Emerging Adulthood

The impact of identity-related risk factors on psychopathology was analyzed in 2,113 emerging adults (M = 22.0 years; 66% female) from France, Germany, Turkey, Greece, Peru, Pakistan, and Poland. Identity stress, coping with identity stress, maternal parenting (support, psychological control, and anxious rearing), and psychopathology (internalizing, externalizing, and total symptomatology) were assessed. After partialing out the influence of stress, coping, and perceived maternal behavior, country did no longer exert a significant effect on symptom scores. The effect for gender remained, as did an interaction between country and gender. Rather unexpected, on average, males reported higher internalizing symptomatology scores than females. Potential causes for the higher scores of males are therefore discussed. Partialing out covariates resulted in a clearer picture of country-specific and gender-dependent effects on psychopathology, which is helpful in designing interventions.

This longitudinal study examined how emerging adults psychologically distance themselves from parents. Every week during their first semester at college, participants (n = 71, M _age = 18 years [SD = 0.48]) read hypothetical vignettes describing emotionally salient situations they could encounter at college. Participants then provided information about whether they would regret not being in immediate contact with parents versus peers when dealing with the aftermath of these situations. Results suggested that participants were separating themselves from parents in a dynamic manner over time, which was revealed in varying levels of regret for not possibly being in immediate contact with parents following emotional events. Moreover, compared to participants with negative representational models of parents, participants with positive models reported more consistent patterns of regret for not having immediate parental contact. This study provides new insights into normative attachment dynamics beyond childhood and how emerging adults reorganize their attachment hierarchies.

Emerging adulthood is a developmental period marked by increased anxiety related to academic, social, and professional stressors. The ability to successfully cope with stress is strongly negatively related to mental health outcomes. Furthermore, recent studies indicate a connection between executive function impairment and anxiety. The current study examines executive function (EF), coping, and anxiety in a sample of 210 emerging adults (N _Males = 131, M _age = 19.14). The relation between EF and coping is examined as well as how coping may moderate the relation between EF and anxiety. The results demonstrate that EF impairment is related to greater disengagement and emotion-focused coping. Furthermore, both EF dysfunction and disengagement coping strategies were associated with increased anxiety. Emotion-focused coping and disengagement coping moderated the relation between EF impairment and anxiety.

Using an experimental methodology, the present study assessed college students’ perceptions of a male peer who presented himself on Facebook in either an objectified or nonobjectified manner. One hundred eighty-nine college students (n = 111 women, n = 78 men) viewed a Facebook profile with either an objectified or a nonobjectified profile photo of the same young man and then evaluated the profile owner. They also reported on the desirability of dating the profile owner. Results indicated that the objectified profile owner was considered less competent but not less socially appealing or physically attractive. Participants liked the nonobjectified profile and profile photo better than the objectified profile and profile photo. There was also more interest in a committed dating relationship with the nonobjectified profile owner than the objectified profile owner. Findings suggest that using an objectified profile photo on Facebook may come with some costs for young men.

The aim of the present study was to validate the Inventory of the Dimensions of Emerging Adulthood (IDEA) questionnaire in Spain. The IDEA questionnaire is the only validated measure for assessing the characteristics of the emerging adulthood period. A Spanish translation of the IDEA was administered to a sample of 1,435 Spanish undergraduate students. Three confirmatory factor analyses were tested: the six-factor model proposed in the original scale by Reifman, Arnett, and Colwell, a second model with five factors proposed in the initial conception by Arnett, and a third model excluding the instability/negativity dimension. All three were found to have acceptable fit. The results support the validity of the questionnaire in the Spanish context, thus enabling cross-cultural comparisons.

Differences in exposure to racial discrimination and in coping mechanisms can shape physiological health among emerging adults. This study, grounded in the Biopsychosocial Model, examines whether John Henryism active coping moderates the relation between exposure to racial discrimination and blood pressure in Black college students (N = 128, M _age = 19.33) attending a predominantly White institution. Analyses showed that John Henryism moderated the relation between racial discrimination and diastolic blood pressure but not systolic blood pressure. When participants reported using mean and high levels of John Henryism, more frequent exposure to racial discrimination was significantly associated with higher diastolic blood pressure, B _mean = 1.70, t(92) = 2.11, p = .038; B _high = 1.91, t(92) = 2.33, p = .022. Results suggest that more frequent exposure to racial discrimination, in the context of increased use of John Henryism, may be associated with greater cardiovascular risk for Black individuals during the transition to adulthood.