North/south differences among Italian emerging adults regarding criteria deemed important for adulthood and life satisfaction

Abstract

The main goal of this study was to compare Northern and Southern Italian emerging adult university students, regarding the importance attributed to criteria for adulthood and the levels of life and education satisfaction. Self-report questionnaires were filled by 475 Northern and Southern Italian University students (Age M = 22.91, 76% females, n = 359). Multivariate analysis of variance revealed that Southern emerging adults were more likely to place importance on family capacities, norm compliance, interdependence and role transitions as criteria for achieving adulthood than Northern emerging adults. Regarding gender differences, females were more likely to believe in the importance of norm compliance than males, while males were more likely to espouse the importance of legal transitions. Finally, emerging adults from the North reported higher levels of life satisfaction than their Southern counterparts. We interpreted these findings in light of socio-economical and gender socialization differences among Northern and Southern Italian emerging adults.

Criteria for the transition to adulthood, developmental features of emerging adulthood, and views of the future among Greek studying youth

“…The majority of external markers of adulthood according to biology, anthropology, sociology, and law were not as important as the internal markers that have a moral quality and cannot be easily assessed. This finding is consistent with other research findings in Greece (Petrogiannis, 2011) and across countries (Arnett, 2001, 2003; Badger et al, 2006; Cheah & Nelson, 2004; Facio & Micocci, 2003; Macek et al, 2007; Mayseless & Scharf, 2003; Nelson & Barry, 2005; Nelson et al, 2004; Piumatti et al, 2016). …”

“…Consistent with previous research in other countries (Arnett, 2001; Arnett & Padilla-Walker, 2015; Badger et al, 2006; Cheah & Nelson, 2004; Cheah et al, 2010; Doğan et al, 2015; Donoghue & Stein, 2007; Facio & Micocci, 2003; Mayseless & Scharf, 2003; Nelson, 2009; Piumatti et al, 2016; Seiter & Nelson, 2011; Sirsch et al, 2009), women endorsed Family capacities and Norm compliance criteria more frequently than men. In contrast, men rated Financial independence and Family formation criteria as more important for adult status than women.…”

“…A mixture of individualistic and collectivistic criteria for the transition to adulthood is present in Eastern European countries such as Lithuania (Vosylis, Kaniušonytė, & Raižienė, 2015) and Romania (Nelson, 2009), as well as Turkey (Doğan et al, 2015), and Argentina (Facio & Micocci, 2003). Similar findings are typical of Southern European countries, namely Italy (Crocetti & Tagliabue, 2015; Piumatti, Garro, Pipitone, Di Vita, & Rabaglietti, 2016) and Greece (Petrogiannis, 2011); in the latter study, Independence, Family capacities, and Norm compliance emerged as the key markers of adulthood.…”

“…Contrary to the findings in Western cultures (Arnett, 2001, 2003; Arnett & Padilla-Walker, 2015; Mayseless & Scharf, 2003; Sirsch et al, 2009; Wängqvist & Frisén, 2015), where individualistic criteria were frequently endorsed, in Greece there is an emphasis on more collectivistic markers of adulthood. More specifically, there is a mixture of individualistic and communal criteria, somewhat similar but not identical to that found in Southern Europe (Crocetti & Tagliabue, 2015; Piumatti et al, 2016), Eastern Europe (Nelson, 2009; Vosylis et al, 2015), Turkey (Doğan et al, 2015), and Argentina (Facio & Micocci, 2003), and dissimilar to the findings of the other Greek study (Petrogiannis, 2011), in which criteria denoting Independence were frequently endorsed by university students (although in the latter study no factor analyses were conducted).…”

“…The seven subscales have been used in many studies across cultures, without empirical examination of the factorial structure (Arnett, 2001, 2003; Cheah & Nelson, 2004; Cheah, Trinder, & Gokavi, 2010; Crocetti & Tagliabue, 2015; Facio & Micocci, 2003; Kins & Beyers, 2010; McNamara Barry & Nelson, 2005; Nelson & Barry, 2005; Nelson et al, 2004; Petrogiannis, 2011; Piumatti et al, 2016; Sirsch et al, 2009; Wängqvist & Frisén, 2015), whereas this structure was examined in fewer investigations (Arnett & Padilla-Walker, 2015; Badger et al, 2006; Doğan et al, 2015; Mayseless & Scharf, 2003; Tagliabue, Crocetti, & Lanz, 2016). In most of the former studies, some subscales (e.g., Independence) had low Cronbach alphas, whereas in the latter studies, variations from the original theoretical structure of the measure emerged but still some subscales exhibited low reliabilities.…”