Abstract
Mehta et al. (Am Psychol 75:431–444, 2020) coined the term established adulthood to cover the age-range 30–45. Established adulthood comes after emerging adulthood (18–29), but before middle adulthood (45–65). There has been considerable theoretical and empirical work on emerging adulthood since Arnett (Am Psychol 55:469–480, 2000) proposed it, one important element being the five features model of psychological/phenomenological states accompanying emerging adulthood (Arnett Emerging adulthood: the winding road from the late teens through the twenties, Oxford University Press, 2004; Reifman et al. J Youth Dev 2:37, 2007a). Per the model, emerging adulthood is a time of (1) identity seeking, (2) open possibilities, (3) self-focus/responsibility for oneself, (4) stress/instability, and (5) feeling in-between adolescence and adulthood. Despite the richness of the five features approach, Mehta et al. did not extend it to established adulthood, focusing instead on practical challenges associated with careers, marriage/relationships, and parenting. The present theoretical review paper, therefore, extends and expands the five features model to established adulthood. Specifically, established adulthood should entail (1) solidifying identity, (2) somewhat diminishing sense of possibility in work/career and other domains, (3) focusing on others, (4) continuing stress, albeit in different domains from emerging adulthood, and (5) considering oneself an adult, although not necessarily fully wise. Although established adulthood emphasizes solidification, there remain aspirations and opportunities for new endeavors (e.g., becoming a grandparent or company head). Evidence from the literature supporting or not supporting these propositions is reviewed and future research directions are discussed.
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Notes
Mehta et al. (2020) cite the “10-year rule” or “10,000-h rule” of deliberate practice in support of expertise being high from ages 30–45. They argue that many people begin practicing a craft in their 20 s and would, thus, have achieved the necessary practice by their 30 s. However, the 10-year rule has been called into question based on modest meta-analytic associations between deliberate practice and performance in various fields (Macnamara et al., 2014).
Google Scholar has been found to host more records of publications (i.e., have better coverage) than any other academic search engine (Gusenbauer, 2019). It also fares well on “recall” or the ability to find relevant publications (Gusenbauer & Haddaway, 2020). However, Google Scholar fares poorly on “precision” or the ability to screen out less relevant publications and such technical criteria as maximum search string length and the functioning of Boolean operators such as “and,” “or,” and “not” (Gusenbauer & Haddaway, 2020). These authors’ evaluation of Microsoft Academic was similar to that for Google Scholar. As a result, Gusenbauer and Haddaway recommend Google Scholar and Microsoft Academic be used only as supplementary, but not principal, searching tools. Consistent with Gusenbauer and Haddaway’s conclusion regarding Google Scholar’s low precision, we found that only small percentages of articles flagged in our searches were usable in our review (see later sections of this paper). Our use of two computer databases (Google Scholar and Microsoft Academic), our manual review of summaries found on these databases, and our comprehensive 10-year canvassing of two leading journals raise our confidence in the validity of our searching.
A term that partially overlaps with foreclosure is default individualization, defined as “following paths of least resistance and effort, where people ‘allow’ decisions to be made for them as a result of their inaction” (Côté, 2015, p. 535). We use the more familiar term foreclosure for simplicity but acknowledge that other terms could also be appropriate.
Studies attempting to demonstrate the same developmental patterns and processes (i.e., changes within the same person over time) across historical eras would need to survey participants from multiple birth-cohorts longitudinally. Mehta et al. (2020), however, acknowledge that established adulthood applies only to particular historical and cultural contexts, not everywhere and for all time (Arnett, 2007, has said the same for emerging adulthood). Hence, longitudinal studies with a single cohort or cross-sectional studies should suffice for our purposes.
A supplemental source of data for comparing emerging and established adults on the five-features model is research using the IDEA instrument (Reifman et al., 2007a, 2007b). The IDEA assesses self-perceptions (e.g., “Is this period of your life a… time of finding out who you are?”), as opposed to measures created specifically to classify individuals’ identity statuses or other characteristics. In validating the IDEA, Reifman et al. compared the age groups 18–23, 24–29, 30–39, 40–49, and 50-plus on the purported emerging-adult characteristics. Linear contrasts were significant in the expected direction (i.e., the purported emerging-adulthood features were highest in 18–23 year-olds and progressively lower as age increased). However, magnitudes of difference between adjacent age groups were small (e.g., 24–29 year-olds’ identity-exploration mean was 3.00 on a four-point scale, whereas 30–39 year-olds’ mean was 2.85). We will allude to IDEA results where we believe they amplify results from other sources.
Fields requiring extensive postgraduate education would be exceptions. For example, an entire structure exists in the U.S. and some other countries for hiring entry-level college professors in their mid-late twenties and beyond (e.g., completing one’s dissertation, applying to job ads, going on interviews).
Mehta et al. (2020) note that age of first marriage continues to increase and that there are large numbers of unmarried persons ages 40 and older, increasing the pool of potential spouses. Further the growing use of mobile-online dating apps (Finkel et al., 2012) provides a structure for meeting prospective mates at all ages.
Mehta et al. (2020) provide a thoughtful discussion of how the Crunch likely has more adverse effects on women, racial minorities, and lower socioeconomic classes, relative to men, members of the racial majority, and middle-class and higher income groups. We consider this topic very important, but beyond the scope of our article.
One can examine Stefaniak et al.’s (2021) data in additional ways. Looking at each age group’s average number of stressful events experienced within each domain, the domains followed the same rank order from most to least frequent in 18–35 and 36–50 year-olds (spouse-partner, health, work, friends, finances, family). However, these rank orderings obscure some clear differences. Even though spouse-partner stressful events were most common in each age group, the absolute levels were very different: .94 of an occurrence per day in the 18–35 group and .49 in the 36–50 group. Further, even though work-related stressful events were the third most common in both age groups, their absolute frequency was higher in the 18–35 group (.44) than in the 36–50 group (.25).
Hendry and Kloep's (2007) statement appears to be based on their general observation that many societies have fewer age-related constraints than before and so decisions such as getting married, having children, or going back to school can occur further into adulthood than in the past. In this sense, even well into adulthood, many individuals likely can still envision changes that may occur in their lives.
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Reifman, A., Niehuis, S. Extending the Five Psychological Features of Emerging Adulthood into Established Adulthood. J Adult Dev 30, 6–20 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10804-022-09412-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10804-022-09412-9