Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2026

Publication Title

Emerging Adulthood

Keywords

flourishing, developmental tasks, emerging adulthood, established adulthood, young adulthood

Abstract

Using data from 857 young adults (18 to 35 years-old), we explored how satisfaction with education, work, romantic, and leisure experiences were associated with flourishing. We found associations between satisfaction and flourishing, even when accounting for having completed salient developmental tasks related to education, work, romantic relationships, and leisure. Although we did not find that gender (cisgender women compared to cisgender men) or developmental stage (emerging adult compared to early established adult) moderated associations between developmental domain satisfaction and flourishing, we did find gender and developmental stage differences in education, work, and leisure satisfaction as well as developmental task completion within those domains. By incorporating subjective satisfaction, this study offers nuance for understanding the transition to adulthood and the diverse ways individuals experience it.

Funding Source

This article was published Open Access thanks to a transformative agreement between Milner Library and Sage Journals.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

DOI

10.1177/21676968261443735

Comments

First published in Emerging Adulthood (2026): https://doi.org/10.1177/21676968261443735

Share

COinS