Postponed adulthood: fact or artefact?

Abstract

The article presents the findings of the research concerning the period of emerging adulthood, in other words the transition phase between adolescence and early adulthood, conducted in the years 2010-2011. It has been demonstrated that becoming an adult, both in the objective dimension (taking on adult social roles – family and vocational ones) and subjective dimension (feeling of adulthood, identity characteristics and identity status, feeling of being on-time and off-time) is closely related to factors external to the individual as well as to the individual’s psychological profiles. A crucial point in entering adulthood is the completion of education. Non studying individuals assume more social roles related to adulthood, consider themselves to be more adult and to a greater extent undertake identity commitments than studying persons. People with various levels and kinds of physical disability not only take on fewer roles related to adulthood than nondisabled persons but they also hold a stronger conviction that the roles are undertaken “off time” in comparison with their non-disabled peers. On the other hand, intellectual disability is linked to lower intensity of exploration and more tenuous commitments than in the group of people without disabilities. The analysis of research results is located in the context of delaying and/or postponing the process of entering adulthood which can be observed currently not only in Poland.