Psicologia para América Latina
On-line version ISSN 1870-350X
Abstract
PONCIANO, Edna Lúcia Tinoco and SEIDL-DE-MOURA, Maria Lucia. Narratives about self and the future in emerging adulthood: subjective criteria and social markers. Psicol. Am. Lat. [online]. 2017, n.29, pp.128-146. ISSN 1870-350X.
Research on development of the self has been predominantly oriented toward the study of the independent / autonomous self. Autonomy and relation constitute the narratives about autonomous-related self. The exploration of identities, the investments in education, the postponement of marriage and parenting demarcate the experience of the youngsters and change their vision of the future. Adult identity is postponed, being constituted by subjective perception rather than by traditional social markers. Our purpose is to understand the experience of young people, from their narratives, discussing their definition of what it is to be an adult and their future perspectives. Twenty-six interviews were conducted with youngsters (18 to 25 years old), and submitted to Content Analysis. The subjective criteria of identity were confirmed when narrating about themselves as adults or not, being the responsibility related to a process of related autonomy. It is concluded that the definition of an adult person demarcates a perspective of the future and it is not completely related to the current experience.
Keywords : emerging Adulthood; subjective criteria; social markers.