The IDEA:
Inventory of the
Dimensions of
Emerging
Adulthood
Six sections follow below:
- Announcements regarding use of the IDEA instrument.
- Full-length IDEA instrument (Reifman, Arnett, & Colwell, 2007) in actual questionnaire format.
- Instructions on how to compute the subscales.
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) on analyzing the IDEA.
- Other languages into which the IDEA has been translated.
- Link to Dr.
Reifman's Emerging Adulthood blog.
Announcements
- The IDEA instrument may be
used freely -- there is
no need to ask for permission.
Please cite the instrument as:
Reifman, A., Arnett, J.J., & Colwell, M.J. (2007, Summer). Emerging adulthood: Theory, assessment, and application.
Journal of Youth Development, 2(1).
The article can be obtained at
this link.
We
also have a longer, unpublished manuscript in which we provide more
extensive psychometric information than in the JYD article; a copy of this paper
is available on Dr. Reifman's
Research Gate profile.
Baggio and colleagues (2014) have published
an 8-item short form of the IDEA (abstract)
Views of Life Survey
-
First, please think about this time in your life. By “time in your life,” we are referring to the present time, plus the last
few years that have gone by, and the next few years to come, as you see them. In short, you should think about a roughly five-year period, with the present time right in the middle.
- For each phrase shown below, please place a check mark in one of the columns to indicate
the degree to which you agree or disagree that the phrase describes this
time in your life. For example, if you “Somewhat Agree” that this is a “time of exploration,”
then on the same line as the phrase, you would put a check mark in the column headed by “Somewhat Agree” (3).
- Be sure to put
only one check mark per line.
Is this period of your life a… |
Strongly
Disagree (1) |
Somewhat
Disagree (2) |
Somewhat
Agree (3) |
Strongly
Agree (4) |
1. time of many possibilities? |
|
|
|
|
2. time of exploration? |
|
|
|
|
3. time of confusion? |
|
|
|
|
4. time of experimentation? |
|
|
|
|
5. time of personal freedom? |
|
|
|
|
6. time of feeling restricted? |
|
|
|
|
7. time of responsibility for yourself? |
|
|
|
|
8. time of feeling stressed out? |
|
|
|
|
9. time of instability? |
|
|
|
|
10. time of optimism?
|
|
|
|
|
11. time of high pressure? |
|
|
|
|
12. time of finding out who you are? |
|
|
|
|
13. time of settling down? |
|
|
|
|
14. time of responsibility for others? |
|
|
|
|
15. time of independence? |
|
|
|
|
16. time of open choices? |
|
|
|
|
17. time of unpredictability? |
|
|
|
|
18. time of commitments to others? |
|
|
|
|
19. time of self-sufficiency? |
|
|
|
|
20. time of many worries? |
|
|
|
|
21. time of trying out new things? |
|
|
|
|
22. time of focusing on yourself? |
|
|
|
|
23. time of separating from parents? |
|
|
|
|
24. time of defining yourself? |
|
|
|
|
25. time of planning for the future? |
|
|
|
|
26. time of seeking a sense of meaning? |
|
|
|
|
27. time of deciding on your own beliefs
and values? |
|
|
|
|
28. time of learning to think for yourself? |
|
|
|
|
29. time of feeling adult in some ways but not others? |
|
|
|
|
30. time of gradually becoming an adult? |
|
|
|
|
31. time of being not sure whether you have reached full adulthood? |
|
|
|
|
Subscale |
Items to Average |
Identity Exploration |
12, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 |
Experimentation/Possibilities |
1, 2, 4, 16, 21 |
Negativity/Instability |
3, 6, 8, 9, 11, 17, 20 |
Other-Focused |
13, 14, 18 |
Self-Focused |
5, 7, 10, 15, 19, 22 |
Feeling "In-Between" |
29, 30, 31 |
Frequently
Asked Questions (FAQ) on Analyzing the IDEA
Are there any
scoring cut-offs for saying that someone meets a threshold for being
considered an "emerging adult"?
-
No. We have never established any cut-off scores to say that
someone is (or is not) an emerging adult. Instead, we would just
say that people show more or less of the characteristics of
emerging adulthood.
Can one use a total
score for the IDEA, adding all the subscale scores together?
- Yes, one can. If
you do, be sure not to include the "Other Focus," as it is only
a supplemental subscale and its meaning is opposite in direction
to the other subscales (i.e., developing a sense of "other
focus" likely signifies that one is progressing beyond
the EA feature of "self focus"). Also, you may want to check the
correlations between the subscales. If they're pretty high
(e.g., .6, .7), as they sometimes are, that will strengthen your
argument for computing a grand total. Another option, used by a
graduate student I advised on her dissertation, is to create an
Emerging Adulthood latent construct in structural equation
modeling, using the subscales as manifest indicators.
Is it OK to
translate the IDEA into other languages?
- Yes. As shown
below in the next section of this webpage, the IDEA has already
been translated into many languages. All we ask is that you
notify us and keep us informed during the process (e-mail Dr.
Reifman). Maybe one day we'll be adding your version to the
reference list below!
Languages into which the IDEA measure has been translated
(19)
(Article references below for Bulgarian,
Chinese, Czech,
Dutch, Estonian, French, German [2 articles], Greek [2 articles],
Italian, Japanese, Macedonian, Malay, Polish, Portuguese,
Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Spanish [4 articles], Turkish)
Arias, D.F., & Hernandez, A.M. (2007). Emerging Adulthood in Mexican and
Spanish youth. Theories and realities. Journal
of Adolescent Research, 22, 476-503. (Spanish)
"Our
survey was based on the Inventory of Dimensions of Emerging
Adulthood (Reifman, Arnett, & Colwell, 2006), as well as on
the principal ideas and affirmations of Arnett’s theoretical
proposals of the emerging adulthood period (Arnett, 2000;
2004)"
(pp. 482-483). |
Atak, H., & Çok, F. (2008). The Turkish version
of Inventory of the Dimensions of Emerging Adulthood (The IDEA). International
Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 2, 148-154.
