Parents' Views of Conflict Over Money With Their Emerging Adults
Grounded in the theoretical frameworks of emerging adulthood and intergenerational ambivalence, parental concerns about their child's attainment of adulthood was investigated as the focal predictor of the likelihood of monetary conflict between American parents and emerging adults. A national sample of 791 parents (51% female; 73% White) of emerging adults (18-29 years old) completed surveys. Results showed that 43% of parents experienced monetar…
Life Choices of Emerging Adults in India
Emerging adulthood is marked by important decisions about life choices. These life choices have their roots in sociocultural and historical contexts. The present study used a mixed methodology, concept mapping, to understand the tasks that are deemed as important by emerging adults in India. Study 1 comprised five focus group discussions with individuals between 18 and 29 years ( N = 40, M age = 23) providing insights on the range of life choices…
Emerging Adulthood and Higher Education
This important book introduces Arnett's emerging adulthood theory to scholars and practitioners in higher education and student affairs, illuminating how recent social, cultural, and economic changes have altered the pathway to adulthood. Chapters in this edited collection explore how this theory fits alongside current student development theory, the implications for how college students learn and develop, and how emerging adulthood theory is uni…
Spanish Version of the Inventory of the Dimensions of Emerging Adulthood (Idea-S)
The aim of the present study was to validate the Inventory of the Dimensions of Emerging Adulthood (IDEA) questionnaire in Spain. The IDEA questionnaire is the only validated measure for assessing the characteristics of the emerging adulthood period. A Spanish translation of the IDEA was administered to a sample of 1,435 Spanish undergraduate students. Three confirmatory factor analyses were tested: the six-factor model proposed in the original s…
Are the Features of Emerging Adulthood Developmentally Distinctive? A Comparison of Ages 18–60 in the United States
A large national sample of adults ages 18–60 was surveyed on features proposed in the theory of emerging adulthood, including identity explorations, self-focus, feeling in-between, instability, and possibilities/optimism. Additional items were included on feeling that this time of life is a time of freedom and a time that is fun and exciting and on feelings of anxiety and depression. Emerging adults (ages 18–25) were more likely to endorse nearly…
I Felt Like There Would Be a Vast Sky Out There” The Leaving Home Decisions of Chinese Migrant Women Workers
This study examined how migration decisions are made in the context of development during emerging adulthood. Thirty-two Chinese migrant women workers aged 18–29 years were individually interviewed on their decision-making process when they migrated for the first time. Their main reasons for “going out” were family poverty, dislike of the hard work on the farm, disinterest in continuing school, and the appeal of city life. Going out was typically…
Human Development
Experiences of Burmese Chin Refugee Women
Since 1988, persecuted people primarily from the Chin state in Burma have fled into India due to large-scale human rights violations. A qualitative study was conducted to understand the narratives of 5 Burmese Chin refugee women retrospectively. Using their drawings as a stimulus, an unstructured interview was employed to help participants recall their life trajectories across 4 temporal periods: (a) preflight, (b) experience of traumatic events,…
Life Stage Concepts across History and Cultures
This paper draws attention to the pervasiveness of life stage concepts in human cultures and advocates the creation of a new field of study on indigenous life stage concepts . First, historical and cultural examples are presented to illustrate the widespread use of life stage concepts across times and places. Then, sociological research on the institutionalization of life stages in the 19th and 20th centuries in industrial societies is summarized…
Emerging Adulthood and Social Class
Here I reply to the commentaries by Furstenberg, Silva, and du Bois-Reymond on my essay concerning emerging adulthood (EA) and social class. I support Furstenberg’s suggestion to use national data from other projects to examine questions concerning the relation between EA and social class as well as the distinctiveness of ages 18–25 compared to other age-groups. I also support Silva’s suggestion to dig deeper in the quantitative survey results by…
Emerging Adulthood
Arnett’s (2000) theory of emerging adulthood has been both widely celebrated and strongly criticized. However, it has not yet been closely scrutinized for what it claims to be: “ a new theory of development for the late teens though the twenties.” The purpose of this chapter is to take up this scrutiny, evaluating some of the major postulations and criticisms of emerging adulthood in light of the available evidence. In particular, the chapter foc…
Emerging Adulthood Theory and Social Class
