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Emerging adulthood
The phase of life that begins after high school, tapers off toward the late twenties, and is developed to constructing an adult life.
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Role
The characteristic behavior that is expected of a person in a particular social position, such as student, parent, married person, worker, or retiree.
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Cohabitation
Sharing a household in an unmarried romantic relationship.
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Nest-leaving
Moving out of a childhood home and living independently.
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Social clock
The concept that we regulate our passage through adulthood by an inner timetable that tells us which life activities are appropriate at certain ages.
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Age norms
Cultural ideas about the appropriate ages for engaging in particular activities or life tasks.
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On time
Being on target in a culture's timetable for achieving adult life tasks.
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Off time
Being too late or too early in a culture's timetable for achieving adult life tasks.
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Identity
In Erikson's theory, the life task of deciding who to be as a person in making the transition to adulthood.
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Role confusion
Erikson's term for a failure in identity formation, marked by the lack of any sense of a future adult path.
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Identity statuses
Marcia's four categories of identity formation: identity diffusion, identity foreclosure, moratorium, and identity achievement.
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Identity diffusion
An identity status in which the person is aimless or feels totally blocked, without any adult life path.
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Identity foreclosure
An identity status in which the person decides on an adult life path (often one spelled out by an authority figure) without any thought or active search.
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Moratorium
An identity status in which the person actively searches out various possibilities to find a truly solid adult life path. A mature style of constructing an identity.
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Identity achievement
An identity status in which the person decides on a definite adult life path after searching out various options.
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Moratorium in depth
A focused real-world look at one's chosen career to confirm that decision.
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Ethnic identity
How people come to terms with who they are as people relating to their unique ethnic or racial heritage.
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Biracial or multiracial identity
How people of mixed racial backgrounds come to terms with who they are as people in relation to their heritage.
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Flow
Csikszentmihalyi's term for feeling total absorption in a challenging, goal-oriented activity.
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