CHAPTER 10
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Constructing an Adult Life
Emerging into Adulthood
Setting the Context: Culture and History
Beginning and End Points
Constructing an Identity
Marcia’s Identity Statuses
The Identity Statuses in Action
Ethnic Identity, a Minority Theme
Finding a Career
Entering with High (but Often Unrealistic) Career Goals
Self-
Finding Flow
Emerging into Adulthood Without a College Degree (in the United States)
INTERVENTIONS: Smoothing the School Path and School-
Being in College
INTERVENTIONS: Making College an Inner-
Finding Love
Setting the Context: Seismic Shifts in Searching for Love
HOT IN DEVELOPMENTAL SCIENCE: Same-
Similarity and Structured Relationship Stages: A Classic Model of Love, and a Critique
HOT IN DEVELOPMENTAL SCIENCE: Facebook Romance
Love Through the Lens of Attachment Theory
HOW DO WE KNOW . . . That a Person Is Securely or Insecurely Attached?
INTERVENTIONS: Evaluating Your Own Relationship
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After graduating from high school in the top third of his class, Matt looked forward to pursuing his dream of becoming a lawyer. But his freshman year at State U was a nightmare. His courses felt irrelevant. He zoned out during lectures. Compared to high school, the work seemed impossibly hard. Most important, with his full-
Six years later, Matt is doing well. In June he was promoted to store supervisor and (finally) moved out of the house. One reason is that he met a terrific girl on Facebook named Clara—
Should he give up his job or cut down his hours? And what will he major in if he returns to State U? Adulthood can be thrilling—
Can you identify with Matt’s financial troubles or his decision-
This chapter is devoted to this new life phase. It explores that time lasting roughly from age 18 through the late twenties, when we are constructing an adult life. First, I’ll explore the features of emerging adulthood and describe the challenges we face during this watershed, transitional life stage. The last half of this chapter focuses on three crucial emerging-