Emerging Adulthood: a Distinct Period of The Human Life Span

In the early 2000s, Jeffrey Arnett, a developmental research psychologist, proposed a new phase of development that he called 'emerging adulthood.' He delineated developmental challenges centred on identity, role exploration, and individual experience and connected his observations to changes within the demographics and values of today’s modern society. This proposal provoked an astonishing response in the research community, but the reaction among psychoanalysts such as Frank Furstenberg have not been so positive. Developmental phases have not been modified for almost a century, and sometimes the very notion of such stages has been discredited.

Adult development has attracted a range of psychoanalysts, and although the concept of individuality has never attained full psychoanalytic status, both adulthood and identity theories have been valued for its psychoanalytic validity. This is because it occurs in the mind as a meaningful point that shapes former developmental stages, and identity. Not only that but because it is a complex, organizing feature of self-representation. There are many fixed ideas about what constitutes towards developmental theories, but to move past that, there needs to be a fresh look at The concept of emerging adulthood, as it has enough cogency and empirical value to be considered a developmental phase.

In the twenty-first century across social categories, there have been alterations in people's awareness, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviours. These alterations have stimulated changes in their social systems, that successively have inclined contemporary humans to foster the sort of lifestyle changes that might mitigate the issues that the twenty-first century.

Whereas some could reject this notion and believe that rising adulthood continues to be in its infancy, it's evident that the period of human maturation has been considerably undervalued in an ever dynamic world.

An additional 4–6-year pre-adult period of 'emerging adulthood,' should be considered a distinct period in the human life span. It is a period of brain development and learning, which is crucial in the development of metacognitive reflection, as well as the attainment of advanced knowledge. which is required more than ever for reproduction and sustainment of humans whilst they move through the third millennium.

To understand why humans, need more time to develop, it is crucial to understand the social class changes that have been prevailing throughout the 21st century.

The most obvious reasons are due to Four revolutions that took place in the 1960s and the 1970s that set the stage in many ways for the society that we know today, including the new life stage of emerging adulthood. Those four revolutions are the technology revolution, Youth Movement the sexual revolution, and the Women's Movement (Arnett, 2016). While it is obvious that emerging adulthood is not an all-encompassing theory for most cultures and civilisations, as it depends on one's; culture, socioeconomic status and place of residency. It is still crucial to remain to the trajectory as to why emerging adulthood needs to be considered as a new life stage in most countries.

These changes in societal classes have paved the way for metacognition to be of extreme importance in the development of an adult. as the development of metacognitive abilities in adolescents related to the emergence of enhanced self-awareness and self-concept (Weil et al., 2020). Metacognitive ability also has been shown to advance significantly with age during adolescence, and it peaks in late adolescence and occasionally plateauing into adulthood (Marulis, 2020). These results suggest that awareness of one's own perceptual decisions shows a prolonged developmental trajectory during adolescence.

As to why that is, it is important to understand and to recognize where these dynamic changes are taking place.

In the 21st century, Adolescence has now become a dynamic period of brain development. The nature of these changes — in brain structures, functions, and connectivity — allows for a remarkable amount of developmental plasticity unique to this period of life, making adolescents agreeable to change. These normative developments are required to prepare the brain so it can respond to the demands and challenges of the 21st century.

In the last decade, there have been various longitudinal studies on cognitive development among adolescents. The neuroimaging results have suggested brain growth in the frontal lobes and striatal regions are a significant part of the brain, in terms of social interactions, that affects how we regulate emotions, control impulsive behaviour, assess risk and make long-term plans (Sowell et al., 1999). Also important are the brain's reward systems, which are particularly sensitive during adolescence. But these parts of the brain do not stop growing at age 18. Research shows that it can take more than 25 years for them to reach full maturity, which is the likely cause for an extending period among modern adolescents.

According to Logue and Gould, these regions are of extreme importance as the frontal lobes are home to key components of the neural circuitry underlying ‘executive functions’.

These functions, such as planning, working memory, and impulse control, are among the last areas of the brain to mature, which is due to the development of white matter. White matter is representative of the increase in quality and speed of neuron-to-neuron communication throughout the brain (Varnea-Goraly et al., 2005). This is equivalent to upgrading from driving unaccompanied on a single-lane road to driving on an eight-lane expressway within an organized transportation system since it increases not only the amount of information transferred throughout the brain but also the brain's computational power by generating more effective connections, which are essential for humans to become functional beings.

Now to contrast why brain development and metacognition abilities go hand in hand, it comes down to the notion that for these abilities to develop, there needs to be as little disruption as possible to the adolescent. This is because, during this period of extended growth, the brain plasticity is extremely sensitive to abrupt changes due to biobehavioral and psychological changes (Nauert, 2020). This alludes to the importance of the cultural and social contexts in which young people develop. Which brings back the argument Arnett has been trying to evaluate among his peers. Emerging adulthood is one stage but has many paths.

