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In medicine and the social sciences, a young adult is generally a person in the years following adolescence, sometimes with some overlap. Definitions and opinions on what qualifies as a young adult vary, with works such as Erik Erikson's stages of human development significantly influencing the definition of the term; generally, the term is often used to refer to adults in approximately the age range of 18 to 45 years. Some inclusive definitions extend the range into the early to mid 40s, while others end earlier.
Over 65 million Americans born approximately from 1990 to 2006, would likely fall under this category. The young adult stage in human development precedes middle age.Martin Briner, Erik Erikson page , 1999, on Briner's site about learning theories , Department of Mathematical Sciences, Center for Assessment and Program Evaluation, US Military Academy at West Point. Accessed 24 November 2006.
The phrase "young adult" is frequently used to market young adult novels to readers in the literary industry of young adult literature. These are books targeted at children down to ages 13 or 14. This broad extension of young adult to minors has been disputed, as they are not considered adults by the law or in most cultures, outside of religion (such as the Bar or Bat Mitzvah in Judaism), and the tradition of biological adulthood beginning at puberty has become archaic.
This period imposes many challenges in the health and well being, as well as psychological development of humans.
Young adults tend to have a lower voter turnout than people of middle age or old age.
Some have suggested that after Pre-adulthood... in the first 20 years or so... the second era, Early Adulthood, lasts from about age 16/17 to 45... the adult era of greatest energy and abundance and of greatest contradiction and stress.' Within that framework, 'the Early Adult Transition (17–22) is a developmental bridge between pre-adulthood and early adulthood', recognizing that 'the transition into adulthood is not a clear-cut dividing line'. One might alternatively speak of 'a Provisional Adulthood (18–30)... & the initiation to First Adulthood' as following that. Alternatively, MIT has generally defined "young adulthood" as 18 to 22 or 18 to 25, although this is likely to align with the typical age range of college students.
Despite all such fluidity, there is broad agreement that it is essentially the twenties and thirties that constitute Early adulthood... the basis for what Daniel Levinson calls the Dream—a vision of his or goals in life which provide motivation and enthusiasm for the future.'
As teens transition into young adulthood, engagement in risky behavior may be noticeable, which may result in health risks such as "unintended injury, unprotected sex, violence, binge drinking, motor vehicle incidents, suicide, and poor diet and nutrition." 75% of deaths during the young adult years are due to risky behavior or mental health crises leading to suicide. In developed countries, for the 18–45 age group are typically very low. Men are more likely to die at this age than women, particularly in the 18–25 group: reasons include car accidents and suicide. Mortality statistics among men and women level off during the late twenties and thirties, due in part to good health and less risk-taking behavior.
There has been an increase in the presence of mental illness among young adults globally. This increase has been linked to factors such as diet and exercise. Those dealing with the effects of mental illness are more likely to indulge in food that lacks nutrients and is high in sugar, salt, and fats. Mental illnesses and risk taking behaviors correlate to the transition between the teen years and adulthood.
Regarding disease, cancer is much less common in young than in older adults. Exceptions are testicular cancer, cervical cancer, and Hodgkin's lymphoma.
In sub-Saharan Africa, HIV/AIDS has hit the early adult population particularly hard. According to a United Nations report, AIDS has significantly increased mortality between ages 20 to 55 for African males and 20 to 45 for African females, reducing the life expectancy in South Africa by 18 years and in Botswana by 34 years.
Where isolation is avoided, the young adult may find instead that 'satisfactory sex relations... in some way take the edge off the hostilities and potential rages caused by the oppositeness of male and female, of fact and fancy, of love and hate'; and may grow into the ability to exchange intimacy, love, and compassion.
In modern societies, young adults in their late teens and early 20s encounter a number of issues as they finish school and begin to hold full-time jobs and take on other responsibilities of adulthood; and 'the young adult is usually preoccupied with self-growth in the context of society and relationships with others.' The danger is that in 'the second era, Early Adulthood... we must make crucially important choices regarding marriage, family, work, and lifestyle before we have the maturity or life experience to choose wisely.'
While 'young adulthood is filled with avid quests for intimate relationships and other major commitments involving career and life goals', there is also "a parallel pursuit for the formulation of a set of moral values". Erikson has argued that it is only now that what he calls the 'ideological mind' of adolescence gives way to 'that Ethics sense which is the mark of the adult.'
Reaching adulthood in modern society is not always a linear or clean transition. As generations continue to adapt, new markers of adulthood are created that add different social expectations of what it means to be an adult.
Gail Sheehy, however, signposts the same twenties/thirties division differently, arguing that 'the twenties have stretched out into a long Provisional Adulthood', and that in fact 'the transition to the Turbulent Thirties marks the initiation to First Adulthood.'
Levinson thought of the midlife as a time of crisis. However, recent research shows that midlife crisis is not a general experience. Instead, individuals report their midlife to be an open and free period of life. In the midlife transition, the issue is not whether the individual has achieved or failed in accomplishing the goals they formed in the previous era. Rather the issue at hand is what the individual should be doing with the experience of disparity between their goals and outcomes.
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