Emerging adulthood theory (EAT) has gained wide support in the social sciences over the past 15 years despite critical comments also being voiced. This contribution positions EAT within the main European traditions of theories about change in the lives of young people. It shows that EAT has antecedents in many of these theories, but without taking social class as thoroughly into account as it should. This is demonstrated by reanalyzing a US surve…
Mental Health in Emerging Adulthood
This chapter examines the role of mental health in emerging-adult development and adjustment describing a stage-specific model of mental health. It first addresses the importance of the mental health needs of emerging adults before considering a model that conceptualizes and measures mental health based on four general approaches: mental health as normality, mental health as a set of personality traits, equating mental health with personal maturi…
Does Emerging Adulthood Theory Apply Across Social Classes? National Data on a Persistent Question
The theory of emerging adulthood has been criticized as not applying across social classes. This article presents data from a national survey of 18- to 25-year-olds in order to test this critique. There were consistencies across social classes in the five features proposed in the theory of emerging adulthood: positive and negative perceptions of the time period; views of education and work; and views of love, sex, and marriage. Important social c…
College Students as Emerging Adults
In this commentary to the special issue of Emerging Adulthood edited by Reifman and Grahe, I seek to provide a broader developmental context for the studies. I begin by describing the rise in college participation over the past century, noting that even now only about 20% attend 4-year residential colleges and universities. Then, I describe some of the distinctive characteristics of these students, such as that they tend to be from higher socioec…
Emerging adulthood
Emerging adulthood is proposed as a new conception of development for the period from the late teens through the twenties, with a focus on ages 18-25. A theoretical background is presented. Then evidence is provided to support the idea that emerging adulthood is a distinct period demographically, subjectively, and in terms of identity explorations. How emerging adulthood differs from adolescence and young adulthood is explained. Finally, a cultur…
Emerging Adulthood
This article asserts that the theory of emerging adulthood is a useful way of conceptualizing the lives of people from their late teens to their mid- to late 20s in industrialized societies. The place of emerging adulthood within the adult life course is discussed. The weaknesses of previous terms for this age period are examined, and emerging adulthood is argued to be preferable as a new term for a new phenomenon. With respect to the question of…
The neglected 95
This article proposes that psychological research published in APA journals focuses too narrowly on Americans, who comprise less than 5% of the world's population. The result is an understanding of psychology that is incomplete and does not adequately represent humanity. First, an analysis of articles published in six premier APA journals is presented, showing that the contributors, samples, and editorial leadership of the journals are predominan…
Adolescent storm and stress, reconsidered
G. S. Hall's (1904) view that adolescence is a period of heightened "storm and stress" is reconsidered in light of contemporary research. The author provides a brief history of the storm-and-stress view and examines 3 key aspects of this view: conflict with parents, mood disruptions, and risk behavior. In all 3 areas, evidence supports a modified storm-and-stress view that takes into account individual differences and cultural variations. Not all…
The Developmental Context of Substance use in Emerging Adulthood
The theory of emerging adulthood has been proposed as a way of conceptualizing the developmental characteristics of young people between the ages of 18 and 25. Here, the theory is applied to explaining the high rates of substance use in this age group. Specifically, five developmentally distinctive features of emerging adulthood are proposed: the age of identity explorations, the age of instability, the age of self-focus, the age of feeling in-be…
Identity and Agency in Emerging Adulthood
The study of emerging adulthood-the prolonged transition to adulthood extending into the 20s-is a rapidly growing area of research. Although identity issues are prominent during this period, the role of personal agency and individualization in the identity formation process during these years is not well understood. This study examines three psychological aspects of identity formation (style, status, and process) in relation to personal agency as…
A Congregation of One
Religious beliefs and practices were examined among 140 emerging adults aged 21 to 28, using quantitative and qualitative methods. There was great diversity in the importance they ascribed to religion, in their attendance at religious services, and in the content of their religious beliefs. Overall, their beliefs fell into four roughly even categories—agnostic/atheist, deist, liberal Christian, and conservative Christian—but there was also consid…
The neglected 95% revisited
