Negotiating adulthood : establishing an adult identity through offline and online social networks.

Abstract

Many young adults are moving back home, putting off marriage and having fewer children than previous generations as an act of negotiating adulthood in a harsh socioeconomic climate. Social networking sites have increased in users and are spaces for connection and socializing. How are young adults defining adulthood in a context of rapid and complex societal and technological change? I interviewed fifteen young adults between the ages of 22 to 32. From these interviews I determined that young adults have a great amount of freedom in negotiating what markers are of importance and how to achieve them. They experience this type of freedom as a result of their class and the support of their family. Social networking sites are as a space for expression, however this behavior hasn't become common practice.