Interinstitutional Variation in Emerging Adulthood

Research has examined variation in emerging adulthood across demographic groups and across different countries. Yet no research has explored emerging adulthood across students enrolled in different postsecondary schools. We address this gap by examining variation in emerging adulthood by school and by examining whether school selectivity was associated with aspects of emerging adulthood. We used data on enrolled students in the Emerging Adulthood Measured at Multiple Institutions Study survey merged with governmental data on the 10 schools in the sample. To measure school selectivity, we ranked schools by the proportion of applicants rejected admission. Results revealed small, statistically significant variation in emerging adulthood outcomes across schools. Results also revealed that school selectivity was associated with 8 of the 14 emerging adulthood outcomes. In particular, results suggest more research should investigate the negative associations between norm compliance and school selectivity.