Associate Area Editor's Note

Articles on "Identity and Emerging Adulthood" can include any identity-related topic that pertains to people in the 18-29 age period. I prefer the term emerging adulthood to "youth," "young adulthood," or "the transition to adulthood" because emerging adulthood is a term that has been more clearly defined in its developmental meaning. Emerging adulthood has been conceptualized as a period marked by exploration and instability, and these characteristics certainly pertain to identity issues. The explorations of emerging adulthood are often identity-related, in that they tend to concern love, work, or ideology. The instability of emerging adulthood is a reflection of the changes young people make in the course of their identity explorations. Although identity has traditionally been regarded as a topic that especially pertains to adolescence, today in industrialized societies identity explorations tend to continue into emerging adulthood and in fact become more systematic and serious than in adolescence. Articles submitted to Identity that concern the emerging adulthood period should have a developmental context, not necessarily in line with previous ideas about emerging adulthood but reflecting a consideration of how the developmental characteristics of emerging adulthood may be similar to or different from adolescence or (later) adulthood. For more information about emerging adulthood, see Arnett (2000) in American Psychologist and the web site <http://www.s-r-a.org/easig.html>.     

Psychosocial and Moral Development of PTSD‐Diagnosed Combat Veterans

Two related studies were conducted in order to investigate whether psychosocial and moral development appeared to have been disrupted and arrested in veterans diagnosed as having posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Study 1 was devoted to developing a measure of late adolescence, early adulthood, and adulthood stages of psychosocial development. In Study 2, a sample of 32 PTSD‐diagnosed and 32 PTSD‐free veterans participated. The PTSD‐diagnosed participants presented evidence of arrested psychosocial and moral development.     

Perceptions of adulthood among Anglo and Latino parents

The transition to adulthood presupposes that a developing adolescent acquires a set of characteristics that enables him or her to perform expected adult behaviors. There is a gap in the literature in identifying these expected behaviors as they pertain to different cultural and racial groups. To fill this gap, parent-generated indicators of adulthood were studied, including the beliefs, behaviors, and attitudes that are either common or specific to Anglo and Latino parents. College students at an urban university in the Los Angeles area were recruited to enlist their parents to complete a questionnaire. Equal numbers from each ethnic group were surveyed. The results of this study indicate that Anglo participants defined adulthood in terms of independence significantly more often than Latino participants. Furthermore, Latino participants defined adulthood in terms of event-related markers, such as marriage, significantly more often than Anglo participants. This research points to the need to define adulthood in ways that reflect the ethnic diversity of the United States. The authors express their thanks to Russell Espinoza, Ileana Garoz, Anna Rivera, Sandra Samayoa, Gabriella Chavira, Maria Hernandez, Angel Lahr, and Kevin Kim for their invaluable assistance. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 1997 meeting of the Western Psychological Association, Seattle.     

Perceptions of adulthood among Anglo and Latino parents

The transition to adulthood presupposes that a developing adolescent acquires a set of characteristics that enables him or her to perform expected adult behaviors. There is a gap in the literature in identifying these expected behaviors as they pertain to different cultural and racial groups. To fill this gap, parent-generated indicators of adulthood were studied, including the beliefs, behaviors, and attitudes that are either common or specific to Anglo and Latino parents. College students at an urban university in the Los Angeles area were recruited to enlist their parents to complete a questionnaire. Equal numbers from each ethnic group were surveyed. The results of this study indicate that Anglo participants defined adulthood in terms of independence significantly more often than Latino participants. Furthermore, Latino participants defined adulthood in terms of event-related markers, such as marriage, significantly more often than Anglo participants. This research points to the need to define adulthood in ways that reflect the ethnic diversity of the United States. The authors express their thanks to Russell Espinoza, Ileana Garoz, Anna Rivera, Sandra Samayoa, Gabriella Chavira, Maria Hernandez, Angel Lahr, and Kevin Kim for their invaluable assistance. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 1997 meeting of the Western Psychological Association, Seattle.     

