Is Gen Z resistant to growing up? A leading developmental psychologist and an expert in the
college student experience debunk this stereotype and explain how we can better support young
adults as they make the transition from adolescence to the rest of their lives. Experts and the
general public are convinced that young people today are trapped in an extended
adolescence--coddled unaccountable and more reluctant to take on adult responsibilities than
previous generations. Nancy Hill and Alexis Redding argue that what is perceived as stalled
development is in fact typical. Those reprimanding today's youth have forgotten that they once
balked at the transition to adulthood themselves. From an abandoned archive of recordings of
college students from half a century ago Hill and Redding discovered that there is nothing new
about feeling insecure questioning identities and struggling to find purpose. Like many of
today's young adults those of two generations ago also felt isolated and anxious that the path
to success felt fearfully narrow. This earlier cohort too worried about whether they could
make it on their own. Yet among today's young adults these developmentally appropriate
struggles are seen as evidence of immaturity. If society adopts this jaundiced perspective it
will fail in its mission to prepare young adults for citizenship family life and work.
Instead Hill and Redding offer an alternative view of delaying adulthood and identify the
benefits of taking additional time to construct a meaningful future. When adults set aside
judgment there is a lot they can do to ensure that young adults get the same developmental
chances they had.
