On the way but not quite there yet: Sense of adulthood and identity formation in 21-40 year olds

Comtemporary theorists stress the importance of viewing sense of adulthood as a subjective state rather than as a fixed entity achieved at a certain age. Such a subjective sense of adulthood is hypothesized to relate to developmental processes such as identity formation. The present longitudinal study (three waves spanning one year) investigated this hypothesis in a sample of 318 21-40 year olds. Cross-lagged analyses demonstrated that sense of adulthood consistently predicted increases in the making of and identification with identity commitments and decreases in maladaptive forms of identity exploration. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.