What is it like to become an adult in twenty-first-century America? This book takes us to four very different places—New York City, San Diego, rural Iowa, and Saint Paul, Minnesota—to explore the dramatic shifts in coming-of-age experiences across the country. Drawing from in-depth interviews with people in their twenties and early thirties, it probes experiences and decisions surrounding education, work, marriage, parenthood, and housing. The first study to systematically explore this phenomenon from a qualitative perspective, Coming of Age in America offers a clear view of how traditional patterns and expectations are changing, of the range of forces that are shaping these changes, and of how young people themselves view their lives.
Coming of Age in America The Transition to Adulthood in the Twenty-First Century
About the Book
Reviews
“[The book’s] tremendously rich portrait of young people’s pathways provides keen insight into the intricacies, twists, and turns in the process of becoming adult.”—American Journal Of Sociology
“Impressive. . . . An excellent tool for discussions about adulthood and the road to adulthood for young adults. . . . It covers much ground while extending current knowledge on the topic.”—Hennie Weiss Metapsychology Online Review
"Coming of Age in America: The Transition to Adulthood in the Twenty-first Century offers an important new contribution to the growing literature on transitions to adulthood."—Jennifer Tilton Urban Studies"Much hand-wringing has occurred over the so-called failure of young people to grow up today. This volume persuasively shows the range of forces that shape the protracted transition to adulthood. An excellent and enjoyable read." --Deborah Carr, Professor of Sociology, Rutgers University, and editor of the Encyclopedia of the Life Course and Human Development.
"The essays in this volume are written with great verve and intelligence, grounded in extensive fieldwork and careful data analysis." --Frank Furstenberg, Professor of Sociology in the Population Studies Center at the University of Pennsylvania
Table of Contents
Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Mary C. Waters, Patrick J. Carr, and Maria J. Kefalas
1. Straight from the Heartland: Coming of Age in Ellis, Iowa
Patrick J. Carr and Maria J. Kefalas
2. Transitions to Adulthood in the Land of Lake Wobegon
Teresa Toguchi Swartz, Douglas Hartmann, and Jeylan T. Mortimer
3. If You Can Make It There . . . : The Transition to Adulthood in New York City
Jennifer Holdaway
4. Coming of Age in “America’s Finest City”: Transitions to Adulthood Among Children
of Immigrants in San Diego
Linda Borgen and Rubén G. Rumbaut
5. Becoming Adult: Meanings and Markers for Young Americans
Richard A. Settersten Jr.
6. Conclusion
Maria J. Kefalas and Patrick J. Carr
Appendix: Methods
References
Contributors
Index
Awards
- 2016 Distinguished Career Award, International Migration Section, American Sociological Association