Essay On Emerging Adulthood

Emerging adulthood is a time in life known for that in-between feeling, finding your identity, focusing on yourself, uncertainty and possibilities. In emerging adulthood, you have relationships with all kinds of people. Arnett had a theory about emerging adulthood that distinguishes the development of young people from ages eighteen to twenty-five. That theory was that in this period of their life evolving into adulthood included “feeling in-between (emerging adults do not see themselves as either adolescents or adults)” and that is something I can relate to today. It is hard to see myself as an adult even if I am a senior in college and moving on to the working world. Another feature included is “a focus on the self (not self-centered but simply lacking obligations to others)” where one focuses on themselves and their work and don’t pay attention to responsibilities for others and being in college that is something that does happen a lot trying to juggle work and going to school. Lastly, the next feature that stuck out to me was “instability (in residential status, relationships, work, and education)”. Something not just I but others like me struggle and feel uncertain in life, their relationships with family, friends, significant others and in their work and school life. These are all not easy aspects of life to juggle and there are times where we feel like we are not doing well enough in some way, but that’s life. (Arnett, J. J., & Eisenberg, N.,2007, p.3) There are many kinds of relationships found across cultures whether it is a friend, boyfriend, girlfriend or spouse. According to research boy’s friendships are focused on activities and are less intimate than girls who are more intimate and appear more sensitive to others. All cultures are different when it comes to what is appropriate in attraction and who you select as your partner whether its love, sexuality or marriage where as friendships serve the purpose of socializing and enculturation within society. Differed Norms Compared to the relationship norms discussed in the readings and articles they are not the same as my own in different aspects. …show more content…
In the Chinese society discussed in “Introduction to the Special Section: Emerging Adulthood Around the World” it is said that with Confucian communism it played a major religious guideline for social events where as I cannot relate to a communist society. In India arranged marriage is something you see a lot in their culture where the parents choose the husband for the wife. Some say they agree with it because it is a part of tradition and they trust their mom’s decision because they know what is best for them. Others feel like love marriage is better because you get to know the person and truly have a connection with them than it being a complete stranger. My own relationship norms and experiences is all based on love marriages, arranged marriage is not at all a part of the question. In my Hispanic culture it is expected for you to find someone of a good family, get married and move out to raise a family of your own. When it comes to mate selection in China and India, chastity was seen as more desirable in a potential mate while in my norms it is not necessary. Consistent Norms On the other hand, there are some similarities from my culture group to others besides love marriages. Supporting ones’ parents is a similarity from other cultures to mine. The Chinese main component of the Confucian family