Thematic Analysis & Emerging Adulthood



ABSTRACT

In recent years social scientists from numerous fields have argued that the transition to adulthood has become more complicated, multifaceted, and extended than ever before, so much so that they believe it is best understood as a distinct phase in the life course. This paper explores young people in the transition phase conceptualise adulthood and analyzing do social and economic factors influence perceptions, beliefs and attitudes about the transition to adulthood. Qualitative research method is employed in which interviews were taken for the data collection urpose. The findings suggest that these young adults not only accept the open-ended, diverse and uneven nature of this transition, they embrace it as a condition to be celebrated, valued and perpetuated.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT2

Introduction4

Background Study4

Research Questions5

Rationale of the study5

Method6

Participants6

Method of data collection6

Description of dataset6

Analysis7

Results8

Introduction To The Findings8

Theme 1 Sence of Responsibility8

Quote 19

Quote 29

Theme 2 Job and career concerns9

Quote 110

Quote 210

Theme 3 Independent Women11

Quote 112

Quote 212

References15

Thematic Analysis & Emerging Adulthood

Introduction

Background Study

For a long time, transition to adulthood has been conceptualised by researchers in a framework of social and biological role transitions, using measurable markers: transitions from school to work, from parent's home to independent household, from child to parent. As these transitions have become more diverse and the process of completing the transitions less standardised and gradually prolonged, researchers have started to doubt if these markers are adequate to describe the transition to adulthood in full. Thus, another approach in recent youth research is to ask young people how they see adulthood and transitions themselves. These studies have confirmed suspicions that young people personally ascribe less importance to the aforementioned markers and stress more intangible concepts such as responsibility for oneself, making independent decisions and becoming financially independent. As these traits are not connected straightforwardly to social and biological role transitions, young people in their early twenties may or may not be considered adults - depending on the context. Their own perception of adulthood gives them a feeling of being in-between the life stages of youth and adulthood.

In a recent contribution, Jeffrey Arnett (2010) has gone so far as to argue that “most young Americans regard specific events traditionally viewed as marking the transition to adulthood, such as finishing education, beginning full-time work, and marriage, as irrelevant to the attainment of adult status” (p. 63).

Research Questions

How do young people in the transition phase conceptualise adulthood?

How do social and economic factors influence perceptions, beliefs and attitudes about the transition to adulthood?

Rationale of the study

Although such work lays an important foundation, further research remains to flesh out these broad-brush renderings of subjective states and personal perceptions of young adults in the transition to adulthood. At a very basic level, we could use a better understanding of how and why young adults answer these survey questions as they do, and the deeper meaning and significance (if any) they attribute to these answers. More substantively, we need to examine the extent to which young adults themselves put the emphasis on psychological states of being ...