Challenges of Emerging Adulthood-Transition

Adulthood marks the end of childhood which is a time of significant change in one's life. Most of us encounter financial struggles, college, marriage, deaths, careers, and so on.

There comes a point in an individual’s life where he or she must surpass his youth and enter adulthood. This development, otherwise known as maturity, often transforms the individual in all physical and mental characteristics. Maturity, in many ways, sets the basis for how a person will view and approach life.

Considering, becoming an adult can be very challenging along with the responsibilities, social roles, and decisions that come along with it. When you become of age so much is expected from you such as starting college, applying for jobs, and having a set goal in life. Although, many people may not follow these steps and make their own plans.

Emerging adulthood has been proposed as a new life stage between adolescence and young adulthood, lasting roughly from ages 18 to 25. There are five features that make emerging adulthood distinctive: identity explorations, instability, self-focus, feeling in-between adolescence and adulthood, and a sense of broad responsibilities for the future.

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People regularly deal with numerous obstacles and changes, although I feel as if becoming an adult along with taking up adult responsibilities was a real eye-opener for me. After high school everything changed, one year I'm a minor, and in the next year, I'm an adult. One of the first responsibilities I had to face as an adult was choosing a college that is going to prepare me for the future. However, once you get to college your decisions might change, you might think about doing something else with your life such as a change of major or dropping out of school to explore other opportunities like becoming an entrepreneur, starting a family, or getting married. Although “most adolescents finish high school and go on to college, only 59% of those who start a bachelor's degree finish within six years. For those starting at open-enrollment institutions such as community colleges, that rate falls to 32%.” (Darling). My major in my first semester in college was nursing. I then decided to change my major because I felt like nursing was not what I wanted to do, now that I am currently undecided about what I want to be in life worries me because I feel as if I'm too old to not know what I want to accomplish in life.

Once I became of age (18), I felt pressured because so much was expected of me. My whole life prior to this point, all I had to worry about was school and getting good grades. Now I have to worry about so many things, like what occupation I'm going to have in the future, is this occupation going to support me? I even have the responsibility of voting for the future leaders of the world, which is very overwhelming. Then, I imagine what life would be like if I went away to college. My friends that did go away call me and complain about how they have to figure out what they're going to eat/make for dinner, what they should buy from the grocery store along with still having to do laundry and having loads of homework to complete. It amazes me how each one of us individually is in the same place yet have different challenges. In addition, one of my other peers feels as if one of the challenges they have with becoming an adult is learning how to control their anger and not retaliate and do things he would regret. Especially because, he is older now and he knows if he was to get into a conflict he knows consequences could be way worse.

However, according to the “ American Psychology Association” many young people from ethnic minority groups tend to take on adult responsibilities earlier, contributing to the family income and taking care of siblings, sometimes at the cost of slowing down their own schooling, Phinney says. Take my close friend for example, after high school she wanted to go straight to college to become a nurse, but her mother decided to move and couldn't afford to pay all the bills alone. So instead of my friend going to school, she has to work 10 hr shifts in Mcdonalds in order to contribute to helping her mother with pay bills. Furthermore, ethnic minorities have to deal with the larger culture and figure out their own identity in the context of the larger society. For children of immigrants, that can be especially challenging” I think it can be harder for minorities who come from a culture where the expectations of what you should do are very strong. Many of the minorities from countries such as Africa are expected to work hard in order to become lawyers and doctors.