These 2 behaviors help those moving into adulthood thrive

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7 days ago

Emerging adults can find their 20s a place to begin flourishing or a period that could lead them to crash and burn. It turns out that early adult decisions in their 20s don't stay there, but follow them into their 30s.
It hinges on life choices. But which ones set a person up for success in the future? And just avoiding negative ones doesn't mean you'll flourish. A new study says you have to actively choose to do positive things, as well.
The study was published in the journal Emerging Adulthood.
According to researchers from Brigham Young University, getting more education and volunteering in one's 20s are two choices that rank high when it comes to how good one's relationships, sense of well-being and life satisfaction will be in one's 30s.
But they're not the only choices possible. The years from 18 to 29 provide opportunities for all kinds of things, including experimenting with sex or substances, dabbling in crime and choosing careers. With a break from parental controls, young people can set their schedules, pick or reject jobs, eat what they want and choose where and with whom to live.
Study co-author Larry Nelson, a BYU family life professor, described the 20s as a time of instability and excitement and change. Friends are graduating and moving away from each other. Young adults may get married. They move during this age more than at any other time in their lifespan. They choose jobs or careers or majors and change them, too.
'There's a lot of instability in their lives and complete autonomy to do what they want,' he said.
Past generations, he noted, typically married younger and that marriage produced some structure. Young men in previous generations were more likely than now to transition into adulthood in the military, which provides a lot of structure. Young women had very rigid role expectations and now have more choices.
So many choices, good and bad
Nelson said while he celebrates the greater range of choices, it can be challenging without any structure and 'they're doing all that with a brain that's not yet fully developed. So that combination of things mean that the 20s is the peak period for a lot of challenging things,' including risky sex and reckless driving, substance use, onset of mental illness, criminal behavior, different eating habits, self harm and more.
He said young people can thrive or find themselves with criminal records, addictions, health problems and fewer friends if they're not careful.
But Nelson said that research shows many young people don't see it that way. They believe their 20s are a time for experimenting, including with things that might be risky.
Nor are emerging adults choosing to be good or to take chances. Choices are complex and varied. One can be both a volunteer and a criminal. So Nelson and his co-authors considered what each choice in the 20s contributed to well-being in the 30s, finding education and volunteering were particularly strong at predicting good relationships, life satisfaction and a sense of overall well-being.
The study notes that while many experts agree emerging adulthood is a distinct developmental period, little work has examined how it impacts later development.
The researchers note some limitations, including the fact that people in the survey were asked to remember their 20s and what they did some years later. But while most studies of people in their 20s utilize a kind of captive audience of college students, Nelson noted the strength of a more representative group of 20-somethings.
Tracking behavior over time
The researchers surveyed almost 5,000 adults between the ages of 30 and 35, using a nationally representative online survey, and asked them to reflect on the things they did in their 20s. Past activity categories included items like volunteering, education, video game use, criminal activity and risky sex.
'We didn't want to only focus on negative behaviors,' Nelson said in the study's background material. 'The absence of floundering does not mean the presence of flourishing. Just because someone avoids negative behavior doesn't mean they are doing well, that they've found purpose. They need to be proactively doing positive things, too.'
Flourishing end points in the study included life and relationship satisfaction, emotional health and general hope for the future, as well as overall regret about the past and poor emotional health. Factors like gender, income and ethnicity were controlled for to get a clear picture, he said.
Of all the behaviors studied, education and volunteering were clearly linked to positive feelings in the study participants' 30s.
The research suggests, Nelson said, that young adults can add elements to their future that will enhance their lives. The 20s are an exciting time, but looking ahead and caring for others are very good steps.
Parents can help, too, he said, by steering their children toward positive activities like volunteering.
More powerful than you think
Nelson said that the researchers found that things one would expect to be good for certain reasons have other, broader goods. For instance, education might be expected to help one land a better job, but they found it also helps with relationships and emotional health and overall well-being. People who volunteer don't just get to put it on their resume and hope it helps find a job. 'It's tied to your emotional and relationship well-being years down the road,' he said.
Volunteering offers something special to emerging adults, he added, noting that young people can fall into a trap of doing what they want in the moment and focusing just on themselves. Volunteering, on the other hand, helps young people think of others, too, and bolsters relationships. They become less self-centered and more interconnected.
Negative behaviors proved to also be more powerful than a young person might expect. Those with criminal behavior had more regret and less life satisfaction. Those who'd engaged in risky sex had lower relationship satisfaction and emotional health.
BYU professors Mallory Millett and Laura Padilla-Walker were co-authors on the study, along with former master's student Melanie Lott.
Nelson said the study builds on previous work he's done with Padilla-Walker, tracking 18- and 19-years-olds over seven years to identify positives and negatives in behavior and identifying risk factors and outcomes.
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