"Adulting is Hard": Towards Theorising the Process of Identity Development of Women During the Transition Phase from Adolescence to Adulthood

Are you an adult? It is a difficult question to answer and it becomes even more complicated if you are an Indian women who is in the age group of 18-25 years. Even though this period of life, i.e the bracket of 18-25 years, has been termed by popular literature as Emerging Adulthood, however it's worth contemplation whether the 'popular literature’ which is majorly developed in western socio-cultural contexts, can be used to understand women in this age group in Indian socio-cultural settings which are replete with layers of complexities and multiplicities. This research paper attempts to answer various unanswered, unexplored questions including analysing the nuances of adulthood and womanhood. This research paper is an outcome of the doctoral research work primarily based upon exploring the existence and nature of Emerging Adulthood in the Indian socio-cultural context. For this research study, the mixed research methods approach was adopted and the data was collected and analysed in two phases. The first phase was primarily quantitative in approach with 'social survey' as the main method and knowing about the existence of Emerging Adulthood in India as the main objective. In the second phase of the research work, representative sample from the targeted population was interviewed, followed by narrative analysis. This analysis has come up with some interesting findings related to the gender differences in the process of identity development during emerging adulthood, for instance, the way women experience this phase of life is completely different from the experiences of men. This not only gives way to the possibility of a separate theory for identity development of women during emerging adulthood but also questions the very basis of the way certain psychological constructs are defined and understood from ages. This paper focuses upon developing a theoretical perspective on identity development of women during Emerging Adulthood. It provides a theoretical framework emphasising various aspects of identity development of women in India. This theorisation will not enrich the present theoretical frameworks of understanding identity development but it will also provide an alternate perspective of understanding identity development as process, the perspective of women in India.