Yes, in some countries the outcome will be significantly different from others, but it is still evident among various cultures and societies that almost every adolescent will come to a period in his/her life where they begin to question what they truly want out of their life. Therefore, Arnett is supposing that it is okay to not feel pressured to make significant decisions in a moment's notice because it simply takes time to develop the neurocircuitry to adopt the skills needed to make those very hard decisions. Some still might not agree with these statements, but it is crucial to recognise that some teenagers will simply need more time to develop because of psychological and societal implications. We need to respect that. Because due to the new standards of the 21st-century adolescents across societal class are finding it extremely hard to retain to the notions of what is required of them in such a complex world. Thus, they need to be coached and to be encouraged to take the time necessary to develop metacognitive abilities and to train themselves to learn and to retain knowledge.

In conclusion, During the late teens and early twenties, young people experience a period of recurrent change. This period is characterized by explorations of relationships, shifting value systems and world views, and work and career possibilities. The lessons learned throughout these years lead to choices with lifelong ramifications towards adolescents. This transitional period is a vital time to consider future life courses. The developing milestones reached during these years set the youth on the pathway to becoming strong and industrious adults. This period is also a time of vulnerability and hazards as young people begin to disconnect from household supports, experience changes in residence, work and school, and commonly susceptible to risky behaviours.

Young people's access to a support system, or lack thereof, coupled with how systemic policies impact their lives can lead to significant, lifelong impacts on their overall well-being. To ensure all young people can experience this developmental milestone and they all are suited to successfully transition to full adulthood, they need to be coached through a system of supports in which they can develop fully (both mentally and physically) without the pressures that society places upon them.

References

1. Arnett, J. (2016). Does Emerging Adulthood Theory Apply Across Social Classes? National Data on a Persistent Question. Emerging Adulthood, 4(4), 227-235. https://doi.org/10.1177/2167696815613000
2. Arnett, J. (2016). Emerging Adulthood and Social Class. Emerging Adulthood, 4(4), 244-247. https://doi.org/10.1177/2167696815627248
3. Buchholz, K. (2020). This chart shows the age that people get married across the world. World Economic Forum. Retrieved 16 April 2020, from https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/09/when-people-get-married-around-the-world/.
4. Cikili Uytun, M. (2018). Development Period of Prefrontal Cortex [Ebook] (pp. 1-12). Retrieved 17 April 2020, from http://10.5772/intechopen.78697.
5. Crocetti, E., Tagliabue, S., Sugimura, K., Nelson, L., Takahashi, A., & Niwa, T. et al. (2015). Perceptions of Emerging Adulthood. Emerging Adulthood, 3(4), 229-243. https://doi.org/10.1177/2167696815569848
6. Furstenberg, F. (2016). Social Class and Development in Early Adulthood. Emerging Adulthood, 4(4), 236-238. https://doi.org/10.1177/2167696815625142
7. Human Intelligence Determined By Volume And Location Of Gray Matter Tissue In Brain. ScienceDaily. (2020). Retrieved 16 April 2020, from https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/07/040720090419.htm.
8. InBrief: Executive Function. Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. (2020). Retrieved 16 April 2020, from https://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/inbrief-executive-function/.
9. Kuhn, D. (2006). Do Cognitive Changes Accompany Developments in the Adolescent Brain?. Perspectives On Psychological Science, 1(1), 59-67. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-6924.2006.t01-2-.x
10. Laceulle, O., Vollebergh, W., & Ormel, J. (2015). The Structure of Psychopathology in Adolescence. Clinical Psychological Science, 3(6), 850-860. https://doi.org/10.1177/2167702614560750
11. Logue, S., & Gould, T. (2014). The neural and genetic basis of executive function: Attention, cognitive flexibility, and response inhibition. Science Direct. Retrieved 17 April 2020, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0091305713001974.
12. Marulis, L. (2020). Metacognitive processes in development. https://www.apadivisions.org. Retrieved 17 April 2020, from https://www.apadivisions.org/division-7/publications/newsletters/developmental/2015/07/metacognition-children.
13. Nauert, R. (2020). Is The Teenage Brain More Sensitive to Stimuli?. Psychcentral.com. Retrieved 17 April 2020, from https://psychcentral.com/news/2015/09/24/is-a-teen-brain-more-sensitive-to-stimuli/92652.html.
14. Pascual-Leone, A., Amedi, A., Fregni, F., & Merabet, L. (2005). THE PLASTIC HUMAN BRAIN CORTEX. Annual Review Of Neuroscience, 28(1), 377-401. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.neuro.27.070203.144216
15. Sowell, E., Thompson, P., Holmes, C., Jernigan, T., & Toga, A. (1999). In vivo evidence for post-adolescent brain maturation in frontal and striatal regions. Nature Neuroscience, 2(10), 859-861. https://doi.org/10.1038/13154
16. UNPD FFPS Data. Population.un.org. (2020). Retrieved 16 April 2020, from https://population.un.org/ffps/Index.html#/maritalStatusChart.
17. Varnea-Goraly, N., Menon, V., Eckert, M., Tamm, L., Bammer, R., & Karchemskiy, A. et al. (2005). White Matter Development During Childhood and Adolescence: A Cross-sectional Diffusion Tensor Imaging Study [Ebook] (12th ed., pp. 1848-1854). Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine. Retrieved 16 April 2020, from https://academic.oup.com/cercor/article/15/12/1848/339689.
18. Weil, L., Fleming, S., Dumontheil, I., Kilford, E., Weil, R., & Rees, G. et al. (2020). The development of metacognitive ability in adolescence. Science Direct. Retrieved 17 April 2020, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053810013000068.