Interaction between the DRD4 VNTR polymorphism and proximal and distal environments in alcohol dependence during emerging and young adulthood

The manifestation of alcohol dependence at different developmental stages may be associated with different genetic and environmental factors. Taking a developmental approach, we characterized interaction between the dopamine receptor 4 variable number tandem repeat (DRD4 VNTR) polymorphism and developmentally specific environmental factors (childhood adversity, college/Greek organization involvement, and delayed adult role transition) on alcohol dependence during emerging and young adulthood. Prospective data were obtained from a cohort of 234 White individuals (56% women, 44% men) who were followed up at ages 18 through 34. A longitudinal hierarchical factor model was estimated to model a traitlike persistent alcohol dependence factor throughout emerging and young adulthood and 2 residual statelike alcohol dependence factors limited to emerging adulthood and young adulthood, respectively. We accounted for those alcohol dependence factors by modeling 3 two-way interaction effects between the DRD4 VNTR polymorphism and the 3 developmentally specific environment factors. Carriers of the DRD4 long allele showed greater susceptibility to environmental effects; they showed more persistent symptoms of alcohol dependence as childhood adversity increased and more alcohol dependence symptoms limited to emerging adulthood as college/Greek organization involvement increased. Alcohol dependence among noncarriers of the long allele, however, did not differ as a function of those environments. Although replication is necessary, these findings highlight the importance of repeated phenotypic assessments across development and modeling both distal and proximal environments and their interaction with genetic susceptibility at specific developmental stages.     

Ideology,religion, and the roots of nationalism: Two case studies of revitalization in late Koryo and Late Choson times

The Theory of Revitalization has been used to describe the emergence and development of religious movements which have as their raison d'être the revival and restoration of their cultures or societies. Generally, this theory has been applied to the analysis of small‐scale societies, but not to complex, state‐level societies. In this paper, the author takes two case examples from critical periods of Korean history to demonstrate in what ways the historical processes of those periods diverged from the stages of the theory. The author then concludes with a proposal to refine the fourth stage of the model, the key stage of revitalization, to fit the facts of the process of revitalization which occurs in state‐level societies.     

Death and Birth: An Initiation into Midlife

Throughout history people have created rituals and myths in an attempt to make sense of their existence and to provide life with structure and meaning. In postmodern societies, though, these traditional rituals have largely lost their meaning. Transitional turning points such as the highly charged threshold from adolescence into young adulthood are still celebrated but, they have mostly been diminished to social events and photo opportunities. Subsequently they have lost their power to break open the ego structure, which would allow for a new perspective and an opportunity for growth, propelling the youngster into adulthood. There is a growing understanding, though, that the psyche needs transformational experiences during times of transitions to channel the energies inherent in each stage of life. For most people living in Westernized societies, however, initiations happen spontaneously, when life suddenly rubs up so intensely that a person's only choice is to shed his or her skin and to emerge as a changed human being. The author explores the death of her father and the ensuing period of profound grief as an initiation from young adulthood into the more mature life as a mother and wife.     

Integrating the Life Course and Life-Span: Formulating Research Questions with Dual Points of Entry

Although life-span psychology and life course sociology share much in common, they also differ in significant ways. One such difference concerns their points of entry into the study of human behavior: When formulating questions, life-span psychologists typically begin with cognitive, emotional, or motivational characteristics of the person, and life course sociologists often begin with social context and roles. Yet by developing research programs with dual points of entry, encompassing both psychological functions and social context and roles, behavioral scientists will encourage interdisciplinary work that cuts across the life-span and life course. This strategy also encourages research that examines person-context interactions, which are likely features of development and aging. We illustrate the dual points of entry approach by considering career development during the transition to adulthood.     

Meaning in life across the life span: Levels and correlates of meaning in life from emerging adulthood to older adulthood

Meaning in life is thought to be important to well-being throughout the human life span. We assessed the structure, levels, and correlates of the presence of meaning in life, and the search for meaning, within four life stage groups: emerging adulthood, young adulthood, middle-age adulthood, and older adulthood. Results from a sample of Internet users (N = 8756) demonstrated the structural invariance of the meaning measure used across life stages. Those at later life stages generally reported a greater presence of meaning in their lives, whereas those at earlier life stages reported higher levels of searching for meaning. Correlations revealed that the presence of meaning has similar relations to well-being across life stages, whereas searching for meaning is more strongly associated with well-being deficits at later life stages.     

Identity and Psychosocial Development in Adulthood

Psychosocial development in adulthood is viewed from several perspectives. Stage-specific crises in ego growth associated with different life cycle periods are addressed in terms of status measures expanding on Erikson's polar alternative resolutions (Erikson, 1959). The developmental linkages between these stages are discussed using these status measures, and development from one status to another within a particular psychosocial stage is examined. With respect to identity itself, the cyclical process that might describe identity re-formulation through the adult psychosocial stages is discussed and illustrated. Finally, 2 case studies are presented as examples of adult psychosocial development.     

