The Russian Version of Inventory of the Dimensions of Emerging Adulthood (the IDEA-R): Developmental Features of University Students

Emerging adulthood is a new liminal period ranging from 18 to 25 years, and is a trend in most of today’s industrialized societies. Its key psychological dimensions have been explored in many countries through the IDEA (Inventory of the Dimensions of Emerging Adulthood) instrument, but not in Russia. The goal of the present study was to measure the psychometric properties of the IDEA-R in Russia. This study applied an adaptation of the IDEA-R to 410 Russian students aged 18 to 25, whose educational level ranged from Bachelor’s to Master’s of higher school. An Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) and the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (ZTPI) additional measures were used. Exploratory factorial analysis pointed out that the IDEA-R adapted to the Russian context presented a six-factor structure. These factors are: identity exploration/self-focus, instability/negativity, personal freedom, experimentation/possibilities, feeling “in-between”, other-focused. The measure has the internal consistency (Cronbach’s α=0.82) and stability in time (ρ=0.62). Age reduced the levels of the perception of experimentation/possibilities (p=0.001) and feeling “in-between” (p<0.001). We found that the participants who reported higher levels of SWLS and the ZTPI exhibited lower level instability/negativity (p ≤ 0.001), but higher levels identity exploration/self-focus, and experimentation/possibilities (p ≤ 0.001). In conclusion, the IDEA-R is a valid and reliable instrument of investigation of the emerging adulthood phenomenon in Russia and to provide data for comparison of the measure in different countries.

Anan’ev, B. G. (2007). Selected works on psychology. Vol. 2: Development and education of personality. St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg University Press. (In Russian)

Argyle, M. (2003). Psychology of happiness. St. Petersburg, Piter Publ. (In Russian)

Arnett, J. J. (2000). Emerging adulthood: A theory of development from the late teens through the twenties. American Psychologist, 55, 469–480.

Arnett, J. J. (ed.). (2015). The Oxford Handbook of Emerging Adulthood. Oxford, New York, Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199795574.001.0001

Baggio, S., Iglesias, K., Studer, J., Gmel, G. (2015). A eight-item short form of the Inventory of Dimensions of Emerging Adulthood (IDEA) among young Swiss men. Evaluation & the health professions, 38 (2), 246–254. https://doi.org/10.1177/0163278714540681

Barlett, C. P. (2016). Exploring the correlations between emerging adulthood, Dark Triad traits, and aggressive behavior. Personality and Individual Differences, 101, 293–298. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2016.05.061

Beričić, A., Erceg, I. (2019). Emerging adulthood, identity status and parental control. Primenjena Psihologija, 12 (3), 305–326. https://doi.org/10.19090/pp.2019.3.305-326

Bezgodova, S. A., Kulinchenko, A. V., Miklyaeva, A. V., Shapoval, V. A. (2021). Value predictors of older adolescents’ growing-up in the context of their professional selfdetermination: A case study of cadets of the Suvorov Military School of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia. Vestnik Rossiiskogo universiteta druzhby narodov. Ser. Psikhologiia i pedagogika, 18 (3), 592–606. http://dx.doi.org/10.22363/2313-1683-2021-18-3-592-606 (In Russian)

Burmenskaya, G. V., Almazova, O. V., Karabanova, O. A., Zakharova, E. I., Dolgikh, A. G., Molchanov, S. V., Sadovnikova, T. Yu. (2018). Girls’ emotional and meaningful attitude to motherhood. Konsul’tativnaia psikhologiia i psikhoterapiia, 26 (4), 46–64. https://doi.org/10.17759/cpp.2018260404 (In Russian)

Crocetti, E., Tagliabue, S., Sugimura, K., Nelson, L., Takahashi, A., Niwa, T., Sugiura, Y., Jinno, M. (2015). Perceptions of emerging adulthood: A study with Italian and Japanese university students and young workers. Emerging Adulthood, 3 (4), 229–243. https://doi.org/10.1177/2167696815569848

Davis, J. P, Dumas, T. M, Briley, D. A, Sussman, S. (2018). A meta-analysis of the association between substance use and emerging adult development using the IDEA scale. The American Journal on Addictions, 27 (3), 166–176. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajad.12707

Dutra-Thomé, L., Koller, S. H. (2017). Brazilian version of the Inventory of the Dimensions of Emerging Adulthood: Investigating the current transition to adulthood. Trends in Psychology, 25 (3), 901–912. https://doi.org/10.9788/TP2017.3-01

Fierro, D., Hernandez, A. M. (2007). Emerging adulthood in Mexican and Spanish youth: Theories and realities. Journal of Adolescent Research, 22 (5), 476–503. https://doi.org/10.1177/0743558407305774

