Friday, June 6, 2008
Society for the Study of Emerging Adulthood to Form
The people who've put on the biennial Emerging Adulthood conferences (Jeff Arnett, Jennifer Tanner, and others) have moved forward in crystallizing their informal working group into a formal organization, namely the Society for the Study of Emerging Adulthood. As part of this growth, there's been a major revamping of the group's website. The website states that a 2009 conference will be held, but details are not yet available.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
"Politico" News Site Introduces Section for Young Adults
Election news website The Politico has a component entitled Campus Politico to cover issues related to young voters. The word "campus" strongly implies a focus on college-student voters, but coverage is also being given to non-college youth. A new article, for example, reports that individuals under age 30 with at least some college have voted in some of the major presidential primary elections this season at a far higher rate than their similar-age counterparts who never attended college.
Such a result is hardly surprising. In his book Bowling Alone, Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam notes that greater amounts of education are associated with greater civic engagement (p. 18). Still, greater attention to young voters -- especially those not attending college -- is worthwhile.
Such a result is hardly surprising. In his book Bowling Alone, Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam notes that greater amounts of education are associated with greater civic engagement (p. 18). Still, greater attention to young voters -- especially those not attending college -- is worthwhile.
Friday, February 29, 2008
National Council on Family Relations Explores Transition to Adulthood
Welcome to visitors who have arrived at this site via the NCFR Report's Family Focus on the Transition to Adulthood! The Family Focus section includes eight articles on the transition to adulthood, including one by me and my colleagues. As I read the other articles, I may share some reactions on this blog.
I invite you to browse the blog postings that appear sequentially up and down the page, and in the archives. If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to contact me at alan.reifman@ttu.edu.
I invite you to browse the blog postings that appear sequentially up and down the page, and in the archives. If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to contact me at alan.reifman@ttu.edu.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Narcissism and the Current Youth Generation
Today's New York Times had an interesting article on whether the current generation of young people are more narcissistic than those of previous decades. Two sets of researchers looked into this question and came up with vastly different conclusions. (Thanks to Sylvia Niehuis for sending me the link.)
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Young Adults' Views of Love and Relationships
(This posting has been edited, and the link updated, on 7/25/18.)
AOL and pollster John Zogby (best known for his election surveys) teamed up for a national study of 20-69 year-olds' views of love and relationships. A summary of the findings is available.
Of greatest relevance to Emerging Adulthood, of course, are the results for the youngest respondents in the survey. Some age-group differences are discussed in the linked article, but they appear fairly modest in magnitude. For example:
A high percentage (44%) in all generations, including 50% of adults in their 20s – don’t believe that they need to be married to validate the commitment of a long-term relationship.
As I've often expressed in the past, studying the dynamics of young adults' attitudes, decision-making, and relationship establishment in the romantic domain would seem to be a fruitful research area.
AOL and pollster John Zogby (best known for his election surveys) teamed up for a national study of 20-69 year-olds' views of love and relationships. A summary of the findings is available.
Of greatest relevance to Emerging Adulthood, of course, are the results for the youngest respondents in the survey. Some age-group differences are discussed in the linked article, but they appear fairly modest in magnitude. For example:
A high percentage (44%) in all generations, including 50% of adults in their 20s – don’t believe that they need to be married to validate the commitment of a long-term relationship.
As I've often expressed in the past, studying the dynamics of young adults' attitudes, decision-making, and relationship establishment in the romantic domain would seem to be a fruitful research area.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
National Public Radio Segment on EA
Early this morning, National Public Radio ran a segment on Emerging Adulthood, including quotes from Jeff Arnett. Click here to listen to the piece.
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Young Voters' Candidate Preferences as 2008 Campaign Heats Up
One of the topics I like to discuss on this blog is emerging adults' political views and, with the 2008 presidential primary season getting underway soon, a recent poll provides some interesting findings.
According to an article on the "Politico" website, a Harvard Institute of Politics survey of 18-24 year-olds nationally shows a difference in the preferences of Democratic-leaning respondents, based on whether or not they're attending college:
[Barack] Obama leads [Hillary] Clinton 43 percent to 23 percent among current college students — but Clinton leads Obama among youth who never enrolled in college, 38 percent to 31 percent.
The Politico article also notes expert opinion on why these results may have emerged:
John Della Volpe, director of polling at the Institute of Politics, says that the disparity reflects a class divide. Just as Obama does better among students, he does better among young people from wealthier families. Young Democrats from lower-income families are more likely to favor Clinton, according to Della Volpe.
“Clinton is seen as more of a traditional lunch-pail Democrat,” said Della Volpe. “She is concerned with domestic issues.”
Iowa State University sociology professor Bill Woodman, whose students have studied the campaign, is also quoted to the effect that, "supporting Obama has picked up a self-perpetuating cool factor on campus."
The report of the survey directly from the Harvard IOP also discussed the candidate preferences of Republican-leaning 18-24 year-olds, but the college/non-college distinction is not highlighted.
The inclusion of young people not attending college, as well as their college counterparts, is an important element of the IOP survey. Given that social scientists are heavily based at universities, college students are a readily available population to study. The relative exclusion of same-age non-college individuals from research studies has led many scholars to label this group the "Forgotten Half" (click here for an example).
Only by studying both college- and non-college-bound youth can research on Emerging Adulthood reach its full potential.
According to an article on the "Politico" website, a Harvard Institute of Politics survey of 18-24 year-olds nationally shows a difference in the preferences of Democratic-leaning respondents, based on whether or not they're attending college:
[Barack] Obama leads [Hillary] Clinton 43 percent to 23 percent among current college students — but Clinton leads Obama among youth who never enrolled in college, 38 percent to 31 percent.
The Politico article also notes expert opinion on why these results may have emerged:
John Della Volpe, director of polling at the Institute of Politics, says that the disparity reflects a class divide. Just as Obama does better among students, he does better among young people from wealthier families. Young Democrats from lower-income families are more likely to favor Clinton, according to Della Volpe.
“Clinton is seen as more of a traditional lunch-pail Democrat,” said Della Volpe. “She is concerned with domestic issues.”
Iowa State University sociology professor Bill Woodman, whose students have studied the campaign, is also quoted to the effect that, "supporting Obama has picked up a self-perpetuating cool factor on campus."
The report of the survey directly from the Harvard IOP also discussed the candidate preferences of Republican-leaning 18-24 year-olds, but the college/non-college distinction is not highlighted.
The inclusion of young people not attending college, as well as their college counterparts, is an important element of the IOP survey. Given that social scientists are heavily based at universities, college students are a readily available population to study. The relative exclusion of same-age non-college individuals from research studies has led many scholars to label this group the "Forgotten Half" (click here for an example).
Only by studying both college- and non-college-bound youth can research on Emerging Adulthood reach its full potential.
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