The current study examined the paternal influences on the career development of African American emerging adults. While statistics have shown that many African Americans remain in the lower socioeconomic status bracket and have worse academic and career outcomes, still many African Americans are successful. The literature seems to attribute lack of success to low socioeconomic status, but attributes success to close family relationships. However, most of these studies have focused on maternal relationships and have neglected to include the influence of paternal relationships. Studies that have examined African American fathers have emphasized their negative attributes. Previous studies have also failed to consider the influence of other factors on the career development process such as ethnic identity and psychological adjustment. This study explored the influence of contextual, family, and developmental factors on the career process of African American emerging adults. One hundred sixty-seven African American undergraduate students ages 18 to 25 were recruited for participation in this study. Regression analyses indicated that the quality of the father-child relationship influenced career development, though not in the manner expected. High levels of father support enhanced well-being for individuals with high ethnic identity, but did not produce the same results for individuals with low ethnic identity. Well-being was a significant predictor of career maturity. Explanations, implications, and future directions are discussed.

The effects of parent-child relationship quality and racial socialization on reports of racial discrimination to parents are examined in an African American emerging adult population. The effects of parent-child relationship quality and racial socialization on reports of racial discrimination to parents are also considered. The influences of demographic characteristics on reports of racial discrimination are also assessed. The purpose of this study is to examine if there are relationships between cultural origin, gender, socio-economic status and reports of racial discrimination to parents. The study also aims to determine if parent-child relationship quality has an effect on whether or not black youth report experiences of racial discrimination to their parents. The study included 133 emerging adult participants between the ages of 18-25, and 33 didactic pairs of parents and their emerging adult children. Via electronic surveys, young adults answered questions about their relationships with their parents, while the parents answered questions about their racial socialization strategies. The results indicated that cultural origin, gender, and SES did not have a relationship with reports of racial discrimination to parents. However, analyses suggested that having a low or working SES has a relationship with reporting racial discrimination to parents. Findings also showed that racial socialization along with parent-child relationship quality had an effect on reports of discrimination. Implications of these findings and future directions are discussed.

Master of Science / Department of Family Studies and Human Services / Amber V. Vennum / Patterns in, and quality of, early romantic relationships have been found to impact future relationship outcomes (Donnellan et al., 2005; Overbeek et al., 2007). Commitment and satisfaction with sacrifice have been cited as important constructs in relationship health and stability as they indicate investment in the relationship (Stanley & Markman, 1992; Rusbult, 1983). Little research has been done on the bi-directional relationship of these two constructs. Many authors indicate that commitment predicts sacrifice (e.g. Van Lange, Rusbult, et al., 1997), but others argue that sacrifice predicts subsequent commitment (e.g. Kelley, 1979). The purpose of this study was to explore the time-ordering of these constructs and whether a history of relationship breakup and renewal (termed cyclicality) moderated this relationship in an emerging adult population (n = 246). Using a cross-lagged model over three time points, the present study found support for a bi-directional relationship between commitment and satisfaction with sacrifice that was not moderated by a history of cyclicality. However, partners with a history of breakup and renewal did report lower dedication at Time 3, indicated by a group mean difference. Implications for theory, research, and intervention are discussed.

Seventy years ago Erikson proposed successful identity formation in adolescence was the foundation for successful intimacy formation in young adulthood. With the extended period of identity exploration in emerging adulthood, it is unclear if intimacy formation continues to be connected to identity. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between identity in three domains of love, work, and worldview with long term views of intimacy using Marital Horizons Theory. Results from a sample of 777 college students in the Project READY dataset indicated that identity formation in love is positively associated with views of marriage, identity formation in work has no significant association with views of marriage, and identity formation in worldview is negatively associated with views of marriage. Implications for the transition into marriage and further identity research are discussed.

No description available.

Research on stepfamilies strongly supports the importance of positive parent-child relationships on child outcomes. However, most of this research has focused on one or two of these relationships failing to acknowledge the interconnected impact of all three parental figures. To fill this gap, I used latent class analysis and identified six classes of parent-child relationship constellations. The national sample in this study (n=1,159) were all participants in The Stepfamily Experiences Project (STEP). Parent-child relationship quality indicators were based on participants' retrospective reports on the warmth/closeness, communication, and level of active parenting they experienced in their stepfamily household. After identifying classes I examined how class membership was affected by resident parent relationships status, EA sex, stepparent sex, years spent in a stepfamily, the age the EA entered the stepfamily and the time spent with the nonresident parent. Finally, I examined how class membership impacted depression, drug use, and hooking up. Ultimately, the analysis indicated that there is much complexity in the stepfamily experience and its potential influence on later life outcomes.