Hochberg, Z. E., Konner, M. (2020). Emerging adulthood, a pre-adult life-history stage. Frontiers in endocrinology, 10, 918. https://doi.org/10.3389/fendo.2019.00918

Gilmore, K. (2019). Is emerging adulthood a new developmental phase? Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 67 (4), 625–653. https://doi.org/10.1177/0003065119868680

Klementyeva, M. V. (2020). The “Authentic Self ” as a Predictor of Emerging Adulthood in Students. Psikhologicheskaia nauka i obrazovanie, 25 (3), 64–74. https://doi.org/10.17759/pse.2020250306 (In Russian)

Kohútová, V., Špajdel, M., Dědová, M. (2021). Emerging adulthood — an easy time of being? Meaning in life and satisfaction with life in the time of emerging adulthood. Studia Psychologica, 63 (3), 307–321. https://doi.org/10.31577/sp.2021.03.829

Landberg, M., Lee, B., Noack, P. (2018). What alters the experience of emerging adulthood? How the experience of emerging adulthood differs according to socioeconomic status and critical life events. Emerging Adulthood, 7 (3), 208–222. https://doi.org/10.1177/2167696819831793

Leontopoulou, S., Mavridis, D., Giotsa, A. (2016). Psychometric properties of the Greek Inventory of the Dimensions of Emerging Adulthood (IDEA): University student perceptions of developmental features. Journal of Adult Development, 23 (4), 226–244. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10804-016-9239-4

Manukyan, V. R. (2022). Growing up of youth: Separation from parents, subjective adulthood and psychological well-being at the age of 18–27. Psikhologicheskaia nauka i obrazovanie, 27 (3), 129–140. https://doi.org/10.17759/pse.2022270310 (In Russian)

Mukhina, V. S. (2021). To the anniversary of V. S. Mukhina: A new look at the concept of developmental psychology and the phenomenology of personality development. Razvitie lichnosti, 1, 8–131. (In Russian).

Nartova-Bochaver, S. K. (2015). The psychological sovereignty as a predictor of emotional resilience in youth and early adulthood. Klinicheskaia i spetsial’naia psikhologiia, 4 (1), 15–28. Available at: https://psyjournals.ru/psyclin/2015/n1/Nartova_Bochaver.shtml (accessed: 07.07.2022). (In Russian)

Archives of Sexual Behavior, 49 (4), 1163–1176. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-020-01658-2

Polyakova, M. K., Kharitonova, T. S., Strizhitskaya, O. Yu. (2021). Generativity and value orientations during emerging adulthood: Moderating the role of loneliness. Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Psychology, 11 (4), 326–340. https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu16.2021.403 (In Russian)

Reifman, A., Arnett, J. J., Colwell, M. J. (2007). Emerging adulthood: Theory, assessment and application. Journal of Youth Development, 2 (1), 37–48.

Reifman, A., Oblad, T., Niehuis, S. (2017). Long-term psychological health among individuals pursuing emerging adulthood-type pathways in the 1950s and 1960s. Journal of adult development, 24 (2), 119–132. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10804-016-9251-8

Sánchez-Queija, I., Parra, Á., Camacho, C., Arnett, J. (2020). Spanish version of the Inventory of the Dimensions of Emerging Adulthood (IDEA-S). Emerging Adulthood, 8 (3), 237–244. https://doi.org/10.1177/2167696818804938

Sapogova, E. E. (2013). Existential psychology of adulthood. Moscow, Smysl Publ. (In Russian)

Selezneva, E. (2022). Age and cultural features of representations of the age boundaries of youth. Vestnik Moskovskogo gosudarstvennogo oblastnogo universiteta, 1, 203–225. (In Russian). https://doi.org/10.18384/2224-0209-2022-1-1110 (In Russian)

Sircova, A., Sokolova, E., Mitina, O. (2008). Adaptation of Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory. Psikhologigeskii Journal, 29, 101–109. (In Russian)

Swanson, J. (2016). Trends in literature about emerging adulthood: Review of empirical studies. Emerging Adulthood, 4 (6), 391–402. https://doi.org/10.1177/2167696816630468

Tolstykh, N. N. (2015). Modern maturation. Konsul’tativnaia psikhologiia i psikhoterapiia, 23 (4), 7–24. https://doi.org/10.17759/cpp.2015230402 (In Russian)

Vygotskii, L. S. (2004). Psychology of human development. Moscow, Smysl Publ. (In Russian)

Zorotovich, J., Johnson, E. I. (2019). Five dimensions of emerging adulthood: A comparison between college students, nonstudents, and graduates. College Student Journal, 53 (3), 376–384.