A REACTION PAPER ON A STUDY ENTITLED
Employment, Sense of Coherence, and Identity
Formation: Contextual and Psychological
Processes on
the Pathway to Sense of Adulthood
By Koen Luyckx, Seth J. Shwartz, Luc
Goossens and Sophie Pollock
Written by
Marcial I. Enginco
Submitted to
Grace Koo, PhD
Professor, EDFD 210
Human Development and Learning
University of the Philippines Diliman
College of Education
SUMMARY
Emerging adulthood is a human
developmental stage that Jeffrey Arnett suggests exists between the teenage
years and adulthood, from 18 – 30 years of age.
This period, according to Arnett, became prominent only in the last 50
years as a consequence of the rapid development in western countries characterized
by a boom in education, rapid advancements in technology and the subsequent flourishing
of new industries. These factors
resulted into a limitless array of new opportunities and possibilities for
young adults, on top of the traditional roles and careers that were already
available to them. Arnett thus aptly describes
this stage as an age of exploration, instability and possibilities.
This study conducted by Luyckx, et
al seeks to explain how key contextual conditions and psychological processes
relate to an emerging adult’s transition to adulthood. Luyckx and company gathered a total of 317
respondents aged 18 to 30, 143 of which are college students, and 174 are
already part of the workforce. They were
made to answer a questionnaire that measured, among others, how: they classified
themselves as adults, identified with commitment, and explored their
environment for potential commitments.
The objective of the study was to
test the following hypotheses:
A.
That being employed, as contrasted with
attending college, and scoring high on Sense of Coherence (SOC) would
positively relate to achieving a sense of adulthood;
B.
That being employed, as contrasted with
attending college, would positively relate to commitment making and negatively
to exploration dimensions;
C.
That those who perceived themselves as adults
would score higher than those who did not perceive themselves as such in
commitment making and identification with commitment, and those who did not
perceive themselves as full-fledged adults would score higher than those who
did on exploration dimensions, and that enactment of identity commitments would
be the most important identity process mediating the pathway from both
independent variables to sense of adulthood, and;
D.
That the original direct paths from college
versus employment and from SOC to sense of adulthood would be substantially
reduced when including identity dimensions as mediating variables.
The study revealed that
college-attending emerging adults scored higher on the exploration dimensions
and lower on commitment making and sense of adulthood than working emerging
adults. Likewise, respondents who
classified themselves as adults scored higher on SOC and identification
commitment but lower on ruminative exploration than those who did not. In the area of commitment making and sense of
adulthood, those who say they are adults scored significantly higher those who
stated that they had reached adulthood in some respects but not in others. The latter in turn had significantly higher
scores than those who claimed they had not reached adulthood at all.
The study has also affirmed, as
previous studies did, that commitment making and commitment identification are
interrelated. These dimensions are also
positively related to exploration in breadth and depth but negatively related
to ruminative exploration. The SOC was
positively related to both commitment dimensions and negatively to ruminative
exploration. Meanwhile, sense of
adulthood was positively related to SOC and to the commitment dimensions, but
negatively to ruminative exploration.
NEW LEARNINGS
Adulthood is a destination that
every normal and capable individual must reach at some point in his life. However, there exists no standard procedure
or timetable to activate and actualize such progression. Those who are thrust into adult roles (through
pregnancy, marriage, death of head/s of a family) early in their lives get to
it – albeit forced -- faster, while some are mired or, should I say, processed
by circumstances, events and situations that result in the delayed onset of
adulthood. On the other hand, an
unfortunate few are, for some reason, not inclined to get there at all.
In many societies the commonly
accepted legal age, and what many subscribe to as the marker for adulthood, is
pegged at 18. At this age one may already
vote, get a valid driver’s license, go to movies with sensitive content, and is
expected to generally behave like an adult who can and will arrive at sound
decisions especially where important life-matters are concerned; failure to do
so would mean that the person is either immature, irresponsible, or both. While turning 18 does open the gate for many
adult activities, responsibilities and privileges, expecting the emerging adult
to behave accordingly is rather unfair and unrealistic as the results of this
study clearly show that it is not the individual’s age but rather his
willingness to commit to traditional adult roles (marriage, child rearing,
financial independence) that gives him a firm sense of coherence about his
adulthood.
The study also underscores the role
of the socio-economic environment in determining the rate by which an emerging
adult will develop into a mature individual.
Arnett observed that the emerging adulthood stage is more pronounced in
more advanced environments. Hence, highly
industrialized countries such as Belgium offer emerging adults with a host of
opportunities and options in terms of professional and personal growth that may
not necessarily be available to their counterparts in lesser developed
countries such as the Philippines where adult commitments such as marriage,
choice of career or family stewardship often become a matter of course, not of
choice. Thus, emerging adults in
wealthier countries tend to enjoy a longer maturation period, helped along by a
society that leaves more room for the hesitation and exploration that
characterize this period of identity formation.
