Does College Matter for Emerging Adulthood? Comparing Developmental Trajectories of Educational Groups

Lauren L. Mitchell; Moin Syed

doi:10.1007/s10964-015-0330-0

Does College Matter for Emerging Adulthood? Comparing Developmental Trajectories of Educational Groups

Lauren L. Mitchell, Moin Syed

Psychology (Twin Cities)

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

39 Scopus citations

Abstract

Critics of emerging adulthood theory have suggested that it only applies to college students, but this assertion has largely gone untested. The purpose of the present study was to compare developmental trajectories of non-students versus college-educated youth in theoretically relevant domains of work, love, and financial independence. Using data from the Youth Development Study (N = 1139, 49.6 % female, 63.3 % White, 10.9 % Southeast Asian, 1.5 % Other Asian, 8.6 % Black, 5.3 % Mixed Race, 4.0 % Latino, 0.8 % Native American), latent growth curve models were fitted to chart each group’s development, from ages 14 to 30. Different trajectories were revealed for hours worked, children, and financial dependence on parents, spouses, and government aid. No differences were found in employment rates, marriage rates, or financial dependence on own income. These results provide a clearer picture of emerging adulthood for non-students, and highlight problems with generalizing college student research to all emerging adults.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	2012-2027
Number of pages	16
Journal	Journal of Youth and Adolescence
Volume	44
Issue number	11
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-015-0330-0
State	Published - Nov 1 2015

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The Youth Development Study was supported by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (HD044138) and by the National Institute of Mental Health (MH42843), both awarded to Jeylan T. Mortimer, Principal Investigator. The authors thank Dr. Mortimer for making the data publicly available through the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development or the National Institutes of Health.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2015, Springer Science+Business Media New York.

Keywords

Educational groups
Emerging adulthood
Non-students
Transition to adulthood

Access

10.1007/s10964-015-0330-0

OpenUrl availability

Full text

Cite this

@article{9b86d45955104d02b28ec92513003281,

title = "Does College Matter for Emerging Adulthood? Comparing Developmental Trajectories of Educational Groups",

abstract = "Critics of emerging adulthood theory have suggested that it only applies to college students, but this assertion has largely gone untested. The purpose of the present study was to compare developmental trajectories of non-students versus college-educated youth in theoretically relevant domains of work, love, and financial independence. Using data from the Youth Development Study (N = 1139, 49.6 % female, 63.3 % White, 10.9 % Southeast Asian, 1.5 % Other Asian, 8.6 % Black, 5.3 % Mixed Race, 4.0 % Latino, 0.8 % Native American), latent growth curve models were fitted to chart each group{\textquoteright}s development, from ages 14 to 30. Different trajectories were revealed for hours worked, children, and financial dependence on parents, spouses, and government aid. No differences were found in employment rates, marriage rates, or financial dependence on own income. These results provide a clearer picture of emerging adulthood for non-students, and highlight problems with generalizing college student research to all emerging adults.",

keywords = "Educational groups, Emerging adulthood, Non-students, Transition to adulthood",

author = "Mitchell, {Lauren L.} and Moin Syed",

note = "Funding Information: The Youth Development Study was supported by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (HD044138) and by the National Institute of Mental Health (MH42843), both awarded to Jeylan T. Mortimer, Principal Investigator. The authors thank Dr. Mortimer for making the data publicly available through the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development or the National Institutes of Health. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2015, Springer Science+Business Media New York.",

year = "2015",

month = nov,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1007/s10964-015-0330-0",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "44",

pages = "2012--2027",

journal = "Journal of Youth and Adolescence",

issn = "0047-2891",

publisher = "Springer New York",

number = "11",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Does College Matter for Emerging Adulthood? Comparing Developmental Trajectories of Educational Groups

AU - Mitchell, Lauren L.

AU - Syed, Moin

N1 - Funding Information: The Youth Development Study was supported by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (HD044138) and by the National Institute of Mental Health (MH42843), both awarded to Jeylan T. Mortimer, Principal Investigator. The authors thank Dr. Mortimer for making the data publicly available through the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development or the National Institutes of Health. Publisher Copyright: © 2015, Springer Science+Business Media New York.

PY - 2015/11/1

Y1 - 2015/11/1

N2 - Critics of emerging adulthood theory have suggested that it only applies to college students, but this assertion has largely gone untested. The purpose of the present study was to compare developmental trajectories of non-students versus college-educated youth in theoretically relevant domains of work, love, and financial independence. Using data from the Youth Development Study (N = 1139, 49.6 % female, 63.3 % White, 10.9 % Southeast Asian, 1.5 % Other Asian, 8.6 % Black, 5.3 % Mixed Race, 4.0 % Latino, 0.8 % Native American), latent growth curve models were fitted to chart each group’s development, from ages 14 to 30. Different trajectories were revealed for hours worked, children, and financial dependence on parents, spouses, and government aid. No differences were found in employment rates, marriage rates, or financial dependence on own income. These results provide a clearer picture of emerging adulthood for non-students, and highlight problems with generalizing college student research to all emerging adults.

AB - Critics of emerging adulthood theory have suggested that it only applies to college students, but this assertion has largely gone untested. The purpose of the present study was to compare developmental trajectories of non-students versus college-educated youth in theoretically relevant domains of work, love, and financial independence. Using data from the Youth Development Study (N = 1139, 49.6 % female, 63.3 % White, 10.9 % Southeast Asian, 1.5 % Other Asian, 8.6 % Black, 5.3 % Mixed Race, 4.0 % Latino, 0.8 % Native American), latent growth curve models were fitted to chart each group’s development, from ages 14 to 30. Different trajectories were revealed for hours worked, children, and financial dependence on parents, spouses, and government aid. No differences were found in employment rates, marriage rates, or financial dependence on own income. These results provide a clearer picture of emerging adulthood for non-students, and highlight problems with generalizing college student research to all emerging adults.

KW - Educational groups

KW - Emerging adulthood

KW - Non-students

KW - Transition to adulthood

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84943351839&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84943351839&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/s10964-015-0330-0

DO - 10.1007/s10964-015-0330-0

M3 - Article

C2 - 26199078

AN - SCOPUS:84943351839

SN - 0047-2891

VL - 44

SP - 2012

EP - 2027

JO - Journal of Youth and Adolescence

JF - Journal of Youth and Adolescence

IS - 11

ER -

Does College Matter for Emerging Adulthood? Comparing Developmental Trajectories of Educational Groups

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

Access

OpenUrl availability

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this