The Impact of Early Interpersonal Experience on Adult Romantic Relationship Functioning: Recent Findings from the Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Risk and Adaptation

Adopting an organizational view on social development, we have investigated how interpersonal experiences early in life prospectively predict how well individuals resolve relationship conflicts, recover from conflicts, and have stable, satisfying relationships with their romantic partners in early adulthood. We have also identified specific intervening interpersonal experiences during middle childhood and adolescence that mediate the connection between how individuals regulated their emotions with their parents very early in life and as young adults in their romantic relationships. We discuss the many advantages of adopting an organizational view on social development.     

Emotional Dysregulation in Adults from 10 World Societies: An Epidemiological Latent Class Analysis of the Adult-Self-Report

Background/ObjectiveEmotional dysregulation (ED) is a dimensional psychological domain, previously operationalized by instruments of the Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment (ASEBA) for children and adolescents; however, its cross-cultural and bottom-up characteristics among adult populations are still unknown.MethodWe examined scores obtained on the Adult Self-Report (ASR) by 9,238 18- to 59-year-olds from 10 societies that differed in social, economic, geographic, and other characteristics. A Latent Class Analysis was performed on the data from each society.ResultsIn each society, a dysregulated class (DYS) was identified, which was characterized by elevated scores on most ASR syndromes. The mean prevalence of DYS was 9.2% (6.1-12.7%). The best models ranged from three to five latent classes in the different societies.ConclusionsAlthough the number of identified classes and the prevalence of ED varied across societies, a DYS class was found in each society, suggesting the need to adopt a dimensional view of psychopathology and a cross cultural perspective also in adult populations.     

Socio-economic status and the developing brain in adolescence: A systematic review

Socioeconomic status is associated with differences in social, cognitive, and behavioral outcomes for adolescents. Correspondingly, the period reflects continued dynamic, complex, and adaptive brain development. Research demonstrates associations between the developing adolescent brain and SES; however, such research has not been systematically integrated. We undertook a systematic search of studies and review 21 papers that examined both SES and brain development or functioning as measured during adolescence or young adulthood in nonclinical populations (13–25 years old). Few studies focused on architecture and such findings were varied. The majority of studies focused on functioning with two themes emerging. First, studies demonstrate different activation in regions of interest to cognitive and behavioral tasks relative to SES. Second, when similar neurological activation is evident, they can be related to different behavioral observations relative to SES. There is also evidence of different neurological functioning associated with SES with regard to different conceptualizations and coding of SES. Further, some of the reviewed studies identified potential mediators to the relationship, such as parenting practices, stress, and IQ. Overall, the findings suggest it is important to consider SES and neighborhood context within neuroscience research and practice.     

Communicative and other cognitive characteristics of bottlenose dolphins

Scientists have tried to capture the rich cognitive life of dolphins through field and laboratory studies of their brain anatomy, social lives, communication and perceptual abilities. Encopheliration quotient data sugest a level of intelligence or cognitive processing in the large-brained dolphin that is closer to the human range than are our nearest primate relatives. Field studies indicate a fission-fusion type of social structure, showing social complexity rivaling that found in chimpanzee societies. Notably, cetaceans are the only mammals other than humans that clearly demonstrate vocal learning and parallels in stages of vocal learning have been reported for humans, birds and dolphins. The dolphin's vocal plasticity from infancy through adulthood, in what is probably an 'open' communication system, is likely to be related to their fission-fusion social structure and, specifically, to the fluidity of their short-term associations. However, conflicting evidence exists on the composition and organization of the dolphins whistle repertoire. In general, the level of dolphin performance on complex auditory learning and memory tasks has been compared with that of primates on similar visual tasks; however, dolphins have also demonstrated sophistrcated visual processing abilities. Laboratory studies have also provided suggestive, evidence of minor self-recognition in the dolphin, an ability previously thought to be exclusive to humans humans and apes.     

Transitions to Adulthood Among First Generation Sub-Saharan African Immigrant Adolescents in Canada: Evidence from a Qualitative Study in Montreal

In industrialized societies, a large number of studies have addressed the various patterns of adolescent transitions to adulthood. While most studies on migration have examined aspects of migrants’ integration into host societies, few researches, however, have dealt with the intersection of these two topics—the experiences and problems encountered by immigrant adolescents. This research focuses on the transition to adulthood among sub-Saharan African youth who live in Montreal, Canada. This group is still poorly known in Canada, and the few studies that exist on sub-Saharan Africans in Canada showed that they are among the most discriminated groups socially and economically. Both immigrant youth and their parents/families’ experience a transition to adapt to a new place, and these respective experiences may affect their relationships. Our research objectives are to examine the conditions in which African immigrant adolescents experience their transition to adulthood and to assess whether the gaps between the two perspectives are purely generational or are partly specific to this group. The data are based on qualitative focus group discussions and individual interviews conducted in Montreal in 2005–2007 among first generation immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa and a control group of native Canadians (whose parents were also born in Canada), men and women between age 12 and 18 and young adults aged 18 to 29. Our results show that in all cases the question of becoming responsible, making one’s own decision is central. What varies is the process through which the young people become responsible.     

