Emerging Adults in America: Coming of Age in the 21st Century

And no, this has nothing to do with the emergent church.

The term "emerging adulthood" is a relatively new term coined by Jeffery Arnett, a research professor at Clark University, and “describes a theory of development for those in their late teens through the 20s” (Arnett, xvii). In general, Arnett argues that today's youth in general are embracing traditional adulthood later in life (traditional adulthood being defined as getting married, having children, buying a house, having a secure job, financial stability, etc). Traditional adulthood used to be embraced by the time a person was in their early 20s but is now being delayed by about 10 years. Arnett further argues that "social and institutional structures that once both supported and restricted people in the course of coming of age have weakened, leaving people with greater freedom but less support as they make their way into adulthood" (Arnett, 4). In other words, there are many factors stacked against today's teens that make adulthood automatically delayed, unappealing, or harder.

Factors that seem to delay this trend towards adulthood often include but are not excluded to: the pursuit of a college degree becoming a norm and necessity, the average time to obtain a college degree increasing, huge debts after college, the sex revolution which normalized and decreased the consequences sex outside of marriage, higher costs of living, the absence of parents or other mentors who help guide a youth into adulthood, and a "mainstream society that is less insistent that everyone become an adult member (because their sustained economic participation is not as crucial as it was in industrial or preindustrial societies)" (Cote, 91).

As I read more about this topic, I can't help but wonder if this is an area of great opportunity for today's church. While I haven’t seen any research, I wonder if churches today in general contribute positively or negatively to their youth becoming adults.

Do generationally segmented churches prolong our youth from embracing adulthood? Do churches offer a place for 20 year olds to test out/embrace their leadership skills and or gifts (and I’m talking about in ways other than children's ministry)? Do churches encourage youth and their young adults to take responsibility in life and then help them actually do so? How does the church even combat a culture which in general does little to promote adulthood? What aspects of traditional adulthood should the church even promote (i.e. Should buying a house, financial security or marriage equal adulthood for the Christian?). What is the Christian definition of adulthood? What implications will there be for the church in 20-30 years if it does not help 20 year olds make the transition to adulthood?

I'm not sure if I have any answers to the above, but it's interesting to think about and I'd be curious to see what churches have done to help their youth and 20 year old make the transition to adulthood and what "adulthood" looks like within a Christian context. Any thoughts?

(All above quotes are from "Emerging Adults in America: Coming of Age in the 21st Century, edited by Jeffery Jensen Arnett and Jennifer Lynn Tanner

Articles that relate to this whole emerging adulthood theory:
Journal of Adolescent Research: http://jar.sagepub.com/
Alan Reifman’s Emerging Adulthood Page: http://emergingadulthood.blogspot.com/
Jeffery Arnett’s Homepage: http://www.jeffreyarnett.com/index.htm
Case for Early Marriage (deals indirectly with this topic): http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/august/16.22.html
Emerging Adults: The Coming New “Youth Ministry?”: http://www.drurywriting.com/keith/emerging.adulthood.htm
A Challenge for Churches: Adulthood Takes it's Time (NY Times): http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/08/us/08beliefs.html?_r=2&ref=us&oref=slogin
They Odyssey Years, by David Brooks: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/09/opinion/09brooks.html