Perceptions of Adulthood: What Does it Mean to be Grown-Up?

IF 1.8 3区心理学 Q3 PSYCHOLOGY, DEVELOPMENTAL Journal of Adult Development Pub Date : 2024-03-06 DOI:10.1007/s10804-024-09477-8

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Abstract

Adulthood has traditionally been defined by the attainment of socio-demographic milestones such as career, marriage, and parenthood, but these milestones are increasingly delayed or have become inaccessible for young people today. As a result, young people are likely to experience a discrepancy between their expectations for and their actual reality of adulthood, which can negatively affect their well-being and psychological development. To systematically study contemporary definitions of and attitudes towards adulthood, we assessed a sample of 722 UK adults with an age range from 18 to 77 years on: (a) subjective adult status, or the extent to which people feel like adults; (b) attitudes towards adulthood, or whether people think adulthood is a positive time of life; and (c) the characteristics that people use to define adulthood today. We found that most participants felt adult and had positive attitudes towards adulthood. Our participants defined adulthood predominantly through psychological characteristics, for example “Accepting responsibility for the consequences of my actions” (endorsed by 80% of the sample), rather than by socio-demographic milestones which were endorsed by only 22–40% of participants. Both subjective adult status and attitudes towards adulthood were significantly associated with older age and the attainment of the socio-demographic milestones of marriage and parenthood. Regression analyses revealed that having a positive attitude towards adulthood was the strongest psychological predictor of subjective adult status, accounting for 10% of the variance. This suggests that fostering positive attitudes towards adulthood may help improving the well-being of contemporary adults.

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对成年的看法：长大意味着什么？

摘要传统上，成年的定义是达到社会人口学上的里程碑，如事业、婚姻和为人父母。因此，年轻人对成年的期望与现实之间很可能存在差距，这可能会对他们的福祉和心理发展产生负面影响。为了系统地研究当代人对成年的定义和态度，我们对 722 名年龄在 18 岁至 77 岁之间的英国成年人进行了抽样评估：(a) 主观成人状态，即人们在多大程度上觉得自己是成年人；(b) 对成年的态度，即人们是否认为成年是人生中一个积极的时期；以及 (c) 人们用来定义当今成年的特征。我们发现，大多数参与者认为自己已经成年，并对成年持积极态度。我们的参与者主要通过心理特征来定义成年，例如 "对自己行为的后果承担责任"（80% 的样本表示赞同），而不是通过社会人口里程碑来定义成年，只有 22-40% 的参与者表示赞同。主观成人地位和对成人的态度都与年龄的增长以及婚姻和养育子女这些社会人口里程碑的实现有明显的关联。回归分析表明，对成年的积极态度是主观成年状态的最强心理预测因素，占方差的 10%。这表明，培养对成年的积极态度可能有助于改善当代成年人的福祉。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journal of Adult Development PSYCHOLOGY, DEVELOPMENTAL-

CiteScore

3.90

自引率

4.50%

发文量

期刊介绍： The Journal of Adult Development is an interdisciplinary journal covering development in early adulthood, midlife, and later adulthood. The Journal supports innovative theoretical and empirical articles that help direct the future of our field. Critical issues include the importance of life-long education, work and family changes, and physical and mental health influencing adult development. In addition, the impact of personality, emotions, cognition, and biomarkers are areas of interest. The Journal of Adult Development emphasizes the importance of interindividual differences and contextual issues influencing adult development. Interventions that promote optimal development throughout the adult life span are also welcome.