Happy Emerging Adults in Argentina: How do they make it?

ALICIA FACIO; SANTIAGO RESETT

Oslo

Congreso; XI Congreso de Psicología Europeo; 2009

One intriguing question inspired by the theory of emerging adulthood concerns the extent to which it applies to different cultures and national groups and to different social classes. Two longitudinal studies of young people coming of age showed that in Argentina -a developed but not rich Latin American country- as many young people in their early twenties, view themselves as emerging adults -as their American counterparts do? and this is the case in those coming from working class homes as well. Besides, most of them are as satisfied with their lives as young people from more affluent countries are. We here examine two of the contextual factors that contribute to this long and mostly happy transition to adulthood: a unique feature of Argentinian higher education -no fees are paid and no entrance examinations are required in public universities- and the close ties among family members.