Turning points in the transition to adulthood

Abstract

The concept of turning point is an important notion in studies of the Life Course. In the black and white world of the life story, turning points appear in living color; they flash in memory, meaningful in bold relief. Turning points stand out as times when we find ourselves plunging through the looking glass to the place where nothing is as it was before; to the place where Strauss suggested, "I am not the same person as I was, as I used to be" (Strauss 1959:93). Since the time of Strauss turning points have been conceptualized in a number of ways. Yet, little is known about how young people in transition to adulthood express and experience turning points. To investigate subjective experiences of turning points, 80 narrative interviews randomly sampled from the MacArthur Foundation Qualitative Study on the Transition to Adulthood. These interviews have been gathered from five locations in the United States and include a number of questions salient to the transition to adulthood. Subjective expressions of change are analyzed in terms of a classical composite defintion of turning points. Findings are suggestive indicating that turning point experiences contain elements of the classical definition and appear prominent particularly in the domain of immigration. An ideal type turning point is suggested as a tool for future studies.