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In this study, I used to use a variety of accommodative techniques to conduct oral interviews with young adult participants who presented with unique social language needs. Their needs highlighted and allowed critique of the research methods that I have learned, bringing up important ethical and pedagogical issues regarding difference and (dis)ability in research and research populations. I asked them what they thought about and wanted from their social experiences and learned that they perceive themselves as being perpetually misunderstood. I analyzed the data for potential misunderstandings and uncovered alternate readings of communication that are naturally not considered when typical assumptions of communication prevail. Avoiding misunderstandings can be as easy as changing one’s assumptions about communication. With small changes in assumptions, meanings change, and outcomes improve. The project revealed themes that speak to larger cultural conversations about ability and young adulthood. These millennials are not using social media; they think differently about the “high-functioning vs. low-functioning” autism dialectic; and they critique adult programs and services. Suggested tips for cross-cultural communication are provided.

Research shows corporal punishment is associated with negative outcomes in offspring. These negative outcomes can present themselves during childhood and emerging adulthood. One negative consequence can be alcohol abuse. The consequences of alcohol abuse in emerging adults are reasons to research corporal punishment’s effects to support positive parental discipline. The current study examined the relationship between past-year corporal punishment and alcohol abuse in the emerging adulthood population. Results of the current study showed corporal punishment was correlated positively with alcohol use, externalizing problems, and authoritarian parenting style, and negatively correlated with maternal authoritative parenting style and permissive parenting style. Males reported higher amounts of paternal corporal punishment and higher amounts of alcohol consumption. Finally, it was determined that risk factors for alcohol abuse included male gender, Caucasian ethnicity, and positive history of family alcohol abuse, and that psychopathology mediated the relationship between corporal punishment and alcohol use and abuse.

Parents influence their children’s religiosity through many factors including parenting practices, parental religiosity, and parental psychopathology. Little research, however, has been conducted on how different parental psychopathologies, such as anxiety, depressive, and antisocial problems, affect the transmission of religiosity from parent to child. Participants reported the psychopathological behaviors of their parents via the Adult Behavior Checklist as well as personal and parental religiosity using a new religious scale. Structural equation modeling was used to measure whether parental psychopathology, parent gender, and participant gender would moderate the relationship between perceived parental and emerging adult religiosity. Results indicated that maternal interactions were significant for depressive and antisocial problems but gender analyses revealed that the interactions were significant only for females; similarly although no overall interaction occurred, the maternal interaction was significant for anxiety problems only for females when gender analyses were conducted. The results did not suggest a 3-way interaction among variables.

Parental discipline behaviors and trait impulsivity are related to the development of psychological problems in children. Less research has examined these relations during emerging adulthood, despite the continued importance of parenting and increases in impulsivity during this time. Thus, the current study examined the association of impulsivity with current parental discipline practices and psychological problems as reported by college-attending emerging adults. Specifically, paternal and maternal discipline practices were examined as moderators between impulsivity and psychological problems with gender as an additional moderator. Participants (N = 911, 38.2% women, 78.0% White, aged 18 to 25) completed self-report measures on current discipline behaviors by parents, the five facets of trait impulsivity, and internalizing and externalizing psychological problems. Path analysis revealed that impulsivity facets (sensation seeking and positive urgency) and parental discipline behaviors were associated with reported internalizing problems particularly in emerging adult college-attending women. Gender moderated the relation between sensation and internalizing problems, with men reporting less problems in the context of high sensation seeking. Women reported more internalizing problems compared to men in the context of low positive urgency and low perceived positive paternal discipline. Results imply that contextual factors (e.g., positive college experience expectancies and gender role belief) may relate to less psychological problems in men, and disappointment and lack of approval from fathers may relate to emotion regulation problems and more internalizing problems in women. Interventions aimed at providing parents education on emerging adults’ mental health factors and improving parent-child communication during this period may improve emerging adults’ psychological well-being.

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Given that more and more young people are living at home well into their twenties, and parents no longer see their children as adults until well into their mid to late twenties (Nelson, Walker, Carroll, Madsen, Barry, & Badger, 2006), parents may continue to "parent" for much longer than we have typically believed. Although parenting may still play an important role, little research has been done examining parenting in emerging adulthood, including its correlates and outcomes. As such, there is a need for a measure of parenting that is appropriate for use in emerging adulthood. The current study attempted to develop a measure that identifies and assesses behaviors that reflect various styles of parenting during emerging adulthood including authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive parenting. Specifically, the purposes of this study were: 1) to examine whether or not authoritative, authoritarian and permissive parenting styles could be identified in parents of emerging adults and 2) to assess the validity and reliability of the parenting measure that emerges from the factor analysis for both parents' self reports and spouse reports. Based on the factor analyses of items in the parenting scale, it appears that authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive parenting can be identified as distinct and separate parenting styles in parents of emerging adults. The results of the study further suggest that the parenting measure is a reliable and valid measure for use with parents of emerging adults.