Gwyn Williams

This paper looks at contradictary views of adulthood in relation to drinking alcohol. Young people associate alcohol with adulthood and they see adulthood as a personal thing involving responsibility and maturity. The law, however, defines adulthood in terms of age: when you reach a certain age you aquire, from one day to the next, the right to drink.

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Theresa Sawicka, Kirsty Barr, Duane Grace, Louise Grenside, Jonathan Thomson and Gwyn Williams

Ethnicity is often seen as an inherent part of a person's identity. The interviews we have conducted with young people suggest, however, that ethnic identity can often be contextual. Many of our respondents pointed out that whether they felt Greek or Indian or Maori was often related to where they were, so that even during the course of a day, between work and home, their sense of identity changed.

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James Urry

When does a young person become an adult? When are young people to be considered full and responsible citizens? Can a precise age for the achievement of adulthood be set? Such questions form the background to the state's ongoing consideration of legal ages and its attempts to determine an appropriate legal age for such things as drinking. This paper includes material on what young people and their parents think about the transition from childhood to adulthood and looks at other factors which are involved in the transition to adulthood in addition to age.

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Theresa Sawicka and James Urry (with Louise Grenside, Jonathan Thomson, and Gwyn Williams)

In this paper, we argue that marriage is no longer a marker of the transition to adulthood in the same way it has been in the past. In today¹s world marriage must be understood in relation to the individuated self. As people seek to balance their own individual needs against those of others, marriage is conceived increasingly in terms of choice and lifestyle. It is no longer a necessary and defining feature of adulthood, but one lifestyle choice among many.

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