PS375 Lecture 16: Traditional markers of adulthood
Document Summary
Settersten (2011): becoming an adult: meanings and markers for young americans. Becoming an adult takes longer, occurs in more varied ways, and is sometimes accompanied by significant uncertainty about the future. Changes have also resulted in young people relying more on others, esp parents, for support along the way. The meanings and uses of age are often formal, ex age underlies the organization of families, schools, workplaces, legal rights etc. Can also be informal: ex members of society may share ideas about behaviour that is appropriate or inappropriate at particular ages. Becoming an adult is inherently about age in that it is about growing up and older, people often say the ages at which they began to feel like adults is almost always between 18 and 26. Important experiences happen at such ages (finished school, moving out etc) and exemplify key markers of adulthood.
