Why Am I Even Called An Emerging Adult? An Analysis of Adulthood Experience Among Students From Poland, Japan, Korea, Portugal, Spain, and the USA

Emerging adulthood is a period during which individuals shape their lives in increasingly individualized ways. This paper examines how emerging adults experience and interpret adulthood by identifying profiles based on their subjective experiences. The study involved 129 university students (87 female, 39 male, 3 non-binary) from Spain, Portugal, Japan, Korea, Poland, and the USA, who shared reflective essays via an online survey. The sample, drawn from higher-education contexts, offers cross-national perspectives while primarily reflecting the experiences of university-attached youth. Using a constructivist approach, qualitative content analysis was conducted within a mixed-methods framework. Categories of experiences were developed inductively and then deductively, supported by a detailed coding manual and coder training, yielding high intercoder reliability. Hierarchical cluster analysis identified three profiles: (1) Emerging adulthood as uncertainty and struggle; (2) Emerging adulthood as strengthening community and self; and (3) Emerging adulthood as a sense of responsibility and self-awareness. These profiles highlight the complexity and subjectivity of emerging adulthood, emphasizing the need for nuanced perspectives in understanding this developmental stage.