Decision Making in Young Adults

This blog offers the opportunity to focus on young adults, ages 20 to about 30 years old, and the importance, presence, and impact of decision-making at this time in their lives. Decision-making is another model within leadership competencies that needs to be practiced and perfected to be a strong leader. I will touch on my own experience, other’s experiences and two research articles to argue how this leadership competency is shown at this stage in life.

From my experience, your 20’s are notoriously known as the decade of change and growth. At this time, young people are often choosing where they would like to go for higher education, debating what career path to take, and determining if is time for marriage and possibly start a family. These are massive and life altering decisions that are not taken lightly. Considering this, and viewing it in light of a leadership competency, this is the time in life where their Decision-Making competency is put to the test, improved, and perfected.

Success at this stage in life is supported by the, “…individuals’ beliefs regarding their ability to successfully accomplish certain tasks connected with their career choices.“ (Kvaskova , p. 1). Decision-making skills, and one’s confidence with them, are built on their self-confidence and self-efficacy. This self-confidence and self-efficacy has been growing throughout their lifetime (as mentioned in previous blogs) by focusing on Emotional Intelligence and Building Strengths and Finding Passions. In support of this claim, Kvaskova writes on page 2, “These self-efficacy beliefs influence diverse individual factors such as aspirations and strength of goal commitments, level of motivation and perseverance in the face of difficulties, resilience, and the ability to cope with the demands associated with the chosen course.” Young adulthood in our society can be tricky, stressful, and momentous. Without the building blocks mentioned in Leadership through the Ages, 20 to 30 year old’s may not have the skills to successfully and healthily reach their goals. Fortunately, I am arguing that we do have the skills needed for success, when utilizing each life stages opportunities for growth!

At this life stage, decision-making is necessary and practically unavoidable. Luckily, with a decade to practice, these young adults have time to perfect this skill; setting themselves up for success in full adulthood (31years old and up). Although all decisions may not be the right one, or come to fruition as expected, “…A large body of research has demonstrated that younger adults proficiently adapt to the task structure.” (Lindow, p. 2). In other words, although decision making in one’s 20’s may not be an easy task, it is certainly something we can learn and adapt to over time.

Although decision-making definitely happens every day over a lifetime, I argue that young adulthood (ages 20 through 30) allows people to perfect this leadership competency. This stage in life offers a plethora of necessary ‘big decisions’ that often can’t be avoided. The research articles used in this blog support that young adults can adapt, cope, and thrive; ultimately advancing this necessary decision-making skill.

Sources

Kvasková, L., & Almenara, C. A. (2019). Time Perspective and career decision-making self-efficacy: A longitudinal examination among young adult students. Journal of Career Development, 48(3), 229–242. https://doi.org/10.1177/0894845319847292

Lindow, S., & Lang, A. (2021). A lifespan perspective on decision‐making: A cross‐sectional comparison of Middle Childhood, young adulthood, and older adulthood. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 35(3). https://doi.org/10.1002/bdm.2268