ABOUT SSEA

Update Archive

5th Conference on Emerging Adulthood

SSEA recently hosted our 5th Conference on Emerging Adulthood. Click here for the Conference Program.

Also in October 2011, we hosted a preconference workshop entitled, Mental Health in Emerging Adulthood (Ages 18 to 29): Understanding and Meeting the Needs of This Distinct Age Group. Click here to access the agenda and presentations.

4th Conference on Emerging Adulthood

We are excited to announce the 4th Conference on Emerging Adulthood to be held October 29th and 30th, 2009 in Atlanta, GA.

The primary focus of the conference remains consistent with the mission of the first three conferences: to provide a forum for presentation and discussion of theory, research, and policy relevant to the age period 18 to 29, emerging adulthood. We invite theoretical and empirical presentations, and encourage interdisciplinary and international themes.

Dr. Kathleen Harris of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill will deliver the keynote address. Dr. Harris is one of the directors of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (known as "Add Health"), and her presentation is entitled, "Add Health Grows Up: Health and Developmental Trajectories in Emerging Adulthood."

Thanks to the generous support of the Jacobs Foundation, travel stipends totaling $15,0000 will be awarded to international participants.

June 2008

A New Site. A New Chapter for SSEA.

Thank you for visiting the website for the Society for the Study of Emerging Adulthood (SSEA). The SSEA represents a growing assembly of international, multidisciplinary professionals interested in the age period of emerging adulthood, ages 18 to 29.

One of our goals for 2008 is to update and expand this website to capture the growing literature and resources on the topic of emerging adulthood. During development we welcome suggestions and are particularly interested in you sharing resources that can be made available to website visitors. Please pass along ideas and updates to Brian Willoughby, Graduate Student Representative and Website Content Manager at SSEAwebsite@ssea.org.

If you would like to join this website as a member and receive announcements and updates from the SSEA, please send an email containing your name and request to Andrea Dalton, Graduate Student Representative and Membership Coordinator at membership@ssea.org.

Best wishes for a healthy and productive 2008,
Steering Committee of the Society for the Study of Emerging Adulthood

September 2007

We are pleased to announce that we have had the opportunity to select four graduate student representatives to join and work with the Steering Committee for the 2007-2009 term which will take us through the next and 4th Conference on Emerging Adulthood, scheduled for 2009. Each of the four graduate student representatives is an advocate for growing the SSEA organization in a unique direction. Below, we introduce the four representatives; please click on their names to read more about them, their work, and their interests.

Jerel Calzo, University of Michigan
Andrea Dalton, University of Alberta
Moin Syed, University of California, Santa Cruz
Brian Willoughby, University of Minnesota

One of our goals for the 2007-2008 academic year is to update and expand this website to capture the growing literature and resources on the topic of emerging adulthood. During development we welcome suggestions and are particularly interested in you sharing resources that can be made available to website visitors. Please pass along ideas and updates to Brian Willoughby, Graduate Student Representative and Website Content Manager at SSEAwebsite@ssea.org.

Best wishes for a healthy and productive 2007-2008,

Steering Committee of the Society for the Study of Emerging Adulthood

Jeffrey J. Arnett, Chair
Jennifer L. Tanner, Co-Chair

Carrie Douglass
Nancy Galambos
Varda Mann-Feder
D. Wayne Osgood
John Schulenberg
Inge Seiffge-Krenke
Jerel Calzo, Graduate Student Representative
Andrea Dalton, Graduate Student Representative
Moin Syed, Graduate Student Representative
Brian Willoughby, Graduate Student Representative

January 2007

Early Bird Registration Ends January 17th!

Please keep in mind that JANUARY 17 is the early-bird deadline for conference registration. After January 17th, the registration cost increases. All online registration closes on February 5th. If you have not registered and submitted full payment for registration by February 5th, you will be required to register and submit payment by check or credit card at the on-site conference registration booth. Please click here to register.

Updated Hotel Reservation Information

The Marriott Tucson conference hotel for the 3rd Conference on Emerging Adulthood is now booked up. For those of you who have not yet booked a room, three ALTERNATIVE HOTELS in the area are the Doubletree Hotel-Reid Park, the Hotel Arizona, and the Sheraton. Most likely the best rates are available on-line.

If you have booked a room at the Marriott and would like to SHARE A ROOM to defray costs, please email Emily Messersmith, info@ssea.org, and she will make a list. (Please indicate your gender so that men can be matched with men and women with women). If you have not yet booked a room and would be interested in sharing a room with someone who has a room in the conference hotel, please contact Emily and she will provide you with the list.

