Emerging adults: The in-between age​

My practice specializes in emerging adult issues, young adult counseling and college student mental health and the mental health needs of international students.


​Emerging adulthood has been proposed as a new life stage between adolescence and young adulthood, lasting roughly from ages 18 to 25.


Five features make emerging adulthood distinctive:
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• Age of identity exploration. Young people are deciding who they are and what they want out of work, school and love.
• Age of instability. The post-high school years are marked by repeated residence changes, as young people either go to college or live with friends or a romantic partner. For most, frequent moves end as families and careers are established in the 30s.
• Age of self-focus. Freed of the parent- and society-directed routine of school, young people try to decide what they want to do, where they want to go and who they want to be with--before those choices get limited by the constraints of marriage, children and a career.
• Age of feeling in between. Many emerging adults say they are taking responsibility for themselves, but still do not completely feel like an adult.
• Age of possibilities. Optimism reigns. Most emerging adults believe they have good chances of living "better than their parents did," and even if their parents divorced, they believe they'll find a lifelong soul mate.

Because of this transitional and complex stage of development, mental health issues often arise or reveal themselves during this time. More and more, we are seeing mental health in college students as an important and valid issue.

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Some of these mental health issues affecting college students are:

• Depression
• Drug and alcohol abuse
• Anxiety
• ADHD
• Mood disorders
• Eating disorders
• Maltreatment/bullying/abuse

CONTACT INFORMATION

Michele Frances Purvin, LCSW-S, LCDC, LLC

136 E San Antonio Street
#104
San Marcos, Texas 78666-5509
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Contact: 512-644-9036
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​Email: michelepurvin@gmail.com
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