Arrested development

Psychologists have come up with a term, "emerging adulthood," to describe the stage of development in one's 20s, that is often characterized by instability and an exploration of identity. Photo: Li Hao/GT

"I don't think I am an adult," said 23-year-old Suzie Gao, a Beijing-born translator who still lives at home with her parents. "I still have a long way to go, with a lot of possibilities and uncertainties ahead of me."

Although Gao earns a wage in China of around 5,000 yuan ($813) per month, on the advice of her parents, she continues to live in the same bedroom as the one she grew up in.

"They say they want to keep looking after me, and that it would be a waste of money if I rented my own apartment," said Gao.

Gao has no plans to marry at present, nor to find her own place to live. Instead, she is considering changing vocations to become a barista, or a surfing and diving instructor. "Or maybe I'll move to another city, or go abroad for a while."

Despite having passed the legal threshold of adulthood five years ago, meaning that her parents do not have any rights or obligations with regards to her actions or wellbeing, Gao said that she has no desire to become an "adult" just yet.

Refusing to grow up

The markers of adulthood differ from culture to culture, but in almost every case, they are associated with ideas of social and economic independence or the taking on of greater social and economic responsibilities within the family or social unit.

In the West, the prevailing social rituals through which this is usually performed are finishing school, leaving home, and becoming financially independent. In China, on the other hand, the rituals that have traditionally indicated one's entry into adulthood have emphasized marriage, bearing children, and taking on the economic burden for the livelihood of one's parents.

According to this criteria, Chinese youth are entering adulthood at a far later stage today than they were 30 years ago.

According to China's family planning policy released in 1981, women who were not married by age 23 were already considered latecomers, and women who had not given birth by age 24 were considered to be behind the childrearing norm.

These days, the average age at which people enter into their first marriages in Beijing is 27 years old, according to a report published by the Beijing Times in 2012.

This "extended adolescence" has been the target of criticism. In China, commentaries have denounced those in their early to late 20s who continue to live off their parents as selfish and lazy, abusing their parents' goodwill rather than taking responsibility for their lives.

A specific Chinese term, kenlao, has even been coined to describe this sort of behavior. Literally translated as "biting the old," it is used as a noun to describe young people who are not studying or employed, and continue to depend on their parents for the necessities of life.

Somewhere in-between

In recent years however, an alternative explanation has been proposed, based on the work of developmental psychologist Jeffrey Arnett of Clark University in the US.

In a series of articles and books published since 2000, Arnett argues that our traditional categories describing social development outdated. Instead of going straight from adolescence to adulthood, Arnett puts forward the term "emerging adulthood" to describe the transitional phase when someone is between 18 and 25 years of age, which is characterized by "identity exploration, instability, self-focus, and feeling in-between."

What has been described as a later entry into adulthood, Arnett suggests, should in fact be recognized as a separate phase in one's development, which he calls emerging adulthood. Rather than willfully delaying entry into adulthood, emerging adulthood is a response to the many social and cultural changes brought about by the modernization of society. Not only do people these days need more time to complete their educations, but young people are faced with a far more diverse and competitive market than in years past, meaning they are confronted with more difficult choices.

This explanation is consistent with China's rapid industrialization, modernization and urbanization in the last 30 years.

"In places that are industrialized, the 20s are an important transitional period," said Duan Xinxing, a psychology professor and the Chinese language translator of Arnett's Emerging Adulthood: The Winding Road from the Late Teens through the Twenties (2004). "It prepares young people, giving them a foundation for their future life."