Flourishing in Emerging Adulthood highlights the third decade of life as a time in which individuals have diverse opportunities for positive development. There is mounting evidence that this time period, at least for a significant majority, is a unique developmental period in which positive development is fostered. Dr. Lene Arnett Jensen highlights the importance of this work in an engaging foreword, and chapters are written by leading scholars in diverse disciplines who address various aspects of flourishing. They discuss multiple aspects of positive development including how young people flourish in key areas of emerging adulthood (e.g., identity, love, work, worldviews), the various unique opportunities afforded to young people to flourish, how flourishing might look different around the world, and how flourishing can occur in the face of challenge. Most chapters are accompanied by first-person essays written by a range of emerging adults who exemplify the aspect of flourishing denoted in that chapter and make note of how choices and experiences have helped them transition to adulthood. Taken together, this innovative collection provides rich evidence and examples of how young people are flourishing as a group and as individuals in a variety of settings and circumstances. This unique resource will be useful to students, faculty, professionals, clinicians, and university personnel who work with young adults or who study development during emerging adulthood.

The Oxford Handbook of Human Development and Culture provides a comprehensive synopsis of theory and research on human development, with every chapter drawing together findings from cultures around the world. This includes a focus on cultural diversity within nations, cultural change, and globalization. Expertly edited by Lene Arnett Jensen, the Handbook covers the entire lifespan from the prenatal period to old age. It delves deeply into topics such as the development of emotion, language, cognition, morality, creativity, and religion, as well as developmental contexts such as family, friends, civic institutions, school, media, and work. Written by an international group of eminent and cutting-edge experts, chapters showcase the burgeoning interdisciplinary approach to scholarship that bridges universal and cultural perspectives on human development. This "cultural-developmental approach" is a multifaceted, flexible, and dynamic way to conceptualize theory and research that is in step with the cultural and global realities of human development in the 21st century.

Fifteen years ago, Jeffrey Jensen Arnett proposed emerging adulthood as a new life stage at ages 18-29, one distinct from both the adolescence that precedes it and the young adulthood that eventually follows. Rather than marrying and becoming parents in their early 20s, most people in developed countries now postpone these transitions until at least their late 20s, spending these years in self-focused explorations as they try out different possibilities in their education, careers, and relationships. Since Arnett proposed his theory of emerging adulthood in 2000, it has turned into a full-fledged academic field, and the ideas have been applied in practical areas as well, such as mental health and education. The Oxford Handbook of Emerging Adulthood brings together for the first time the wealth of theory and research that has developed in this new and burgeoning field. It includes chapters by many prominent scholars on a wide range of topics, such as brain development, relations with friends, relations with parents, expectations for marriage, sexual relationships, media use, substance use and abuse, and resilience. The chapters both summarize the existing research and point the way to new prospects for research in the years to come.

"Scientific theory is essential to research on sexuality and sexual experiences in emerging adulthood. Theory serves a number of important functions for research, including prediction and explanation. Research has often utilized theory to help enhance what we know about sexuality among those in the developmental period of emerging adulthood. In this chapter we offer a primer on theories that have been used regularly when studying sex and relationships using emerging adult samples, including Life Course Development Theory, Symbolic Interactionism, Social Exchange Theory, and The Theory of Sexual Possible Selves. At the conclusion of our discussion of these theories and their role in guiding research and explaining findings on sex and sexuality, we offer theoretical directions to enhance the rigor of the use of theory in future research on sexual experiences among emerging adults"--

The school-to-work transition is a critical part of the human life-span for young adults, their families, and society. The timing of the transition varies greatly and its co-occurrence with a number of other life transitions make it challenging to summarize or generalize. Individual differences and normative developmental factors, as well as external contextual factors such as global pandemics, changing economic circumstances, workplace demands, and cultural shifts, intersect to create a range of challenges and opportunities for those navigating this transition. Written by internationally renowned scholars in developmental psychology, applied psychology, counseling, and sociology, the chapters in this book highlight the trends, issues, and actions that researchers, academics, practitioners, and policy makers need to consider in order to effectively support young adults' transition to work pathways. This volume provides an explicitly international perspective on this area, broad coverage of psychological topics on the school-to-work transition, and an inclusive focus on sub-groups and minority groups, making it a must-read for those who support young adults as they move from school to work.

"The Experience of Emerging Adulthood among Street-Involved Youth tells the story of young people who were street-involved from their early to mid-teens into their 20s, particularly their experiences of emerging adulthood while struggling towards young adulthood and independence. These youth experienced emerging and early adulthood earlier than other youth while living independently of guardians, detached from formal education, and working in the underground economy. After leaving their guardians they were choosing how to be different than their family, learning to cope with instability, enjoying and protecting their independence, and they experienced some satisfaction with their ability to manage. As one youth stated, "away from my family, I learned that I was not stupid." Their success was facilitated by harm-reduction services, like access to shelter and food, that gave them time to experiment with living independently and to practice being responsible for themselves and others. Later they begin to prefer non-street identities, and they began to think about their desires for the future; the distance between their current lives and those aspirations was the experience of feeling "in-between," and progress toward their aspirations was often complicated by past experiences of trauma, current experiences of exclusion, coping with substances, and the mismatch between their needs and available services"--

Emerging adults are taking a longer time to construct their identities, including commitment to partners, and they are doing so in the context of an unpredictable, shifting global economy with a paucity of guidelines to inform their choices. While popular wisdom suggests they are narcissistic, entitled, easily distracted, self-absorbed, and impatient, traits that certainly do not position them to be ""successful"" romantic partners, this book presents alternative perspectives that are grounded in theory and practice. It articulates the tensions between opposing dynamics, the desire for a commi.

Never before have the pressures of a comparative and competitive world impacted on our sense of wellbeing, particularly among young adults. Building on the principles of Giving Voice to Values, which honors the complexity and difficulty of leading with our values, this book addresses the unique challenges faced by young adults. It provides a clear process that details how to harness natural wisdom to flourish through the relentless pace and pressure of today’s world. Moving beyond mere values clarification, Authentic Excellence helps the reader to develop a deeper relationship with their values and confidently express them, and builds effective coping skills to manage the relentless noise of our comparative and competitive world. Authentic Excellence answers five primary questions: How are young adults affected by this world of relentless change and pressure? Why are young adults vulnerable to a plateau that can negatively affect their resilience? What is the difference between fear-based excellence and authentic excellence and what role do values play in this distinction? What is necessary to move beyond fear-based excellence and why is it so hard? How do you train a deeper level of effectiveness that includes more consistent productivity, fulfillment and resilience?

The Marriage Paradox explores both national U.S. data and a smaller sample of emerging adults to find out how they really view marriage today. Interspersed with real stories and insight from emerging adults themselves, this book attempts to make sense of the increasingly paradoxical ways that young adults are thinking about marriage.

Adolescenceâ€"beginning with the onset of puberty and ending in the mid-20sâ€"is a critical period of development during which key areas of the brain mature and develop. These changes in brain structure, function, and connectivity mark adolescence as a period of opportunity to discover new vistas, to form relationships with peers and adults, and to explore one's developing identity. It is also a period of resilience that can ameliorate childhood setbacks and set the stage for a thriving trajectory over the life course. Because adolescents comprise nearly one-fourth of the entire U.S. population, the nation needs policies and practices that will better leverage these developmental opportunities to harness the promise of adolescenceâ€"rather than focusing myopically on containing its risks. This report examines the neurobiological and socio-behavioral science of adolescent development and outlines how this knowledge can be applied, both to promote adolescent well-being, resilience, and development, and to rectify structural barriers and inequalities in opportunity, enabling all adolescents to flourish.