Transition to Adulthood Interview

Age: 19 Sex: Male □ Female □

Education: 1st course of Psychology degree (UV)
Nationality: Polish

We are going to explore the transition from adolescence towards adulthood.

Based on your own experience, please anwser these questions:

1 2 3 4 5
Adolescence Adulthood

Please, think of the developmental transition “From adolescence towards

adulthood”. In which point of the transition you are at this time in your life?

1 = I feel I am still and adolescent □

2 = I am starting to leave behind adolescence □
3 = I am maintaining myself in the change towards adulthood □
4 = I am arriving to adulthood, but I don’t feel a complete adult yet □
5 = I completely feel an adult □
 Answer these questions if you left behind point 1, “I feel I am still
an adolescent”.

Please, locate yourself at the stage of adolescence, when you felt you were
adolescent.

a. How did you know you were in the stage of adolescence? What did
you observe? What did you connect to (activities, people, ideas,
surroundings…)?

Tosia felt she was fully dependent of her parents so despite she could decide by
herself she still felt her parents had some impact on her decisions. She felt
connected to that stage because of her activities, which were related to school and
sports, as well as all the people who was around her.

b. Was that the context from which you were operating, from which you
related to the world?
Tosia was psychologically and physically in the same place and her decisions did
not have impact on the future but in that moment. She was enjoying the current
moment and still don’t thinking on the future.

c. How did you know it? What did you observe? What did you connect
to?
Tosia did not know that she wasn’t thinking and planning the future, she was
focused in the moment and she was connected with sports and with her mind was
in that point of her life. Tosia was strengthening her relationships with her peers.

1. Point 2 of the transition, “I am starting to leave behind

adolescence”.

Answer these questions if you left behind point 2, “I am starting

to leave behind adolescence”.

Please, locate yourself at the time in which you were departing towards
adulthood:

How did you prepare yourself to depart towards adulthood?

The final year of high school was significant to her transition and Tosia
started thinking about her future and the things she wanted to do in the
future and taking everything more serious.
 What things did you do?

Tosia studied a lot but she engaged herself a lot in sports as well.

What did you think?

Tosia started to do more research about her future plans and she found a
way to go to university and studying in the US, which was ideal for her
because she could connect both priorities, studies and sport.

How did you plan it?

She waited to her parents to agree for her to go to study abroad and started
packing and connecting with people who had the same idea. Tosia only had
a few weeks to decide but she focused on the priorities and did not have
time to overthink.

How did you do to become aware of the fact that you where departing to
adulthood? What were you paying attention to in order to be aware of it?

Tosia realized that her life was changing when she moved to the new place
and her hole environment changed and that was the first time in her life in
which she left on her own. It all was in one moment, when she realized that
nothing was the same.

2. Point 3 of the transition, “I am maintaining myself in the

change towards adulthood”.

Answer these questions if you left behind point 3, “I am

maintaining myself in the change towards adulthood”.

When you were maintaining yourself in the change, how did you know where
you were going to?
Tosia realized where she was going to by just processing the current
moment and the changes that were occurring. Also realizing that she was
going for her dreams and goals and she did not know it would happen but
with motivation to achieve them.
 How did you do to maintain yourself in the change?

Tosia felt support for her family and friends but since they were so far away,
they weren’t available to being in contact with her. She faced a lot of
challenges that she had to figure on her own or with the new people she met
in that moment, so she connected better with them.

4. Point 4 of the transition, “I am arriving to adulthood, but I

don’t feel a complete adult yet”.

Answer these questions if you are now at point 4, “I am arriving to

adulthood, but I don’t feel a complete adult yet”.

How are you arriving to adulthood? How are you doing to arrive to
adulthood?

Tosia is taking more decisions on her own and dealing with daily tasks and
choices that in the past her parents helped her with. She also keeps
changing the environment, connecting with it and figuring out which is the
right one for her. In the past she wasn’t sure about what degree to start and
then in the US she tried a few ones, and then when she was fully sure about
what she wanted to do, she started the psychology degree.

5. Point 5 of the transition, “I feel I am and adult

completely”.

Answer these questions if you have not completed the

transition yet; if you don’t feel completely an adult:

a. How will you settle down in adulthood? How will you stabilise the
transition?
Tosia hope that she will find the place where she wants to live and feel she
belongs there. Also, she hopes to be completely independent, financially
and in terms of taking important decisions.

b. How will you know you are in the stage of adulthood? What will you
observe? What will you connect to (activities, people, ideas,
surroundings…)?
She will ask for advice but she wants to be sure about the fact that the final
decisions are in charge of her and hope that all those changes will make
her more confident about the point where she is and everything be more
stabilized. She will connect with that point by being involved in the
career, things that she loves doing and people that are close to her.

c. How will you notice that that will be the context from which you will be
operating, from which you will relate to the world?

