DEFINICIONES OPERACIONALES

Aurélie Mary

School of Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Tampere

Abstract – The current concept of adulthood became standardised in the 1950s–1960s, when advanced societies experienced a phase of unprecedented socio-economic prosperity after the Second World War. This allowed the majority of young people to fulfil the criteria for adulthood in a concise period. In oppo- site, the wider discourse implies that today’s young people lengthen their youth and delay their entry into adulthood, and simultaneously deny their social duties. However, this interpretation is based on an increas- ingly anachronistic model of transition. Today’s young people experience the consequences of economic downturn and restructuring. They are compelled to adapt to the present conditions and forge new pathways of transition that alter the routes to adulthood established in the past-war period. Profound socio-economic upheavals contributed to transforming patterns of transition. This paper reflects upon empirical research conducted among female university students about to start working life in Finland and France. It discusses the current approach to adulthood and sheds light on characteristics young people increasingly associate with the concept of adulthood: individual psychological and emotional maturity, and mental development.

Introduction and Background

The phenomenon of the prolongation of youth is at the heart of socio-political debates since the past thirty years. Youth experts affirm that transitions to adulthood have lengthened and follow unpredictable pat- terns. Rather than being synchronised into consecutive sequences, many young people’s routes to adult- hood deviate from the ‘traditional’ patterns of transition. The majority of young people in the 1950s–1960s fulfilled the subsequent markers of completing school, getting a permanent job, becoming financially inde- pendent, leaving the parental home, settling down, getting married and starting a family in a brief period and linear order. Contemporary pathways of transition have become unconventional, fragmented, unsteady, and might follow a reversal of circumstances (see Bradley and van Hoof 2005).

Youth prolongation started to be noticed in the 1980s (see Galland 1990; Kiley 1983). Recently, several authors have investigated the changing nature of the process of transition and suggested that a new life stage, between the phases of adolescence and adulthood, was taking shape (e.g. Arnett 2004; Côté 2000; Heath and Cleaver 2003). Arnett (2004) refers to ‘emerging adulthood’, a separate stage taking place be- tween adolescence and adulthood, and Heath and Cleaver (2003) to ‘youth-hood’. The process of transition is nevertheless multidimensional and heterogeneous between different sub-groups of young people, rather than uniform (see Miles 2000). Transitions vary according to young people’s socio-economic background, gender, ethnic origins, level of education and geographical location (rural or urban settings). In addition, the different structural backgrounds and ideologies operating in each country give place, for example, to diver- gent welfare regimes, education systems or family related policies, which undeniably influence pathways of transitions too.

123 Several studies argue that young people are neither extending the period of youth nor experiencing a new phase in the life span. Rather than delaying entry into adulthood, the youth react to wider socio- economic fluctuations and simultaneously develop new coping strategies (e.g. Blatterer 2007b; 2007c; Hartmann and Swartz 2006; Mary 2012; Settersten et al. 2005; Wyn 2004). One could argue that the life course is taking a new direction, and whether a new life stage is emerging might be wrongly addressed. Young people are simply forging the trail for new routes to adulthood adapted to the context in which they live.

Social concepts, alike social structures, are not impervious to alterations. The current concept of adult- hood became standardised in the 1950–1960s, when the majority of young people fulfilled specific markers associated with adulthood at an accelerated pace, and in a chronological order. Advanced societies were experiencing a phase of unprecedented socio-economic prosperity after the Second World War, which al- lowed young people to reach the qualifiers for adulthood in a condensed period (Blatterer 2007b). In con- trast, contemporary young people meet the consequences of socio-economic instabilities. They experience great difficulties integrating into the labour market, which hinders their possibilities of attaining financial independence, an autonomous status, and starting a family.

In this regard, the highlight on the phenomenon of youth prolongation might be a misconception caused by an outdated social concept and outmoded expectations. The current definition of adulthood is eroding in the eyes of many young people, who increasingly associate coming of age with mental and emo- tional development rather than social indicators. Molgat (2007: 496–497) argues that adulthood is a psycho- logical period founded on existential maturation and an increasing sense of personal responsibility and in- dependence. Reaching adulthood is a psychological process that takes several years to complete, rather than being the mere result of the achievement of a list of social criteria. However, youth experts continue to measure adulthood with the ability to attain these criteria. Several youth researchers propose a redefinition of the concept of adulthood and restructuring of the theoretical framework of transition (e.g. Andrew et al. 2007; Blatterer 2007a; Mary 2012; Wyn 2004). Acknowledging the new routes of transition that many young people follow today would allow a better recognition of their socio-economic abilities and position within the wider societal sphere.

This paper examines the experiences of transition to adulthood of a group of young academic women about to complete their studies and to start working life in Finland and France. The paper first introduces the methods utilised to investigate the apparent phenomenon of youth prolongation. Second, the study re- sults are presented into three parts: 1) Informants’ evaluation of the difference between ‘being’ and ‘feeling’ adult; 2) The measurement of adulthood with the ability to combine social and individual characteristics; 3) How young women negotiate the attainment of adulthood in contemporary societal context.

Material and Methods

The present paper reflects upon the results of an in-depth empirical study conducted in Finland and France. Mainstream literature on youth transitions essentially comes from English-speaking countries. The theories

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emerging in those countries are often taken-for-granted and believed as applying to other advanced socie- ties. However, each country presents a different societal background that influences and shapes youth tran- sitions. New routes to adulthood are empirically under-explored in non-English speaking countries. This study thus investigated patterns of transition in Finland and France, and offers nuances to existing literature and theories on youth patterns of transitions.

The primary data comes from 22 in-depth qualitative interviews carried out with young female universi- ty students aged 21 to 30, about to complete their study curriculum and to enter working life. Eleven inter- views were conducted in France in Lyon (in French) and eleven in Finland in Tampere (in English and Finnish) in 2008. The research examines the variation between different societal institutions in Finland and France from the point of view of one group of individuals, rather than focusing on various subgroups of young people. Young women were solicited to answer questions in relation to these structural institutions: the higher-educational system, the labour market, and family institution. The study investigated: 1) How young women assessed their own routes of transition in comparison to that of their parents; 2) How in- formants evaluated the concept of adulthood; and 3) How they negotiated their own status of adulthood in the present societal context.

The study focused on young women as a result of the evolutions of women’s social position evolutions since the Second World War, in particular, their increased access to higher education, entry into the labour force and new legal protections. The debate around the prolongation of education and transition to work- ing life guided the choice for examining university students. The research informants shared many charac- teristics, so as to obtain analogous data. They were from the fields of social sciences and humanities, had reached the end of their curriculum (either Bachelors or Masters), and were about to enter working life or pursue further study. The choice of the respondents has nonetheless influenced the results of the study. Analysing another group of individuals, for instance upper class young women, lower educated young men or simply students from another discipline, would have produced different conclusions.