Emerging Adulthood Research Paper

Words: 480
Pages: 2

One of the lesser realized advantages to online dating is that now, people can experience what is called "emerging adulthood." Emerging adulthood, as explained in the text, is a stage of life where "you have other priorities as well: getting educated, trying out different jobs...becoming a more fully developed person" (Ansari 17). As Ansari states, in the past, "getting married was the first step in adulthood...Now most young people spend their twenties and thirties in another stage of life...emerging adulthood" (16-17). Since the 1950's, the age of first marriage has steadily increased for both men and women from early 20's well into the late 20's. Overall however, the age of first marriage has been and still is, lower for women than for …show more content…
In fact, "until they got married, these women were pretty much stuck at home under fairly strict adult supervision and lacked basic adult autonomy" (17-18). Historically, women marry to escape "their parents but [this] made them dependent on a man who might or might not treat them well and then saddled them with the responsibilities of homemaking and child rearing" (19). In a survey Ansari conducted with a group of older women, many women admitted that although they were "happily married," they still wished that they had a chance to experience their own emerging adulthood (19). For many women in the 50's and 60's, marriage was the next step out of high school. For many women today, college or a job is the next step out of high school. With the introduction of online dating and the concept of emerging adulthood, women are given are a chance to build themselves up so that they are self-sufficient, so that they are not dependent on a man. This is a step above what it used to be in the past, because now, if a woman is in an abusive relationship, it is possible for her to leave without fear of being unable to survive on her own. Likewise, men are also getting married