Youth prolongation and identity: Study of the processes of transition to adulthood in Brazilian and Spanish youngsters

Abstract

In this paper we investigate the relationship between youth prolongation in Brazilian and Spanish youngsters and the identity construction processes of these individuals. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 50 young men and women aged 25 to 29 years, half of them from Madrid/Spain and the other half from Fortaleza/Brazil. The interviews were recorded and transcribed, the speeches were organized with the Atlas-ti program through a semantic content analysis. We assume that the postponement of the thresholds of transition to adulthood leads to new experiences, discourses and meanings of "being young", creating a new ideal-typical model of "prolonged youth" and turning it into a possibility of identification for a significant group of young people. In Spain, the youth prolongation is a much more pronounced and evident phenomenon than in Brazil. However, the movement towards a youth prolongation, especially concerning the "feeling younger for longer" is also a trend among young Brazilians.