Features of emerging adulthood, perceived stress and life satisfaction in Hong Kong emerging adults

The features of emerging adulthood can be stressful for emerging adults and may even undermine their well-being. Developmental challenges will largely determine the well-being of emerging adults and the smoothness of their transition during this crucial identity-shaping period. To assess the degree of development of adulthood during this period, a comprehensive framework involving multiple features of emerging adulthood has been previously introduced, incorporating exploration/experimentation, independence/interdependence, negativity, feeling-in-between, and self-focus. However, the relationship between the individual features of emerging adulthood, perceived stress, and well-being indicators like life satisfaction remains poorly studied. In this study, the Inventory of Dimensions of Emerging Adulthood (IDEA-HK), Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS), and Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) were used to assess features of emerging adulthood, life satisfaction, and perceived stress, respectively. Based on a survey of 1,908 Hong Kong emerging adults (aged 18–29) with a mean age of 21.19 years (± 2.45) we developed an integrated path model that revealed that an emerging adult’s perceived stress can mediate features of emerging adulthood and life satisfaction. The overall model accounted for 30% of the variance in stress and 27% in life satisfaction. Results of path analyses revealed that perceived stress mediated negativity/instability, experiment/exploration, independence/interdependence, feeling-in-between, and self-focus on life satisfaction. Similar findings were found for both male and female emerging adults in the multi-group path model. These findings pave the way for applying stress management in cultivating male and female emerging adults’ developmental capacities. Implications for policy and interventions for emerging adults are discussed.