Welcome Reception

You are invited to attend the Welcome Reception hosted by the University of Arizona Department of Family Studies and Human Development, 5-7 pm on February 14, the evening before the conference begins. Hot and cold hors d'oevres and soft drinks will be served, and there will be a cash bar. The location is: Gentle Ben's Brewing Company, 865 E. University Blvd., Tucson, AZ 85719, (520) 624-4177. Ask for easy directions from the conference hotel, it is nearby.

Topic Lunches

Thursday, February 15th, 12:30-1:30

You’re invited to join your colleagues at a "topic lunch" on Thursday, February 15th. To facilitate networking among conference participants interested in similar topics, the program committee has arranged for a brown-bag lunch to be included in your registration fee. Information on gathering with your topic group for lunch will be provided at on-site registration. To participate in a topic lunch group, please indicate your choice on the online registration form.

Brown Bag Luncheon, "Teaching Emerging Adulthood"

Friday, February 16th at 12:45-1:45

The Brown Bag lunch is an opportunity for those who lecture on the topic of emerging adulthood to exchange best practices with colleagues. Each participant will deliver a brief introduction to materials developed to communicate to students the theory of emerging adulthood, research related to the study of emerging adulthood, and/or experiences of emerging adult development.

If you are interested in participating, please send an email to info@ssea.org, noting in the subject line: "Teaching EA," requesting you be added to the participant list for this event, noting whether you choose to (1) present, or (2) attend (but not present). If you choose to present, you will receive, by February 7, 2007, notification of the number of attendees who have registered in order to prepare materials for distribution as well as an estimate of the time that will be allotted to each presenter.

Paper Presentation Guidelines

(1) All sessions are scheduled for 90 minutes. This allows 17 minutes per paper presentation and 15 minutes for discussion at the conclusion of the four scheduled papers. Seven (7) minutes per session are reserved for introductions by the symposium Chair and time between presentations.

(2) All presenters should send final versions of their papers to their symposium chair at least ONE WEEK prior to the conference. (Click here for names and email contact information for symposia chairs and other presenters.). Chairs should load all presentations on to a memory stick/flash drive and install them on the laptop in the symposium room at least 5 minutes prior to the session. Each presenter should also bring his/her own paper on a memory stick/flash drive, as a back-up.

(3) All presenters should send a brief (1-2 sentence) bio to their symposium chair so that the chair can provide introductions prior to each presentation.

Poster Presentation Guidelines

Please note: There has been a change to the conference program involving Poster Sessions.

There are two poster sessions scheduled for Thursday, February 15th, in the Pima room. Poster Session I is scheduled for 11:20-12:30 (Posters numbered 1-44 corresponding to (first) authors Andrade -- Jozefowicz-Simbeni) and Poster Session II is scheduled for 5:20-6:30 (Posters 45-102 corresponding to (first) authors Kahn –Yu). Please attend to the information below regarding details for preparing your poster for presentation:

(a) The dimensions of poster boards are 8’ (width) x 4’ (height).

(b) At the conference, poster boards will be numbered. Please post your poster on the corresponding poster board; please click here to determine number your poster has been assigned.

(c) The Pima room will be available for poster set-up from 9:30am to the beginning of the poster session for Poster session I and from 5:00pm to 5:20pm for Poster Session II.

(d) For planning purposes, poster presenters may use either velcro or push-pins as fasteners. Boards come with 25 push-pins each.

October 2006

You're invited to the Welcome Reception!

Register for the Conference

Registration for the 3rd Conference on Emerging Adulthood is now open. The conference will be held for two full days, February 15th and 16th, 2007. A Welcome Reception will be held on February 14, the evening before the conference begins. The registration fee includes coffee breaks on both days, as well as a boxed lunch on Thursday.

Reserve a Hotel Room at the Conference Hotel

Rooms have been reserved for conference attendees and participants at the Marriott Tucson, University Park. Mention the Emerging Adulthood Conference (group code EACEACA) to receive the special rate of $159/night. To reserve a room, call 520-792-4100, ext. 2020. You may also reserve a room through the hotel website, but if you plan to arrive before Wednesday or stay after Saturday, you must call the hotel directly.

It is recommended that you reserve your room by DECEMBER 15 in order to be certain of obtaining a room in the conference hotel.