This study sought insight into the religious and cultural identity of emerging adults belonging to the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints(LDS) and the impact such identity had in relation to volunteering motivation. Participants included 24 emerging adult college students belonging to the Church. Thematic analysis was used to determine influencing factors that led to Church membership and how Church membership shaped self-perception. Participants shared volunteer experiences and motivation to volunteer in relation to Deci and Ryan’s (2000) self-determination theory (SDT) was examined. The motivation of relatedness was identified among 100% of participants as compared to competence (37.5%) and autonomy (16.7%). Findings suggest participants regard being children of God and serving children of God as an important factor of religious identity that influenced volunteer work. This study provides a guiding framework for volunteer organizations and how they can target recruiting efforts toward emerging adult Church members.

“Girl-on-girl” behaviour is portrayed as sexy, liberating, and edgy in contemporary popular culture, mass media, and public settings such as bars and parties. This study looked at the relation of women’s participation in public same-sex sexual behaviour (PSSSB), age, and sexual orientation (heterosexual versus some degree of same-sex orientation) with the following dependent variables: perceptions of PSSSB pressure, reasons for and feelings after engaging in PSSSB, sexual depression, sexual assertiveness, sexual self-efficacy, sexual locus of control, sexual monitoring, and use of PSSSB to explore sexual orientation. Of the 451 women (ages 19-40) who completed the online questionnaire, 54% reported having engaged in PSSSB. Most participants agreed that young women feel pressured to engage in PSSSB and listed media, popular culture, male friends, and peers as sources of this pressure. Exclusively heterosexual women who had engaged in PSSSB (n=100) reported significantly higher perceived social pressure, more subsequent negative feelings, higher sexual depression, greater external sexual locus of control, lower sexual assertiveness than all other participants, and lower scores on sexual self-efficacy than PSSSB women with same-sex orientations. Emerging adult, but not older heterosexual PSSSB women, had significantly higher sexual compliance scores. Heterosexual and same-sex orientation PSSSB women had the highest rates of sexual monitoring, and although their reasons for engaging in PSSSB were different, a majority of both listed alcohol and exploration as factors that contributed to their public girl-on-girl behaviour. Heterosexual women who had not engaged in PSSSB indicated the lowest rates of sexual exploration. Reasons for these differences are discussed. / Graduate

Elevated social anxiety (SA) is linked to issues with emotional distress, substance use, and social anxiety disorder (SAD). Notwithstanding concerns of how sexuality has been defined in the extant literature, emerging evidence suggests that the prevalence of SA and related challenges may be disproportionately present among sexual minorities, including lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals (LGBs). This trend may be especially relevant within the developmental context of emerging adulthood, an important period for development of sexual identity, and a time when individuals are already predisposed to heightened feelings of SA. The present study examined the relationship between sexual orientation (measured using sexual identity, sexual attraction, and past romantic and sexual behavior) and social anxiety (related to social interaction and social performance) among emerging adults. minority sexual identities [Welch's F(5,48.08) = 5.56, p = .002, ηp2 = .02.], same-sex attraction [Welch's F(4,108.06) = 11.27, p < .001, ηp2 = .04], and same-sex romantic [Welch's F(5,85.91) = 6.88, p < .001, ηp2 = .03] and sexual experiences[F(5,61.95) = 8.88, p < .001, ηp2 = .04], particularly among those who indicated attraction to multiple sexes. Findings support research that indicates that sexual minority adults experience higher levels of SA than majority (i.e., heterosexual, opposite-sex oriented) adults, and that assessment of sexuality may reflect number of sexual minorities identified. Future directions including intersections of race/ethnicity and gender are discussed.

This research focuses on the relationship between self-esteem, graduateness skills and attributes and career adaptability among young adults in the school-to-work transition phase to assist them in dealing with the transitions they are faced with during the school-to-work transition phase in the hopes of making them more career adaptable and employable. A cross-sectional quantitative research approach was followed, and a non-probability convenience sample (N = 332) of undergraduate black (98.5%) and female (62%) young emerging adults (18 to 29 years) at a Further Education and Training (FET) college in South Africa participated in the study. A canonical correlation analysis indicated a significant overall relationship between the graduateness/self-esteem canonical variate and the career adaptability canonical variate. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that the relationship between graduateness skills and attributes and career adaptability was moderated by self-esteem. Tests for mean differences revealed that males and females differed significantly regarding their personal self-esteem and lie items. Recommendations are suggested for use by human resource professionals in terms of career development practices. / Human Resource Management / M. Com. (Human Resource Management)