What Is Adulthood? A Comparison of the Adulthood Criteria of Greek Emerging Adults and Their Parents

Abstract

Extensive research has investigated the criteria that emerging adults consider important for adulthood. Limited research has investigated this topic between adults from different age groups. This study aims to compare the criteria that emerging adults and their parents use to define adulthood. Participants included 73 Greek emerging adult and parent dyads. The emerging adult participants aged 18.5–23.6 (54.8% females), and the parent participants aged 41.3–59.5 years (82.2% females). All participants provided socio-demographic data and completed the Greek version of the Scale of Conceptions of the Transition to Adulthood. Results revealed that a) the most widely endorsed criteria for both emerging adults and their parents included accepting responsibility for one’s actions, avoiding committing petty crimes, and avoiding drunk driving, b) emerging adults assigned on average less importance than did their parents on the adulthood criteria, and c) emerging adults and their parents agree strongly on the ranking of the adulthood criteria. These results extend previous findings from China and the United States, which evidenced both congruence and disagreement between emerging adults and their parents in the criteria for adulthood. Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/00221325.2021.1957761. © 2021 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.