Conference Program

After official acceptances are sent, the program committee will create the conference program and post it on this web site. Conference highlights include:

* A keynote address by Carrie Douglass, Professor of Anthropology at Mary Baldwin College, USA, and author of Barren States: The Population Implosion in Europe. The title of her talk will be “Where Have All the Babies Gone? Low Fertility and Emerging Adulthood in Europe.”
* A debate between Jeffrey J. Arnett, Clark University, USA, and Leo Hendry, Professor of Psychology, University of Glamoran, Wales: “Emerging Adulthood in Europe: How Important is Social Class?”
* Topic lunches. Conference participants will have the opportunity to meet in groups for lunch on Thursday (boxed lunches provided) to discuss issues of emerging adulthood arranged by topic (e.g., family relationships, education, mental health). You can register for a topic lunch on the conference registration form.
* Discussion panels on teaching emerging adulthood, funding opportunities, and job opportunities

Call for Paper and Poster Proposals

The Steering Committee of the Special Interest Group on Emerging Adulthood (www.s-r-a.org/easig.html) invites submissions for the 3rd Conference on Emerging Adulthood. The goal of the conference is to bring together a multidisciplinary and internationally diverse network of scholars to advance the study of emerging adulthood (including ages 18-29). The conference will be held on February 15th & 16th, 2007 in Tucson, Arizona.

(1) Poster sessions: Poster proposals may be submitted individually or as a poster symposium (6-8 related posters). Posters not proposed as a symposium will be organized by topic and a discussant will be assigned by the program committee. Poster sessions are scheduled for 90 minutes. During the first 45 minutes, scholars will visually, independently present their work. Mid-session, presenters will organize into groups of 6-8, by topic, and will be joined by a discussant, as well as interested conference participants. The discussant will highlight common themes and facilitate discussions and questions.

(2) Paper sessions: Interested presenters are encouraged to submit proposals for individual papers or as a paper symposium (maximum 4 presenters; the symposium Chair may choose to include or not include a discussant as 1 of the 4 presenters). Individual papers will be grouped in sessions of four papers and assigned a Chair by the program committee. Individual papers will be allotted 20 minutes; a minimum of 15 minutes will be reserved for questions and answers. Some paper proposals may be accepted as posters if conference time and space requires.

Proposal guidelines for both posters and papers. Proposal length, not including references, should be no longer than 500 words (approximately 2 double-spaced pages) not including references, tables, or figures. No one may submit more than two presentations as lead author.

The completed application will contain the following:
(a) A completed application form and facesheet
(b) A proposal including:
a. introduction to the research question(s)
b. description of methods (both quantitative and qualitative methods are encouraged)
c. results
d. brief discussion & implications
e. references (APA format)
Note: A limited number of theoretical and conceptual proposals will also be accepted.

Criteria for selection:
(1) Focus of the proposal is on emerging adulthood (age range 18-29).
(2) Methods are appropriate for the research question(s).
(3) Results are clearly interpreted. (Presentations for which data collection or analysis is still in progress should present clear hypotheses.)

Deadline for Submissions: Submit all proposals via email to info@ssea.org by October 2nd, 2006.

Decision Notification. First authors will be notified of decisions no later than November 1st, 2006.

Questions and inquiries should be emailed to the following address: info@ssea.org
Application for Travel Stipends

We are pleased to announce that the Jacobs Foundation has generously offered to fund a limited number of travel stipends up to $500 (US) for international scholars. Scholars from all over the world are encouraged to apply.

In addition, a small number of travel grants in the amount of $200 (US) will be awarded to students and young scholars in the US and Canada.

Travel stipend applications are due by October 2, 2006. Email the completed application to info@ssea.org.

May 2006

We are delighted to announce the 3rd Conference on Emerging Adulthood to be held February 15th and 16th, Tucson, Arizona.

The main focus of the conference remains consistent with the mission of the first two conferences, to provide a forum for presentation and discussion of theory, research, and policy relevant to the age period 18 to 29, emerging adulthood. We invite theoretical and empirical presentations, and encourage interdisciplinary and international themes. A limited number of travel stipends will be awarded to promote diversity in conference presentations. A keynote address (speaker TBA) will discuss a current topic in the study of emerging adults. In addition, the conference will host innovative sessions, such as debates between leading scholars. The program will also contain interactive events to facilitate building a network of scholars on emerging adulthood.

Please add send your name and email address to info@ssea.org if you would like to receive conference announcements, including the call for proposals and travel stipend applications (to be posted May 1st; due October 2nd).

Steering Committee Members
Jeffrey J. Arnett, Chair
James Côté
Nancy Galambos
Emily Messersmith, Graduate Student Representative
D. Wayne Osgood
John Schulenberg
Inge Seiffge-Krenke
Jennifer L. Tanner

Local Arrangements Committee
Stephen Russell
Lela Rankin
Renee Dennison