A qualitative exploration of emerging adults' and parents' perspectives on communicating adulthood status

Abstract

In this study the authors examine parent-child communication in Emerging Adulthood. Thirty-seven college students and one or both of their parents completed written questionnaires assessing whether the parent had verbally communicated or did some action to acknowledge the Emerging Adult's maturity. Communication about changes in the parent-child relationship, as well as the Emerging Adult's decision-making abilities, obligations to the family, and financial responsibilities were also assessed. The responses to the open ended questions were qualitatively analyzed using grounded theory. The findings indicated that the Emerging Adults' and parents' responses were very similar, and the overwhelming majority reported that there had indeed been an acknowledgment from the parents to indicate Emerging Adulthood status, although this was not always verbally communicated; sometimes it was indicated through the parents' behavior. © 2013: Jessica F. Jablonski, Sara Martino, and Nova Southeastern University.