Emerging Adulthood: Resilience and Support

Purpose: This article provides an overview of emerging adulthood, recentering, and resilience of youth with disabilities. Emerging adulthood is a developmental period during which individuals experience delays in attainment of adult roles and social expectations. Recentering is a process that emerging adults experience as they make distinct shifts from adolescence to adulthood. Successful recentering is a result of supports, opportunities, and available choices. In addition, resilience is a psychological construct that manifests when positive experiences come out of adverse situations and is a key factor in one’s ability to recenter. This article also provides an overview of identified aspects of resilience within the emerging adulthood framework.

Method: A computer search of ERIC and PsycINFO was used to locate studies published between 1990 and 2013. This timeframe was selected because the genesis of emerging adulthood came about in the early 1990s (Arnett, 2006).

Results: The authors explored various factors such as social supports, self-determination, agency, adaptation, and coping that are linked to resilience and an emerging adult’s ability to recenter.

Conclusions: Important connections with evidence-based practices and considerations for professional development are discussed in assisting consumers who are emerging adults in the recentering process. There is great diversity among individuals’ supports, opportunities, and choices, and there is a need for research investigating emerging adulthood and individuals with disabilities.