The field of psychology prides itself on being a data-driven science. In 2008, however, Arnett brought to light a major weakness in the evidence on which models, measures, and theories in psychology rest. He demonstrated that the most prominent journals in six subdisciplines of psychology focused almost exclusively (over 70% of samples and authors) on a cultural context, the United States, shared by only 5% of the world's population. How can psyc…
Young People's Conceptions of the Transition to Adulthood
Conceptions of the transition to adulthood were examined using data from 346 college students aged 18-23 and 140 21 - to 28-year-olds. Participants indicated the characteristics necessary for a person to be considered an adult on a questionnaire containing 40 possible criteria. In both studies, the top criteria endorsed emphasized aspects of individualism, including 'accept responsibility for the consequences of your actions,''decide on own belie…
Adolescents' uses of media for self-socialization
Going Global
This article reviews theory and research on the implications of globalization for cultural identity formation in adolescence (ages 10-18) and emerging adulthood (ages 18-29). Theories of immigrant acculturation are extended to globalization to demonstrate how adolescent and emerging adult cultural identity development follows a variety of pathways in a global world. The article includes a discussion of how this opening up of plural developmental …
Emerging Adulthood in Europe
This article focuses on the author's theory of emerging adulthood, with a response to criticism of his theory. The theory of Emerging Adulthood claims that changes over the last half century have dramatically changed what happens in the lives of teenagers and young adults, requiring the application of a new term to describe the age group between 18 and 25. The author's choice for this term is emerging adulthood. The author responds to criticism t…
Established adulthood
In developed countries, the years from Age 30 to 45 are, for many, the most intense, demanding, and rewarding years of adult life. During this period of the life span most adults must negotiate the intersecting demands of progressing in a chosen career, maintaining an intimate partnership, and caring for children. Successes or difficulties in meeting these simultaneous demands have the potential to profoundly influence the direction of a person's…
Broad and Narrow Socialization
The theory of broad and narrow socialization is described, with a particular emphasis on placing family socialization in its cultural context. In cultures characterized by broad socialization, socialization is intended to promote independence, individualism, and self-expression. In contrast, cultures with narrow socialization hold obedience and conformity as their highest values. Seven sources of socialization are described, including family, pee…
Adolescence terminable and interminable
Suffering, Selfish, Slackers? Myths and Reality About Emerging Adults
High Hopes in a Grim World
Views of the future were explored among emerging adults (aged 21 through 28). In general, they viewed their personal futures optimistically and believed their lives would be as good or better than their parents' lives in aspects such as financial wellbeing, career achievements, personal relationships, and overall quality of life. Interview responses indicated that many participants emphasized personal relationships, especially marriage, as the fo…
Adolescents and Heavy Metal Music
Risk Behavior and Family Role Transitions During the Twenties
The Right to Do Wrong
The Soundtrack of Recklessness
Adolescents with various musical preferences were compared. Adolescents who preferred hard rock or heavy metal music reported higher rates of reckless behavior, including driving while intoxicated, driving over 80 miles per hour, sex without contraception, sex with someone known only casually, drug use, shoplifting, and vandalism. Preferences for hard rock or heavy metal music were also associated with higher levels of sensation seeking, negative…
Heavy metal music and reckless behavior among adolescents
The neglected 95%, a challenge to psychology's philosophy of science
Responds to the comments of LoSchiavo F. M. and Shatz M. A. (see record 2009-13007-013); Webster G. D., Nichols A. L., and Schember T. O. (see record 2009-13007-014); Stroebe W. and Nijstad B. (see record 2009-13007-015); and Haeffel et al. (see record 2009-13007-016) on the author's original article (see record 200814338-003) regarding the assertion that American psychology focuses too narrowly on Americans while neglecting the other 95% of the …
G. Stanley Hall's Adolescence
G. Stanley Hall's two-volume work on adolescence is assessed from the perspective of modern psychology, 100 years after he published it. A surprising number of similarities exist between Hall's views of adolescence and our own, and several of those similarities are discussed here. Some of the most striking differences between Hall's views and the views of today's psychologists are also discussed, specifically, Hall's grounding of his beliefs abou…
Three profiles of heavy metal fans
Caregivers in day-care centers
Contraceptive use, sensation seeking, and adolescent egocentrism
Heavy metal music and reckless behavior among adolescents
Adolescents and Heavy Metal Music
Reckless behavior in adolescence
Socialization and adolescent reckless behavior
The Soundtrack of Recklessness
