Education, work, love, and leisure all shape well-being.

Reaching milestones matters, but satisfaction with work, love, and life matters more.

Ask young adults how life feels, not just what they have achieved.

At some point in your life, you have almost certainly been asked when you will (finally) graduate, get a “real job,” get married, have a baby, or buy a house. These questions can feel cutting, even when they aren’t meant to be, because they signal that you aren’t “there” yet. You haven’t done all the things you are supposed to do.

The reality is that contemporary young people transition to adulthood slowly. It takes a long time to get the education or training needed to build a career. It takes a lot of self-exploration to feel confident and comfortable building a life with another person, becoming a parent, or embracing singlehood. Researchers call this elongated path to adulthood emerging adulthood—a developmental period between ages 18 and 29 when many people lean into identity exploration, getting an education, and exploring life’s possibilities. Emerging adulthood is a time of instability and transition because people are often in progress on some of the most important building blocks of adult life: education, work, and love.

For a long........

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