Perceptions of achieved criteria for adulthood among Austrian, Slovene, and U.S. students

This study investigated perceptions of achieved criteria for adulthood (ACA) among emerging adult student samples from Austria (n = 210), Slovenia (n = 201), and the United States (n = 225). Controlling for parental education, students’ age (18-27 years), and gender, we aimed to explain between- and within-sample differences in the ACA by taking the students’ living situation, intimate relationship status, and expectations about their future perspectives into account. The participants indicated the ACA on the questionnaire based on criteria for reaching adulthood used in studies of adulthood conceptions. The students also provided information about when they think they will start the first full-time career, get married, gain financial independence, and become a parent. The Europeans indicated less ACA than the Americans; 20% of the variance in the ACA was, along with the country effect, explained by the intimate relationship status and future perspectives. The age period from late teens through the 20s has become widely recognized as emerging adulthood (Arnett, 2000; Buhl & Lanz, 2007). Emerging adulthood is distinguished from adolescence and young adulthood in terms of demography, that is, a great deal of change and diversity in living situation, education/work-related issues, and partnership arrangements; a sense of ambiguity in the perceived developmental status; optimistic views on one’s own future possibilities; and prolonged identity exploration (Arnett, 2000, 2006). The period appears in societies that postpone an individual’s entry into adult roles and responsibilities, particularly in postindustrial societies that emphasize the role of education, professional training, individual choice, and personal independence (Arnett, 1998, 2000). Along with rapid economic and social changes in those societies, traditional views on adulthood stressing adult role transitions seem to have been replaced in their importance by more individualistic conceptions (Arnett, 2001).