Adolescents with various musical preferences were compared. Adolescents who preferred hard rock or heavy metal music reported higher rates of reckless behavior, including driving while intoxicated, driving over 80 miles per hour, sex without contraception, sex with someone known only casually, drug use, shoplifting, and vandalism. Preferences for hard rock or heavy metal music were also associated with higher levels of sensation seeking, negative…
The factor structure of the Reckless Behavior Questionnaire
Three profiles of heavy metal fans
Are college students adults? Their conceptions of the transition to adulthood
Sensation seeking
Adolescence terminable and interminable
Socialization and Risk Behavior in Two Countries
Rates of risk behavior are discussed in terms of the differences and similarities in the socialization environments of Denmark and the United States. Adolescents aged 17-18 in middle-class communities in the two countries were compared on various aspects of socialization and risk behavior. Overall, socialization was narrower among the Danish adolescents, in the sense that they had more household obligations, greater community stability, and more …
Beyond effects
Adolescents' uses of media for self-socialization
Broad and Narrow Socialization
The theory of broad and narrow socialization is described, with a particular emphasis on placing family socialization in its cultural context. In cultures characterized by broad socialization, socialization is intended to promote independence, individualism, and self-expression. In contrast, cultures with narrow socialization hold obedience and conformity as their highest values. Seven sources of socialization are described, including family, pee…
Divergent Realities
Divergent Realities: The Emotional Lives of Mothers, Fathers, and Adolescents. Reed Larson & Maryse H. Richards. New York: Basic Books. 1994. 256 pp. ISBN 0-465-01662-6. $26.00 cloth. Family researchers, and social scientists generally, are often frustrated by the limitations of the methods available to them. Questionnaires rely on people's notoriously unreliable memories. Laboratory studies always beg the question of how much they resemble real …
Young People's Conceptions of the Transition to Adulthood
Conceptions of the transition to adulthood were examined using data from 346 college students aged 18-23 and 140 21 - to 28-year-olds. Participants indicated the characteristics necessary for a person to be considered an adult on a questionnaire containing 40 possible criteria. In both studies, the top criteria endorsed emphasized aspects of individualism, including 'accept responsibility for the consequences of your actions,''decide on own belie…
Learning to Stand Alone
Conceptions of the transition to adulthood in the contemporary American majority culture are examined, and compared to conceptions cross-culturally and historically. Perspectives from other places and times are presented first, indicating that there is a widespread view that the transition to adulthood involves the gradual development of character qualities such as impulse control and diligence but culminates in marriage as the ultimate marker of…
Adolescents' responses to cigarette advertisements
The advertisements most popular among adolescents are for two of the brands they are most likely to smoke--Marlboro and Camel. The results of the study are consistent with the view that certain cigarette advertisements enhance the appeal of smoking to many adolescents
Risk Behavior and Family Role Transitions During the Twenties
Adolescent storm and stress, reconsidered
G. S. Hall's (1904) view that adolescence is a period of heightened "storm and stress" is reconsidered in light of contemporary research. The author provides a brief history of the storm-and-stress view and examines 3 key aspects of this view: conflict with parents, mood disruptions, and risk behavior. In all 3 areas, evidence supports a modified storm-and-stress view that takes into account individual differences and cultural variations. Not all…
Optimistic bias in adolescent and adult smokers and nonsmokers
The (Un)Acceptability of Violence against Peers and Dates
Although violence has become an increasing concern, the motivations and justifications for such egregious behavior remain poorly understood. Two hundred and sixty-one college students completed questionnaires concerning acceptance of and participation in two kinds of violence—violence against peers and dating violence. Results indicate that although violence may be commonplace, it is still deemed unacceptable, especially when the violence is moti…
Emerging adulthood
Emerging adulthood is proposed as a new conception of development for the period from the late teens through the twenties, with a focus on ages 18-25. A theoretical background is presented. Then evidence is provided to support the idea that emerging adulthood is a distinct period demographically, subjectively, and in terms of identity explorations. How emerging adulthood differs from adolescence and young adulthood is explained. Finally, a cultur…
Psychology (87 works) · Developmental psychology (60 works) · Social Psychology (48 works) · Sociology (39 works) · Identity, Memory, and Therapy (36 works) · Youth Education and Societal Dynamics (30 works) · Political science (29 works) · Social Psychology (24 works) · Young adult (20 works) · Adult Development (17 works)