Who or What is a

Young Adult?

LIB 617 Research in Young Adult Literature Fall 2009

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That Depends!• "Young adult" is a euphemism

for an adolescent. The usage was introduced in the late 20th century / early 21st century due to a growing reluctance on the part of some people to refer to this age group as children, or even by older terms for the intermediate period between adulthood and such as adolescent, youth or teenager.

• Older Wikipedia entry “Young Adult”Now changed—see slide 2!

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• Young adult may refer to:– Young adult (psychology)

, persons aged 20 to 40– Young-adult fiction,

works targeted to ages 13 to 20

– Youth, aged around 14 to 25.

– Wikipedia entry “Young Adult”

Wikipedia disambiguation page for “Young Adult”

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Who are young adults, then?

• The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) defines them as individuals between the ages of 12 and 18.1 – 1.

Young Adult Library Services Association.Directions for Library Service to Young Adults. 2nd ed. ALA, 1993.• No Limits: READ! Young Adult Reading Clu

b and Programming Manual

Introduction

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Isn’t that adolescence?• Adolescence is one of the

most fascinating and complex transitions in the life span: a time of accelerated growth and change second only to infancy; a time of expanding horizons, self-discovery, and emerging independence; a time of metamorphosis from childhood to adulthood. . . . The events of this crucially formative phase can shape an individual’s life course and thus the future of the whole society. – Great Transitions: Preparing Adolesc

ents for A New Century: Introduction

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Who are our adolescents?• Generation Y

– a cohort of individuals characterized as Generation X on steroids.

– Generation Y includes those born between the second half of the 1970s and the first half of the 1990s, although some experts believe these dates to be debatable. Several other terms for this group have been tossed around, including Echo Boomers, Millenium Generation, iGeneration, Einstein Generation and Google Generation. • Understanding Generation Y by Sophia Yan

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Or maybe they’re Generation

Z?• Today's children and teenagers...

not Gen Y, which are now currently 20 somethings. Born from 1991-present, these are the kids that are born under a computer and have no past memory of life during the Cold War. They grow up with cell phones, iPod's, Hannah Montana, High School Musical, MySpace, YouTube, and homeland security. – by Lil Duff 2008 Jun 17, 2008 – Urban Dictionary Generation Z

(definition 3)

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AKA “Millennials”• Born between 1982 and 2000, the

millennials are described as the hard-driving, heavily scheduled children of so-called “helicopter” parents, who have a tendency to hover. The millennials have been characterized as . . . “More Confident, Assertive, Entitled — and More Miserable Than Ever Before” (in the subtitle of the recent book Generation Me by San Diego State University associate professor of psychology Jean M. Twenge). – The Millennials: Always On

by Anne Taubeneck

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What about them?• They’re a group of fast-paced, multi-

taskers walking around with camera phones and iPod headphones in their ears. The minute they walk in the door, they open their laptops and hop on MySpace while watching a reality TV show, instant messaging friends and doing homework all at the same time. – My Generation: Is Life a cake walk for

Millenialsby Allison Casassa

»OCTOBER 25, 2005 03:34 PM

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Some statistics• By only their seventh birthday, most

children in the United States will have talked on a cell phone, played a computer game and mastered a TV-on-demand device like TiVo, much to the amazement of technically challenged parents. By 13, researchers say, the same children will have gone through several software editions of instant messaging, frequented online chat rooms and downloaded their first illegal song from BitTorrent. – The 'millennials' usher in a new era – By Stefanie Olsen

Staff Writer, CNET News.com November 18, 2005 4:00 AM PT

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Characteristics of millennials• Far more direct

• More nomadic • Confident • Direct • Experimental • More liberal & more conservative at

same time • Multitaskers • Experiential learners • Delay choice (question, question,

question) – List from

The Kids are Alright! Millennials and their Information Behavior in lauren’s library blog posted June 27th, 2006

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But—there are problems• With all the innovative gadgets and

information at the click of a button, this generation is built on instant gratification. It’s hard for them to think long-term and anything that doesn’t produce immediate results bores them.

• “I think we really value convenience and crave instant results,” says Mallory Brown, a 16-year-old San Rafael High School student – My Generation

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Adolescence: a transition

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Point to Ponder

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