A New Lens on Emerging Adulthood

In recent years fewer young people make a smooth and linear transition to adulthood, and their lives seem to be characterized by instabilities and lack of commitment. However, when approaching the age of 30, the majority of people are likely to have settled down. The major aim of this book is to understand how young adults bridge this gap between the instabilities and fluctuations of the twenties and the stabilization when approaching the thirties. Based on a twelve-year longitudinal study that followed 185 emerging adults from age 23 to age 35, six assessments, and two in-depth interviews, A New Lens on Emerging Adulthood proposes a constructive understanding of the journey that young people take throughout their twenties and early thirties. Conceptualized within the Developmental Systems Theory, this book argues that emerging adulthood instabilities and missteps actually reflect progress toward developmental reorganization. Furthermore, fluidity and instabilities experienced by emerging adults during this period are evidence of the efforts to navigate toward a successful transition to adulthood.

Shmuel Shulman is a Professor of Clinical and Developmental Psychology at Bar Ilan University, Israel. As a clinical psychologist working mostly with adolescent patients, his academic career developed and focused on adolescent and young adulthood development and psychopathology. Previously, he held visiting positions at the University of Minnesota, Yale University, York University, Canada, Jyvaskyla University, Finland and The University of Knoxville, Tennessee. Currently, he also leads the graduate program in adolescent and young adult clinical psychology at Colman College, Israel.

Introduction: The Conceptual Challenge of Emerging Adulthood and The Need for New Understandings
Chapter 1: Relevant Theoretical and Research Frameworks for Understanding Emerging Adulthood and the Development of the Current Study
Chapter 2: Developmental Goals during Emerging Adulthood; Constellations of Goal Coordination and Their Sequence Over Time
Chapter 3: Pathways of Career Pursuit - Consistency, Detours, Disappointments; Finding One's Way or Getting Lost
Chapter 4: Aspirations, Flourishing and Compromises: Career Pursuit Pathways and Settling Down
Chapter 5: Romantic Pathways among Emerging Adults: Between Fluidity and Progression
Chapter 6: Romantic Intimacy Statuses and Progress toward the Future: There is Hope for Change
Chapter 7: Career Pursuit and Romantic Investment - How Do They Go Together?
Chapter 8: Achieving Life Authorship: The Psychological Challenge of Emerging Adulthood
Chapter 9: Gendered Pathways in Career Pursuit and Romantic Development
Chapter 10: Personality Assets and Developmental Outcomes
Chapter 11: Support Systems and Their Role in Developmental Processes During Emerging Adulthood
Chapter 12: Patterns of Mental Health During Emerging Adulthood and Their Association with the Success or Failure to Attain Developmental Tasks
Chapter 13: Developmental Pathways During Emerging Adulthood - A Cross Cultural Perspective
Chapter 14: Emerging Adulthood Revisited - A New Conceptualization for Understanding Fluctuations, Changes and Processes