The years between eighteen and twenty-five are a time of considerable formative change for the emerging adult. It is a period marked by the steady building of psychological autonomy, a good deal of role instability and an intensive sort of identity exploration. For much of its history, the psychological literature has been content to file this stage under the heading of adolescence or early adulthood, missing out on the particular cognitive and emotional shifts that take place as one makes the move to higher education, independent living and the start of a career. While older models of development might view such transitional uncertainty as maladaptive indecision and penalize it, contemporary developmental psychology understands the need for some structured scaffolding to see an individual through to mature adulthood.
This paper puts forward an empirical study of the dynamics at play in the development of diverse cohorts of emerging adults. Over a three-year cycle we have followed a representative multi-wave group of 1,900 young adults using a mixed-methods longitudinal design. To add qualitative rigour we held 90 semi-structured conversations with a range of university deans, vocational counsellors and colleagues in the field. Our multivariate modelling, which includes structural equation and Confirmatory Factor Analysis, shows that self-authorship and identity exploration are powerful indicators of future well-being and maturity (β = 0.88, p < 0.001). We find the opposite to be true of role instability and identity diffusion, which have a pronounced suppressive effect on development (β = -0.65, p < 0.01). The results make a strong case for social support systems and higher education to build more targeted programming into their frameworks for young adults.