Elias Nader is an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminology at Kent State University. He is a criminologist who studies the maturation of young adults and their desistance from crime, as well as evaluating justice system policy and practice. His most recent work has been published in Criminal Justice and Behavior and Crime and Delinquency, and his research funded by the Russell Sage Foundation. Here, I ask him about his new book, Growing up and out of crime: Desistance, maturation, and emerging adulthood, which is out now from Routledge. You can find out more about Elias and his work on his university profile. And you can follow him on Twitter @eliasnader_
AMW: How have the developmental norms and expectations for young people aged 18-25 shifted from previous generations?
EN: This has really been the question on the minds of developmental psychologists for the past decade or two! We’ve seen some major shifts in the demographic profiles of today’s young people compared to previous generations for reaching milestones of adulthood such as older ages for marriage, becoming a parent, and home-ownership. These shifts are the result of changes in our societal norms and expectations over the last quarter of the 20th century, such as women entering the workforce and an increased emphasis on higher education, as well as structural shifts such as in the economy, job market, and housing market.
The delays in achieving the milestones of adulthood have created space for young people to explore their identities and roles in society – who they are, who they want to be, what they want to do, and how they want to contribute. Young people spend the ages of 18-25 exploring and testing out identities and experiences across the domains of their relationships (friends, family, romantic), employment and education, values, and perspective of the world. This exploration is acceptable and encouraged, meaning that young people are spending this time slowly emerging into adulthood until they are about 25, instead of viewing themselves as adults immediately at 18.
Our understanding of this social and structural context has been coupled with evidence that most of our brains typically continue to develop until we are around 25 years old. Thus, it makes sense why more people tend to behave impulsively or act “immaturely” during this phase in the life course while their brains finish developing.
AMW: How do delays in young people achieving typical turning points into adulthood affect how maturation influence folks to refrain from committing crime?
EN: These delays have major implications for the study of desistance, or the cessation of crime. Classical criminological theory argues that youth are generally more impulsive than adults and are more likely to take risks including violating societal norms, breaking rules, and engaging in crime. As young people age into adulthood, they embrace “turning points” in their life course that allow them to view themselves as adults. These are the adulthood milestones I mentioned, things like getting married, buying a house, getting a job, etc. These turning points have an added benefit of facilitating the desistance from crime. As young people take on these turning points into adulthood, they become less impulsive and are less willing to take risks as they have more to lose. This process is somewhat natural or automatic for the majority of young people engaged in delinquency or crime. They will just grow up and age out of crime.
So, if we are expecting young people to use the time from 18-25 to explore their identities and their place in society, how are those who rely on adulthood markers to stop engagement in crime affected by this shift? Essentially, they are under an extended period of impulsivity and risk for crime. Behaviors that might be typical of adolescents or teenagers can extend into this period of the early twenties as young people are still developing biologically, socially, and psychologically. Young adults, however, have left the purview of protections provided to juveniles through the juvenile justice system and the education system. While their impulsive behavior might be developmentally appropriate, society can only label them as deviants and criminals. This likely has a huge impact for young people who are trying to find out who they are and what they want to do in society. When they get labeled as criminals in this phase of life, it might be a label they internalize as defining their identity.
AMW: How do relationships and social supports play a role?
EN: Relationships and social supports play a major role in influencing the maturation of young people. They provide the context and conditions for who we are, and for young adults they are the place where identity exploration and access to turning points largely exists.
Within the ages of 18 – 25, the context of a young person’s relationships is shifting as they emerge into adulthood. Their expectations of relationships and social supports are changing from adolescence, providing new challenges and opportunities for pathways in and out of deviance. Peers and friends, for example, are amongst the most important of relationships, and potentially the most criminogenic. Juveniles tend to prioritize larger groups of friends with more acquaintances, valuing things like popularity. Juveniles are also often more likely to participate in deviant behavior with peers or when members of their social networks are already involved in crime. As young people emerge into adulthood, the value they place on these relationships shifts to emphasize the quality of friendships. Young people begin to prioritize smaller, more intimate friend groups where they can rely on and trust their peers at a deeper level. They actively engage in a process of trimming down their friend groups, often cutting criminogenic friends out of their networks.
Relationships with parents and families are also amongst the most important for keeping young people out of crime. The expectations of the relationship with parents in young adulthood shifts from adolescence and the teenage years. Young adults often express better relationships with their parents when they are able to establish autonomy from them. Material independence from parents, such as being able to pay your own bills or living outside the family home, are important markers for today’s young person in their transition to adulthood. While material independence is prioritized, young adults also emphasize building or maintaining close emotional attachments with their parents and families. So, the protective nature of familial relationships shifts from one of oversight and material support to one of emotional support.
These changes extend to a myriad of relationship types and social supports. For example, marriage has historically been one of the largest protective factors against criminality and facilitators of the cessation of crime. Young people in previous generations often got married below the age of 25. Today’s young person is spending this time exploring romantic relationships and partnerships and getting married closer to 30. Changes such as these shift how romantic relationships can protect against delinquency. In this case, this positive turning point into adulthood is often absent in the 18-25 period, leaving these young people at a risk for prolonged engagement in risk taking and exploration, and thus potentially deviance and crime.
Alicia M. Walker is Associate Professor of Sociology at Missouri State University and the author of two previous books on infidelity. She is the current editor of the Council of Contemporary Families blog. Learn more about her on her website. Follow her on Twitter at @AliciaMWalker1 and Instagram @aliciamwalkerphd
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