Crocetti, E., Tagliabue, S., Sugimura, K., Nelson, L.J., 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, 229-243. (These
authors shortened the IDEA to 15 items.)
Duris, J. (2009).
Erleben des Erwachsenwerdens und Bewertung von alltäglichen
Risikosituationen (Experience of growing up and evaluation of
everyday risk situations; from Google Translate). Thesis, University of
Vienna (Wien). (
German).
Actual German items are available by clicking on the title and scrolling
down to page 255 when the new document opens; see "Deutsche Version der
Merkmale von Emerging Adulthood – 2. Version (IDEA-G2). "
Dutra-Thomé, L. (2013).
Emerging Adulthood in southern Brazilians from differing socioeconomic
status: Social and subjective markers. Doctoral dissertation,
Universidade Federal Do Rio Grande Do Sul (
Portuguese).
Facio, A., Resett, S., Micocci, F., &
Mistrorigo, C. (2007). Emerging
Adulthood in Argentina: An age of diversity and possibilities. Child
Development Perspectives, 1, 115–118.
(Spanish)
Galanaki, E., & Sideridis, G. (2018). Dimensions of emerging
adulthood, criteria for adulthood, and identity development in Greek
studying youth: A person-centered approach. Emerging
Adulthood. Published online-first on
May 22, 2018. (Greek)
Hill, J. M., Lalji, M., van Rossum,
G., van der Geest, V. R., & Blokland, A. A. J. (2015).
Experiencing emerging adulthood in the Netherlands. Journal of
Youth Studies. (
Dutch)
Кlementyeva, М. V. (2023).
The Russian version of
Inventory of the Dimensions of Emerging Adulthood (the IDEA-R):
Developmental features of university students.
Kolevska, A. (2017). Dimensions of emerging
adulthood and a sense of adulthood in Macedonian emerging
adults.
Master's
thesis,
Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje.
Kuang, J. et al. (2023). Psychometric evaluation
of the Inventory of Dimensions of Emerging Adulthood (IDEA) in
China. International Journal of
Clinical and Health Psychology, 23, Article No. 100331. (doi)
Lanctot, J., & Poulin, F. (in-press). Emerging
adulthood features and adjustment: A person-centered approach.
Emerging Adulthood. Published online-first at
http://journals.sagepub.com/toc/eax/0/0. (French)
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,
226-244.
Macek, P.,
Bejcek, J., & Vanickova, J. (2007) Contemporary Czech emerging
adults: Generation growing up in the period of social changes. Journal
of Adolescent Research, 22, 444-475.
"The
construction of our self-devised questionnaire was inspired
by the Inventory of the Dimensions of Emerging Adulthood
(IDEA) questionnaire (Reifman, Arnett, & Colwell, 2003)
measuring five variables relevant to essential qualities of
emerging adulthood: identity exploration,
experimentation/possibilities, negativity/instability,
other/self-focused, and feeling “in-between” (cf. Arnett,
2004). Even though we assumed that these main features would
also pertain to the Czech population, we decided to
formulate our own items that are more relevant to the Czech
cultural environment and the everyday experience of young
Czechs. Thus, the final version of the questionnaire
consisted of 31 items relating both to the dimensions
mentioned above and, further on, to the determination of
commitments and personal responsibility" (p. 449). |
Negru, O. (2012). The time of your life: Emerging adulthood characteristics in a sample of Romanian high-school and
university students. Cognitie, Creier, Comportament (Cognition, Brain, Behavior).
Papazova, E. (2016). Balgarska adaptatsiya na vaprosnik za izmervane
na vaznikvashtata zrelost (IDEA) [Bulgarian adaptation
of the Inventory of the Dimensions of Emerging Adulthood (IDEA)]. Psychological
Research, 2, 15-25.
Pérez, J. C., P. Cumsille, & M. L. Martinez. (2008, March). Construct validity of the Inventory of Dimensions of Emerging Adulthood in a Chilean sample. Poster presented at the biennial
meeting of the Society for Research on Adolescence, Chicago, IL.
(Spanish).
Described in Hill et al.
article above.
Pucher, M., Rollett, B., & Werneck, H.
(2008). Einflussfaktoren
auf die identitätsentwicklung in der adoleszenz (Impact factors on
the development of identity in adolescence). Tagung
der Österreichischen Gesellschaft für Psychologie (Meeting
of the Austrian Society for Psychology, Linz, Austria). (German abstract available
here)
"Die Identitätsentwicklung der Jugendlichen
wurde mittels einer übersetzten, leicht adaptierten
und erweiterten Version des Fragebogens 'Inventory
of the Dimensions of Emerging Adulthood' (IDEA;
Reifman, Arnett & Colwell, 2003) und mit dem
Identitätsstatusdiagnoseinventar (ISDI, basierend
auf dem Konzept von Marcia) erhoben."
Translated by a colleague as:
"Adolescents'
identity development was assessed with a translated, lightly adapted, and expanded version of the 'Inventory of the Dimensions of Emerging Adulthood' (IDEA; Reifman, Arnett, & Colwell, 2003) and an inventory assessing identity status, that was on the concept of Marcia."
|
Wider, W., Bullare@Bahari, F., Mustapha, M., & Halik, M. H.
(2016). Investigating the measurement of Malay version of Inventory of Dimensions of Emerging Adulthood (M-IDEA) among first
year university students in Malaysia. International Journal of Current
Research, 8, 29878-29884.