Journal of Adolescent Research

The association of more crime with youthful age is widely accepted in social science. However, a literature search revealed no studies of the age-crime relationship that controlled for young ages’ economic disadvantage. This research gap is addressed using the California Criminal Justice Statistics Center’s arrest detail and Census poverty statistics for 2010. When poverty rates were controlled, younger and older ages’ violence disparities largely disappeared. Where teenagers and emerging adults display typical middle-aged demographics (two thirds non-Latino, White, or Asian, poverty levels under 10%), they display “middle-aged” violent crime rates; where ages 40 to 69 have typical teenage demographics (54% Black or Latino, 17% in poverty), they display “teenaged” violent crime levels. These findings challenge conventional theories associating violence with young age.

The present article responds to Males and Brown’s “Teenagers’ High Arrest Rates: Features of Young Age or Youth Poverty?” which claims that the widely observed pattern of crime rates peaking in late adolescence or early adulthood is an artifact of age differences in poverty. We note that the authors’ interpretation of their aggregated data is an example of the ecological fallacy. Drawing inferences about individual behavior from macro-level data can lead to erroneous conclusions and does so in the case of Males and Brown’s analysis. Moreover, the authors overlook research that has used more appropriate methods to examine age-related change in criminal behavior while accounting for the effects of economic factors and still found a robust age–crime curve. Males and Brown’s characterization of the literature and their claims about the relationship between age and crime should be regarded with a great deal of skepticism.

Respondents, in “A Mistaken Account of the Age-Crime Curve: Response to Males and Brown,” dispute our finding that virtually all of the discrepancy in violent crime rates between adolescents/emerging adults versus older adults is explained not by young age per se but by higher poverty levels among the young. Our rejoinder argues that Respondents misunderstand our method, raise “ecological fallacy” objections that do not apply to our population-level study, and counter with a reanalysis that includes only limited ages and inadequate method to assess socioeconomic factors in crime and risk taking by age. Our examination of Respondents’ reanalysis and citations finds further support for our finding that the “age-crime” curve is an artifact of demographic and disadvantage disparities, not “adolescent risk taking.”

While openness in adoption has become more common in the United States, little research has examined contact between birth and adoptive families as adoptees become adults. Using quantitative and qualitative data from 167 emerging adult adoptees, factors characterizing contact (e.g., type, frequency, with whom), satisfaction with contact, and the influences of transitional events and significant relationships were explored. Among these variables, satisfaction with contact with birth parents in emerging adulthood was significantly associated with greater openness levels. Four qualitative case studies, representing increasing openness levels with increasing satisfaction, provided illustrations of variability in emerging adult adoptees’ experiences of contact with birth parents. Overall, with regard to openness in adoption, emerging adulthood represents a transitional period marked by substantial individual variation.

This study investigated Swedish emerging adults’ expectations on future parenthood through interviews with 124 Swedish emerging adults who were not yet parents. Thematic analysis showed that most participants were sure they wanted to become parents, but not right now. First, they wanted a stable financial situation, a romantic relationship, and time for self-focus. More women than men talked about parenthood as a social norm and wanted to prioritize both work and family. More men than women wanted to prioritize either work or family before the other. The study showed that Swedish emerging adults postpone, but do not reject, parenthood and that gender differences in expectations on parenthood may contribute to a reproduction of gender inequalities in family life.

In today’s Western societies, the transition to adulthood is prolonged, creating a separate developmental phase between adolescence and adulthood referred to as emerging adulthood. Following from this general delay in adult commitment-making, a considerable number of emerging adults continues to live in the parental household. The present study was conducted in Belgium and aimed to obtain a greater understanding of the home-leaving experience by qualitatively exploring how emerging adults who live with their parents or who have taken steps toward independent living experience their residential status. Twenty Belgian emerging adults, aged 24 to 25, were questioned during an interview. Responses were analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Emerging adults’ descriptions suggest that the home-leaving process is a complex period in life characterized by feelings of ambivalence, whereby young people are simultaneously trying to combine a strong need for independence with a wish to remain connected to the parents. Implications for clinical practice and future research are discussed.

For high school community service programs to have a positive impact on subsequent civic engagement, students must volunteer in a sustained manner and must evaluate their volunteering experiences positively. Using a survey with 1,293 respondents and 100 semistructured interviews with past participants of the mandatory community service program implemented by the Ontario provincial government in 1999, the authors identify how and why students generate positive evaluations of community service requirements and whether the diversity of implementation or the mandatory nature might account for negative reactions to volunteering. The authors discuss the significance of these findings for academic debates about community service and for discussions about the ways in which public policy can promote the civic engagement of young people.