Constructing Adulthood: Markers of Adulthood and Well-Being Among Emerging Adults

In modern industrialized societies, young people face an extended period of unprecedented freedom, and challenges, en route to fully adult roles. Using the Markers of Adulthood Scale, I explore the markers emerging adults view as most important to achieving adulthood, their attainment of those markers, and how the fit between the two relates to participants' overall well-being. Results showed that the most important markers for well-being were those over which young adults have more control: relational maturity (e.g., establishing an equal relationship with parents and developing greater consideration for others). In contrast, the markers which most emerging adults had yet to attain and had relatively less control over (i.e., traditional role transitions such as being settled into a career) did not predict well-being. Overall, it appears that emerging adults construct personal conceptualizations of adulthood adaptively, although results suggested that the path to adulthood may be more elusive for females than males.