She hopes that all the parts fit together so she can find balance between all
her priorities and her values to be more integrated with the way she
operates.

d. How will you know it? What will you observe? What will you connect to?
By feeling happy with the moment or the chapter that she can face the challenges and
cope with them so they don’t negatively affect her life in a significant way. In
general, being more stable. Hopefully that her relationships get stronger with the
pass of time.
Exploring adolescent identity and adult identity
1. Pay attention to this time in your life:

a. How would you describe yourself?

Tosia describes herself as an openminded person and she keeps looking

for new experiences and adventures. She enjoys by getting involved in
cycling and running as much as she likes, and also being fascinated with
which she’s studying.

b. What things do you feel you can do? What personal resources/skills you
have?

She feels she can follow all of her passions and as wells as being able to
travel by herself and achieve the dreams that in the past she felt they
were impossible. Tosia is still gaining some skills to feel she’s able to be
a psychologist as wells as learning more about herself.

c. How do you feel about yourself?

She feels that she has to focus on what she actually wants to do, not on other’s
expectations, but she is in the process of achieving that point. In general, she’s
happy with the choices she has made and they are aligned with her future plans.

2. If you are between 1 and 4 in the transition to adulthood:

a. How will the concept/idea of yourself change when you become an

adult?

Tosia hopes to get herself more confident by gaining more experience and feel that
the things and choices match her values and qualities in life.

b. What personal resources/skills do you think you need to develop in order

to become a complete adult?

Finishing the degree but not in terms of just taking the diploma, but also gain the
skills to being in the position that she would want to start pursuing. She needs to
get experience in different areas of her life – daily decisions, being financially
independent and stabilizing herself.

c. How will you feel about yourself when you become an adult?
Tosia thinks she will be more confident and content with all the parts in her life. Also
feeling proud of achieving the goals that she had and the person she has become.

3. If you are between 2 and 5 in the transition to adulthood, please remember

when you were an adolescent:

a. How would you describe yourself as an adolescent?

She was improvising a lot in the decisions she was making in that moment and she
was not scared about making mistakes, just experiencing life and letting herself
flow.

b. What things did you feel you could do when you were adolescent? What
personal resources/skills you had when you were adolescent?

Tosia feels she could do anything that her parents agreed so whenever she did
something against them, she knew she would regret doing it later but that made
her learn from mistakes and progressively become a better person.

c. How did you feel about yourself when you were adolescent?

She had a lot of support of her family and friends so she knew that they
would be very proud of her because of her achievements but at the same
time she felt much less confident and doubting herself more.

Exploring motivations/attainments in adolescents and adults.

1. Please, pay attention to this time in your life:

a. What activities are you carrying out? What projects do you have in your
life?

Tosia is attending university as well as practising sports such as cycling

and running. She is engaged in training them and competing and trying
to develop herself in may areas of her life. Regarding projects, Tosia is
planning to visit her friends as well as doing some research about the
different branches of psychology, especially neuropsychology and sports
psychology.

b. How would you describe your close relationships at this time in your life?

They’re all stable and they’re better than ever because she feels all of the close
people to her have similar intentions and degree of involvement as she does

c. What things are important for you at this time in your life?
The people around her, university life and the passions that she follows.
 2. If you are between 1 and 4 in the transition to adulthood:

a. What activities you think that you will carry out when you become an
adult? What projects will you have in your life?

She will pursue her career and hopefully get a dream job as well as in a
further future starting a family and getting a house, those are the main
projects.

b. How do you think your close relationships will be when you become an
adult?

Hopefully better and stronger so she can be fully happy.

c. What things will be important for you when you become an adult?

3. If you are between 2 and 5 in the transition to adulthood, please remember

when you were an adolescent:

a. What activities did you use to carry out when you were adolescent?
Which projects did you have?

b. How would you describe your close relationships when you were
adolescent?

c. What things were important for you when you were adolescent?

Markers throughout the transition

1. (Please, answer this question if you do not feel adolescent). What
markers were useful to help you feel you were not an adolescent anymore?

2. (Please, answer this question if you are in the transition towards

adulthood, so you do not feel completely an adult). What markers will
be useful to help you feel you are an adult?
3. (Please, answer if you are an adult, if you feel completely an adult).
What markers were useful to help you feel that you were an adult?