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This volume reaches beyond facile "Gen X" and "quarterlife crisis" constructs to reveal the many diverse voices of young adults - their attitudes toward life, work, relationships, peers, and identities - and incorporates the diverse perspectives of parents and employers. It is a must-have resource for developmental, school, and counseling psychologists and therapists as well as for researchers and graduate-level students.
List of contents
Introduction.- Identity.- Cultural considerations and emerging and young adulthood.- Voices of emerging and young adults: In pursuit of a career path.- Voices of emerging and young adults: From the professional to the personal.- The 'tyranny' of choice: A reexamination of the prevailing narrative.- Parental voices: 'Adjustment reactions to children's adult life'.- Voices of employers: Overlapping and disparate views.- Running on empty, running on full: Summary and synthesis.
About the author
Varda Konstam, Ph.d., a Professor at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, in the Counseling and School Psychology Department, brings range and depth in understanding the developmental period of young adults in their 20s. Her extensive teaching, research, and clinical background bring focus to the diverse perspective of the major stakeholders - parents, employers, and individuals - who are negotiating their 20s as well as those individuals who have newly emerged from this decade. Dr. Konstam weaves a tapestry that is grounded in research, nuanced in capturing the voices of multiple stakeholders, and provides a guide for understanding and navigating new patterns of behavior associated with people in their 20s.
Report
From the reviews:
"Important to all invested in facilitating adolescent development and health, the book provides an overview of the demands adolescents will face as they become adults ... . A close reading of this book reveals much more than an overview of themes drawn from the literature and a set of narratives to authenticate them. ... Konstram's work brings the framework back as a potentially useful one for understanding emerging and young adult development, and a potential bridge between the old and the new." (Jennifer L. Tanner, Journal of Youth and Adolescence, Vol. 37, 2008)
"Varda Konstam defines emerging adulthood as the period from 18 to 30, a much wider span than researchers of the past have considered. ... does a thoroughly admirable job of collecting research from a wide variety of sources across the social sciences, from scholarly and popular press books as well as traditional research journal articles and newspaper and magazine accounts. ... most students, scholars, and practitioners will find the multiplicity of perspectives and the careful capture of diverse voices engaging, thought-provoking, and useful." (Ellen L. Nuffer, PsycCRITIQUES, Vol. 53 (24), 2008)