It is no wonder then that a significant number of respondents who
considered themselves as adults are already into their late 20s and early 30s;
most of them have securely committed themselves to marriage and/or a parent
role, and have a steady source of employment that leads to financial
independence.
This finding, I suspect, will be
met with incredulity, and perhaps a tinge of sarcasm by Filipinos whose average
marrying age is between 22 – 25 (as compared to 32 – 35 for Belgians), and who
are accustomed to pushing children to assume adult roles as early as possible (e.g.,
elder children are trained to act as
second parents and providers, constant use of elder tags such as Kuya, Ate,
Ninong, Ninang, etc). However, as the country continues to make strides in
the economic front and with more young adults being exposed to better education
and, ergo – opportunities, I believe that it won’t be long before the onset of
adulthood and the need to make identity-related commitments, especially
marriage, will be set back several years – then, perhaps the concept of
emerging adulthood stage may be generally assimilated by Filipinos in their
understanding of the maturation process.
STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES
The researchers ably built their
investigation on the headways made by other psychologists such as J. Arnett who
introduced the concept of emerging adulthood, L.J. Nelson and C. M. Barry who
used self-classification to identify the distinguishing features of emerging
adults, and E. Erikson who as far back as 1968, laid down the framework for identity
development.
The researchers may also be lauded
for their meticulous selection of subjects that comprised a balanced dichotomy
of points of view between emerging adults in college and those who are from the
labor force, culled from a wide cross-section of industries. Along this line, the researchers even
excluded 28 prospective respondents belonging to the workforce sample as they
have obtained college degrees, which make them too similar to the college
student sample.
But while it is understandable that
emerging adults who are neither schooling nor working were excluded from the
study, it would be interesting if a parallel study specifically directed at this
group was conducted to ascertain their capacity to become full-fledged adults,
and the barriers and challenges that they may encounter as they travel their
unique path towards adulthood. I suppose
valuable information may be obtained to help integrate this segment to the
mainstream of productive society.
Though there is a discrepancy in
the economic standing of Belgium and our country, the Philippines, I can observe
similarities between the societal makeup of Belgians and Filipinos that should
make the findings of the study somewhat applicable and relevant to a Philippine
setting, particularly to the sectors of
the society that have been exposed to tertiary education and/or industrial and
corporate environments. According to the
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) there is a wide
gap in the distribution of wealth among Belgians with the top 20% of the
population enjoying income that is 4 times higher than those in the bottom 20%
of the social strata. Further, a large
number of emerging Belgian adults still rely on their parents for financial assistance. In addition, compared with other western
countries where emerging adults are expected to move out of their parents’
house once they leave for college, 4 out 5 Belgians under the age of 24 still
stay with their parents. This family
orientation I believe plays an integral role in the identity formation of the
respondents which reflected in their response to the survey questions.
IMPLICATIONS
It is interesting to note that teenagers
announce their transition into early adulthood by fiercely demanding for their
independence; insisting that parents or caregivers stay away from their choice
of friends, clothes, activities and pursuits.
In their young mind they are doing what they think adults do without
realizing that their very act of tentative exploration into the adult world is at
the very core of why they are called minors, in age, action and psychological
profile. But as they enter their college
years, emerging adults can be caught silly by an overwhelming array of choices,
some of which will ultimately define who they are as adults. It is in this
critical period of early identity formation that the findings of this study may
be used by educators and parents to guide emerging adults as they explore in
breadth future directions and, should they find paths that they can identify
with, provide support, encouragement and direction until sufficient commitment can
be engaged.
Further, the results of this study
can help parents better understand the psychological and emotional framework of
emerging adults; allowing them to adjust their parenting approach to include
motivation, guidance and reasonable tolerance for mistakes and missteps. And along this line, parents and elders will
be better served if they temper their expectations about their child’s seeming
lack of maturity and focus despite having turned 18, saving both parties bouts
of frustration and frayed nerves.
I am intrigued by the study’s
finding that it is committed relationship/s and steady source of income, not
acquiring college education, that correlate best with a firm sense of
adulthood. This argues that despite mankind’s advancement in technology and
societal sophistication, it is still the primal need for man to have the
ability to sustain life (to provide and propagate) which makes man and woman
feel like an adult. Having said that, I
think, perhaps ambitiously and controversially, that the Philippines’ economic
managers with the help of local government units may look into the possibility
of using such information to formulate economic policies that promote job
generation over standard education in certain areas of the country (such as war
torn regions, land designated for indigenous people, and resource-rich but
remotely located areas) where instituting and sustaining a high level of education
is logistically and financially not feasible.
In which case, I think that rather than using the country’s meager
financial resource to build and maintain school facilities that will offer
standardized curriculum geared towards college education, it would be more
prudent to develop products and/or services that harness the resources and
potential of a specific area, supplemented by education focused on functional
learning and trainings that will allow the target individuals to become capable
and essential players in the growth of their district’s business. Essentially, what this strategy brings is a
steady source of income for individuals to provide for their families. They may not have acquired high education,
but they can sure claim to be adults.
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