Transitional Instability Predicts Polymorphous Distress in Emerging Adults

ABSTRACT

The primary aim of this investigation is to determine the extent to which transitional instability can predict diverse markers of distress in emerging adults. Participants were 210 emerging adults, aged 18–25 who completed measures of distress that included loneliness, stress, problem drinking, and prescription medication use. One year later, they returned to complete these same measures of distress along with a measure of significant life transitions that they encountered during the past year in such domains as education, employment, residence, and relationships. Results of a structural equation modeling analysis showed that even after controlling for the potential reciprocal association between transitional instability and distress, the more transitional instability emerging adults experienced over the year, the higher their distress was at time 2. The results are consistent with models of transitional instability as a precipitant of distress in emerging adulthood.

KEYWORDS:

• Drug and alcohol use
• quality of life
• sociocognitive development
• stress and coping

Author Notes

Chris Segrin, PhD, is Professor and Department Head in the Department of Communication at the University of Arizona. His research interests include interpersonal relationships, psychosocial problems, and family communication.

Corey A. Pavlich, MA, is a PhD candidate in the Department of Communication at the University of Arizona. His research interests include nonverbal communication, deception, and terrorism.

Melissa McNelis, MA, is a PhD candidate in the Department of Communication at the University of Arizona. Her research interests include interpersonal communication and effects of divorce on psychosocial well-being.