Explain the concept of emerging adulthood as it applies to young people in industrialized nations

What will be an ideal response?

The life pursuits and subjective judgments of many contemporary young people in industrialized nations indicate that the transition to adult roles has become so delayed and prolonged that it has spawned a new transitional period extending from the late teens to the mid- to late twenties, called emerging adulthood. Psychologist Jeffrey Arnett is the leader of a movement that regards emerging adulthood as a distinct period of life. As Arnett explains, emerging adults have left adolescence but are still a considerable distance from taking on adult responsibilities. Young people who have the economic resources to do so explore alternatives in education, work, and personal values and behavior more intensely than they did as teenagers. Not yet immersed in adult roles, many emerging adults can engage in activities of the widest possible scope. Because so little is normative, or socially expected, routes to adult responsibilities are highly diverse in timing and order across individuals. For example, more college students than in past generations pursue their education in a drawn-out, nonlinear way—changing majors as they explore career options, taking courses while working part-time, or interrupting school to work, travel, or participate in national or international service programs. About one-third of U.S. college graduates enter graduate school, taking still more years to settle into their desired career track. As a result of these experiences, young people's interests, attitudes, and values broaden. Exposure to multiple viewpoints also encourages development of a more complex self-concept that includes awareness of their own changing traits and values over time, along with enhanced self-esteem rises. Together, these changes contribute to advances in identity.