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The End of Adolescence: The Lost Art of Delaying Adulthood
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.
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.
232 pages, Hardcover
First published March 23, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 10, 2022
A brilliant and revealing look at adolescent development
What do college students from the 1970s have in common with Gen Z? Way more than you might think. This was a thought provoking, fine-grained ethnographic study that revealed powerful commonalities in youth development across generations. If you’re a parent, an educator, or a young person finding their way in the world, this will shake your assumptions and provide valuable insights about how to make the most of your education and life.
What do college students from the 1970s have in common with Gen Z? Way more than you might think. This was a thought provoking, fine-grained ethnographic study that revealed powerful commonalities in youth development across generations. If you’re a parent, an educator, or a young person finding their way in the world, this will shake your assumptions and provide valuable insights about how to make the most of your education and life.
May 25, 2023
I really enjoy the phrase "habits of mind", and I like the idea that these practices will serve one in pursuing growth for the rest of their life!
I feel like I'm not learning that much from this book in general because mostly these are lessons and values that I am already committed to as of this year. I wonder what it would have been like for me to read this book before college or a year ago though before I had realized these lessons. Regardless, I still find the narratives described in this book comforting to know that the experiences I am having in college mirror and are shared by most other students!
This book only slyly acknowledges that the college interviewees from the 1970s are all Harvard students, yet still claims that the findings of this book are generalizable to all young adults in this college age. They make some statements acknowledging that the college-going population is a privileged one, but I find their lack of ownership that these students are all at Harvard to be a real lack of acknowledging the limitations of these findings. Harvard students do have more breadth and ability to explore with fewer consequences of having to find a job because, by the nature of attending the most prestigious institution in the world, they have more stability and room for risk. To say that all college students can equally spend time pursuing a passion or finding oneself is to deny the complex experiences of all college students and students who pursue college for quite different reasons. However, an acknowledgment of this limitation would've sufficed in reconciling how these results might be most applicable to students at elite institutions, and I still think that the trends of delaying adulthood describe are generally applicable to most college students.
I also wish there was an opportunity for discussion about LGBTQ experiences as students in pursuing friendships and romance but I understand that is a limitation of the sample pool.
It would have also been cool if they had done similar interviews with students of a more recent Harvard class to provide a mirroring analysis of how the change in the historical and economic context of the 2020s has changed the ways in which students pursue the 6 goals they describe and how technology and social media specifically has impacted those pursuits.
Looking at the citations of this book really makes me want to take a psychology class either on child or student development (something that counts for the ed secondary) or something on clinical psychology. I would have to skip some pre-reqs too.
I feel that the diversity of the interests of the interviewees is also not as broad as the authors claim. It seems the dominant narratives are about being pre-med, pre-law, or in English literature, with a secondary focus on music and arts (theatre). I would be curious to hear about committing to the future chapter's perspective directly from a student who feels like they are choosing ie. law just for the sake of doing something prestigious, like I know many peers at Harvard choosing to do this. I wonder what it is like for those students who don't allow themselves to fully explore and commit to a passion instead of just complying with a default. I wish this perspective of students that "sellout" was more actively explored in this chapter.
I feel like I'm not learning that much from this book in general because mostly these are lessons and values that I am already committed to as of this year. I wonder what it would have been like for me to read this book before college or a year ago though before I had realized these lessons. Regardless, I still find the narratives described in this book comforting to know that the experiences I am having in college mirror and are shared by most other students!
This book only slyly acknowledges that the college interviewees from the 1970s are all Harvard students, yet still claims that the findings of this book are generalizable to all young adults in this college age. They make some statements acknowledging that the college-going population is a privileged one, but I find their lack of ownership that these students are all at Harvard to be a real lack of acknowledging the limitations of these findings. Harvard students do have more breadth and ability to explore with fewer consequences of having to find a job because, by the nature of attending the most prestigious institution in the world, they have more stability and room for risk. To say that all college students can equally spend time pursuing a passion or finding oneself is to deny the complex experiences of all college students and students who pursue college for quite different reasons. However, an acknowledgment of this limitation would've sufficed in reconciling how these results might be most applicable to students at elite institutions, and I still think that the trends of delaying adulthood describe are generally applicable to most college students.
I also wish there was an opportunity for discussion about LGBTQ experiences as students in pursuing friendships and romance but I understand that is a limitation of the sample pool.
It would have also been cool if they had done similar interviews with students of a more recent Harvard class to provide a mirroring analysis of how the change in the historical and economic context of the 2020s has changed the ways in which students pursue the 6 goals they describe and how technology and social media specifically has impacted those pursuits.
Looking at the citations of this book really makes me want to take a psychology class either on child or student development (something that counts for the ed secondary) or something on clinical psychology. I would have to skip some pre-reqs too.
I feel that the diversity of the interests of the interviewees is also not as broad as the authors claim. It seems the dominant narratives are about being pre-med, pre-law, or in English literature, with a secondary focus on music and arts (theatre). I would be curious to hear about committing to the future chapter's perspective directly from a student who feels like they are choosing ie. law just for the sake of doing something prestigious, like I know many peers at Harvard choosing to do this. I wonder what it is like for those students who don't allow themselves to fully explore and commit to a passion instead of just complying with a default. I wish this perspective of students that "sellout" was more actively explored in this chapter.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 2, 2022
Interesting.
January 11, 2026
I took Nancy Hill's seminar where she basically taught this book - SO interesting and relevant and well-researched and her passion for the subject bleeds through her work. Would highly recommend and it definitely leaves a lot of food for thought on what it means to be an adult
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews