Flourishing and Floundering in Emerging Adult College Students

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to (a) use mixture modeling to identify different groups of emerging adults based on differences in beliefs/attitudes, attributes, and behaviors and (b) examine whether these classes were differentially related to the criteria deemed important for adulthood, levels of identity development (exploration and commitment), and the quality of the parent–child relationship. Participants consisted of 487 undergraduate students (281 women, 206 men, mean age of 20.07 years) in the United States. Results of cross-sectional mixture modeling identified three classes of emerging adults including an externalizing group (high levels of drinking, drug use, sexual partners, pornography use, and video game use), a poorly adjusted group (high levels of depression, anxiety, drinking, drug use, sexual partners, and low levels of self-worth), and a well-adjusted group (high levels of internal regulation of values, religious faith, and low levels of depression, anxiety, drinking, drug use, and violent video game usage).