Emerging Adult

I don’t think it’s a cop out to say that adulthood shouldn’t be defined as an arbitrary age. Here in the States, if you ask, they’ll say eighteen, and while it’s generally the age when you are permitted by society to do all sorts of adult things, we know that many don’t behave in a manner that might be defined as fully adult till later.

At eighteen, I was a thorough grasshopper, jumping from place to place, situation to situation, having a wonderful time, but adult? In terms of the usual definition, that’s questionable. Perhaps the term to use should be emerging adult. An emerging adult is fully capable of adult action, but is still enjoying the liberties of youth. If this is not destructive, it may very well be an important part of the oncoming adulthood. You get to experiment with lifestyle and behavioral patterns that you couldn’t while under parental jurisdiction. You try scuba, travel to different places, and experiment with different lifestyles.

Back when I was a Pius Itinerant, one of the things I realized about people who did not have this emergent period was that they truly lived “conventional” and boring lifestyles. They were anchored early to one spot, one career, one social group, and one education path. They were frequently envious of me. I take pride in having a role in upsetting some applecarts for people in those situations. People like me were an invasive element that showed that there was more.

While I am not generally a fan of lots of television and mass media, I think that the explosive growth in media during the sixties exposed people to possibility. Why shouldn’t I travel to the coast? Maybe I could go to college?

So there it is: Lou’s theory of emergent adulthood. That period between pure adolescence and actual adulthood when you experiment, try on roles, and explosively learn. In creative people, you’ll see it recharge and reemerge periodically – an artist switches media and styles, a musician recreates their style, or an author changes literary style.

So, live long and prosper, and have a long, enjoyable emergent adulthood.