"If You Want Me to Treat You Like an Adult, Start Acting Like One!" Comparing the Criteria That Emerging Adults and Their Parents Have for Adulthood

• Published in: Journal of family psychology 2007-12, Vol.21 (4), p.665-674
• Main Authors: Nelson, Larry J, Padilla-Walker, Laura M, Carroll, Jason S, Madsen, Stephanie D, Barry, Carolyn McNamara, Badger, Sarah
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult - psychology; Adult Children; Adult Children - psychology; Adult Development; Adult Offspring; Adulthood; Adults; Aged; Attitudes; Biological and medical sciences; Children; College Students; Couple and family; Emerging Adulthood; Families & family life; Family Roles; Fathers; Fathers - psychology; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gender; Gender Identity; Human; Humans; Internet; Life Stage Transitions; Life transitions; Male; Middle Aged; Mothers; Mothers - psychology; Parent Child Relations; Parent-Child relationships; Parental Attitudes; Parenting - psychology; Parents; Parents & parenting; Psychological aspects; Psychology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Social psychology; Students; United States; Universities
• ISSN: 0893-3200; 1939-1293
• DOI: 10.1037/0893-3200.21.4.665

The purpose of this study was (a) to identify the criteria parents of emerging adults consider necessary and important for their children to achieve adulthood, (b) to compare parents' criteria for adulthood with the criteria espoused by emerging adults, and (c) to examine how these criteria might differ on the basis of gender of the parent and gender of the child. Participants included 392 unmarried college students, ages 18-25, and at least 1 of their parents (271 fathers, 319 mothers). Results revealed that (a) as did their children, most parents did not yet view their children as adults, (b) there was disagreement between children and their parents in the emphasis they placed on various criteria for adulthood, (c) mothers and fathers did not always agree on the importance of various criteria, and (d) the gender of both the parent and the child played a role in the criteria parents deemed important for adulthood. Taken together, the findings suggest that parents and children view the transition to adulthood differently, which might have implications for the parent-child relationship during this period of development.