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Suffering, Selfish, Slackers? Myths and Reality About Emerging Adults

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Abstract

Many myths about adolescence have been refuted by research, but similar myths have grown up in recent years around emerging adulthood. This essay addresses three of those myths: the claim that they suffer from a normative “crisis”; the accusations that they are “selfish”; and their alleged reluctance to “grow up” and become adults. For each issue, evidence is presented showing that the myths exaggerate or falsify the true experience of emerging adults.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Clark University, 950 Main Street, Worcester, MA, 01610, USA

    Jeffrey Jensen Arnett

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  1. Jeffrey Jensen Arnett
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Correspondence to Jeffrey Jensen Arnett.

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Jeffrey Jensen Arnett is Research Professor in the Department of Psychology at Clark University. He is the editor of Journal of Adolescent Research and author of Emerging Adulthood: The Winding Road from the Late Teens through the Twenties (2004, Oxford University Press). He was a postdoctoral fellow under Daniel Offer at Northwestern University Medical School from 1989–1992.

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Arnett, J.J. Suffering, Selfish, Slackers? Myths and Reality About Emerging Adults. J Youth Adolescence 36, 23–29 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-006-9157-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-006-9157-z

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