Almost two decades ago Arnett (1994, 1997, 2001) suggested that, from the perspective of youth, becoming an adult is not achieved through a series of role changes, such as getting married or starting a long-time career, but rather through the acquisition of individual character qualities, such as the ability to accept responsibility for the consequences of one’s actions, making independent decisions, and becoming financially independent. This sparked a debate among social scientists on whether the “traditional” markers of adulthood (e.g., marriage, leaving the parental home) were still important. One limitation to the line of Arnett’s research is that most of it have been conducted using the USA white student samples. Similar research employing the same instruments, but conducted in different cultures or ethnic groups, showed that criteria for adulthood can vary cross-culturally (e.g., Nelson, Badger, & Wu, 2004). This evidence suggests that cross-cultural generalizations regarding the criteria of adulthood may be limited and, therefore, it is important to evaluate which criteria are perceived by youth as defining adulthood in a particular cultural context.
The goal of this study was threefold: to examine the conceptions defining an adult person by Lithuanian emerging adults according to Arnett’s list of adult criteria, to evaluate gender differences in these conceptions, and to evaluate how the popularity of these criteria differ from the views of youth living in other Western industrialized countries. Arnett’s questionnaire on markers of adulthood (2001) was administered to a sample of 434 (age M = 22.5, SD = 1.91) emerging adults.
Accepting responsibility for the consequences of one’s actions was viewed as the most necessary criterion for becoming an adult. Being capable of caring for children was the next most highly endorsed criterion for both women and men. The next most important criteria were “avoid drunk driving” (87.1%), “avoid committing petty crimes like vandalism and shoplifting” (82.9%), “decide on personal beliefs and values independently of parents or other influences” (82.0%), “become capable of keeping family physically safe (men)” (81.8%), “if a man, become capable of supporting a family financially” (81.3%), “if a woman, become capable of running a household” (80.2%) and “financially independent from parents” (79.5%). Role transitions, on the other hand, were endorsed only by about a third of the study participants. Taken together, the results suggest that becoming an adult among Lithuanian emerging adults, similarly to other Western countries, is perceived primarily as the acquisition of certain character qualities rather than going through role changes. However, contrary to Arnett’s findings with the US samples, capacities to maintain family responsibilities seem to be more important than achieving independence and self-sufficiency.