Flourishing during emerging adulthood from a gender perspective

Abstract

Flourishing is when an individual perceives that their life is going smoothly. It encompasses hedonic and eudaimonic aspects of well-being: feeling good and functioning well. The construct’s correlation with indicators of adjustment and positive development makes it an attractive concept for assessing well-being. Emerging adulthood is a transitional period susceptible to numerous changes that can impact on flourishing. Using a gender-based approach in a sample of 1502 Spanish university students aged between 18 and 29 years, we examined the characteristics of emerging adults most associated with their flourishing. The study included perceived family income, variables related to developmental tasks inherent in this stage, variables that define the period, educational variables and social support variables. A clear distinction between male and female flourishing and its correlates was observed. Flourishing in females was significantly higher than in males. The study variables explained 46% of flourishing in male respondents and 16% in female respondents; the predictors of flourishing differed by gender. These gender differences are discussed, and the recommendation is made for future research to include other variables that successfully explain female flourishing and which shed light on the identified gender gap.