What should I study? What do I want to be? How will I pay for my education? Who do I want to spend the rest of my life with? These are the life-changing decisions many young people face. Emerging adulthood (between the ages of 18 and 25 years) is a critical stage in the life course, especially for identity development. Emerging adults are neither dependent adolescents nor independent adults.
It is a time of exploration and frequent change. And all this is happening while their brains are still developing, especially in areas associated with higher cognitive and emotional functioning . This functioning helps an individual plan, monitor and successfully execute their goals.
Amid all these important life choices, romantic relationship breakups can be devastating. After a breakup people may experience poorer academic performance , intrusive thoughts of the ex-partner and intense grief , and can even attempt suicide . Yet, breakups among emerging adults are often dismissed or trivialised as a rite of passage .
A trauma response is shrugged off as exaggerated or overblown . Added to this, the psychiatric literature does not see breakups as potentially traumatic events. As a mental health researcher with experience in romantic attachment and trauma research, I co-authored a paper exploring romantic relationship breakups as potentially traumatic events among university students.
The research aimed to investigate whether their experiences fitted the official psychiatric diagnosis of p.
