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Social Construction of Adulthood

In contrast to biological perspectives of aging and adulthood, social scientists conceptualize adulthood as a socially constructed. (Elder et al. 2003; Settersten 1999) While aging is of course a biological process, the attainment of adulthood is social in its criteria.

In contrast to other perspectives that conceptualize aging and the attainment of adulthood as a largely universal development, regardless of context, nation, generation, gender, race, or social class, social scientists regardless these aspects of the social world and identity as paramount in cultural definitions of adulthood. (Ryff 1985)

Further evidence of adulthood as a social construction is illustrated by the changing criteria of adulthood over time. Historically, adulthood in the US has rested on completing one’s education, moving away from the family of origin, and beginning one’s career. (Arnett 1998; Levinson 1978; Shanahan 2000) Other key historical criteria include entering a marriage and becoming a parent. As social scientists have observed, not only are these criteria social and subjective, but they are also organized by gender, race, ethnicity, social class, along with other key identity markers. As a result, particular populations “feel” adult earlier in the life course than do others. (Barrett 2003; Barrett 2005)

Contemporary experiences of and research on young adults today substitute more seemingly subjective criteria for adulthood which resonate more soundly with young adults' experiences of aging (Aronson 2008; Furstenberg 2005). The new criteria are marked by a growing “importance of individualistic criteria and the irrelevance of the demographic markers” of normative conceptions of adulthood (Shanahan et al. 2005: 230). In particular, younger cohorts attainment of adulthood centers on three criteria: gaining a sense of responsibility, independent decision-making, and financial independence (Arnett 2004).