Contemporary Czech Emerging Adults: Generation Growing Up in the Period of Social Changes

• NCJ Number: 219779
• Journal: Journal of Adolescent Research Volume: 22 Issue: 5 Dated: September 2007 Pages: 444-475
• Author(s): Petr Macek; Josef Bejcek; Jitka Vanickova
• Date Published: September 2007
• Length: 32 pages
• Grant Number(s): MSM0021622406
• Sponsoring Agency: Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports of the Czech Republic
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Two studies examined the outlooks, experiences, and feelings of contemporary emerging adults in the Czech Republic.

Abstract

Even though Czech young adults generally viewed their lives as positive and pleasant, a significant number expressed ambivalent or negative feelings. Positive feelings pertained to freedom, new experiences, and an uninhibited enjoyment of the present moment. Negative feelings pertained to anxiety and doubts about their ability to cope with emerging adult responsibilities, avoidance of responsibility for their behavior, and concerns about how to make the best use of possibilities available to them in their 30s. Many preferred living with their parents for economic and security reasons, so long as they had an acceptable degree of independence and freedom from parental supervision. Czech young adults generally feel positive about the short-term (the next few years) as a period for pursuing one's own interests, self-fulfillment, and education; however, they expressed anxiety about the long-term experiences and responsibilities of career, marriage, and family. Currently, the Czech Republic is a typical industrial postmodern society that extends the period of psychosocial development for youth into their 30s. Identity formation forged through the exercise of freedom and the development and pursuit of new interests and experiences has become a prelude to commitments and responsibilities that involve career, marriage, family, and community. In the first study, 436 youth ages 18 to 27 were questioned about whether or not they felt this period of their lives involved becoming a full adult with all the attendant responsibilities or an in-between period prior to assuming full adult responsibilities. In the second study, eight women and seven men ages 18 to 26 were questioned about their feelings of being in a life period prior to adulthood, relationships with their parents, and their perspectives and possibilities for their futures. 4 tables and 36 references