Are You A Home Body? Find Out Why American Teenagers Experience ‘Emerging Adulthood’

By J. Navarra | Apr 07, 2016 02:27 AM EDT

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Your teenager or "emerging adult" could be a homebody. Homebodies are Americans aged 19 to 24, and are still living with their parents. After graduation, your child will be will think of doing something that will make a difference in the world. According to NYTimes, the parents just want them to get a real job.

Psychology professor, Jeffrey Jenson Arnett began interviewing people in the United States in the 1990's. He saw that his subjects felt mature and not so mature at the same time. Dr. Arnett concluded that teenagers between 18 and 25 years old experienced a distinct stage from both adolescence and young adulthood. He later wrote a paper in 2000 that signifies that stage as "emerging adulthood." He calls that stage as a time where many different directions remain possible. Dr. Arnett wrote, "when little about the future has been decided for certain, when the scope of independent exploration of life's possibilities is greater for most people than it will be at any other period of the life course."

Now, Dr. Arnett revealed that the stage has gotten even longer. It can be seen that employees are job-hopping in their 20s and most are shifting to the world of information. It is important to note and understand that today's emerging adults will need a college degree as their major determinant of a sustaining career but it is not the only factor that separates the successful from the drifters. If that were the case, recent graduates wouldn't be standing in the unemployment line or settling for jobs that don't require a bachelor's degree. It's "how" they navigate their college years that matters the most.

In the journey to adulthood, they are either Sprinters, Wanderers or Stragglers.

Check out these JobsNHire Articles to learn more:

- Sprinters

- Wanderers

- Stragglers

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