Introduction to the Special Issue of Emerging Adulthood

This article introduces the special issue on the national Emerging Adulthood Measured at Multiple Institutions data set, its historical background and methodology, and the articles appearing herein. The project aimed to test associations between markers/processes of the transition to adulthood and political attitudes/behaviors, in conjunction with the 2004 U.S. presidential election. Measures in other areas (e.g., psychological health, disability, and media usage) were also assessed. A total of 1,353 respondents (nearly all in the emerging-adulthood age range) participated through 1 of 10 university-based sites across the United States, with students in undergraduate statistics and research methods courses gathering the data. The resulting data set has allowed social scientists to test formulations involving emerging adulthood in new domains, as presented in this issue, and will allow future investigators to do so. The project also dovetails with parallel developments in the promotion of undergraduate research as a source of substantive scientific contributions.