The practice of using makeup: A consumption ritual of adolescent girls

The consumption of makeup by teenage girls may represent a ritual critical to the rite of passage to adulthood. To explore this issue, depth interviews were conducted with 25 teenage girls in France, ages 14–18 years, about their makeup use. The data in this exploratory study suggest that putting on makeup is a ritual that plays a critical role for adolescent girls separating from their childhood and transitioning toward adulthood. Evidence of ritual dimensions (repetition, symbolic, codification, and dramaturgy) was found. The data further suggest that the traditional rite of passage associated with primitive societies is useful in identifying ritual teenage girls' makeup consumption in modern society, although with some differences. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Promoting Advanced Ego Development Among Adults

An intervention study was conducted to investigate whether advanced ego development could be promoted if account was taken of the factors likely to be involved in the ego stage transition process in adulthood. A conceptual framework that identified such factors was described, in which it was hypothesised that stage transition occurs in response to life experiences that are structurally disequilibrating, personally salient, emotionally engaging, and interpersonal. The intervention was designed in accordance with these proposed types of life experiences, and was targeted toward adults at the modal stage of ego development. Using an experimental design, a significant increase in ego level was found in 2 equivalent intervention groups, with no increase found in a matched control group. The findings demonstrate the possibility of continued ego development in adulthood, including development to the advanced ego stages, and provide clarification regarding some of the processes involved in such development.     

Chronic social stress during adolescence in mice alters fat distribution in late life: prevention by antidepressant treatment

Obesity and visceral fat accumulation are key features of the metabolic syndrome that represents one of the main health problems in western societies due to its neurovascular and cardiovascular complications. Epidemiological studies have identified chronic stress exposure as an important risk factor for the development of obesity and metabolic syndrome, but also psychiatric diseases, especially affective disorders. However, it is still unclear if chronic stress has merely transient or potentially lasting effects on body composition. Here, we investigated the effects of chronic social stress during the adolescent period on body fat composition in mice one year after the cessation of the stressor. We found that stress exposure during the adolescent period decreases subcutaneous fat content, without change in visceral fat, and consequently increases the visceral fat/subcutaneous fat ratio in adulthood. Further, we demonstrated that treatment with a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (paroxetine) during stress exposure prevented later effects on body fat distribution. These results from a recently validated chronic stress paradigm in mice provide evidence that stressful experiences during adolescence can alter body fat distribution in adulthood, thereby possibly contributing to an increased risk for metabolic diseases. Antidepressant treatment disrupted this effect underlining the link between the stress hormone system, metabolic homeostasis and affective disorders.     

Identity Coping in the First Years of University: Identity Diffusion,Adjustment and Identity Distress

In today’s advanced post-capitalist societies, consolidating identity with a view to acquiring adult roles is more complex than in the past. In Italy, the changes in the educational system are also associated with changes in the labor market characterized by lack of opportunity and instability. Therefore, young people on the threshold of university are discouraged from making long-term decisions and developing a coherent identity. The aim of the study was to explore what modalities Italian students adopt in order to cope with developmental tasks and how they proceed to negotiate and resolve identity-related concerns. The participants were 332 Italian students, balanced by gender, attending the first 2 years of university and aged 18–25. We used six self-report measures: Dimensions of Identity Development Scale; Identity Stage Resolution Index; Identity Distress Scale; Locus of Control Scale; Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale; and Depressive Symptom Subscale and Anxiety Symptom Subscale. Participation was voluntary, and anonymity was guaranteed. Findings indicate that identity processes, identity distress and sense of adulthood are related dimensions. We find five different modalities of identity coping (clusters) that identify different subjects. These retained clusters have also an effect on psychosocial correlates. Results advance the literature linking identity, sense of adulthood and coping with developmental tasks in emerging adulthood. Findings also support previous literature suggesting that coping with identity during first years of university is an important target of prevention efforts aimed at improving academic performance and identification of developmental path, particularly for individuals who exhibit identity diffusion and distress.