I entered college, like many 18 years olds, with aspects of my adolescence unresolved. I was effeminate and overly-sensitive. Freud would say my “genital drive” was in flux. By my sophomore year, I’d become a Christian, involved in a vitalized community of InterVarsity students. I remember being terrified to play basketball. Some of my friends coaxed me to play, and whenever I got the ball, the whole court froze. Everyone stood still until I decided whether to pass or shoot. I appreciated their creative compassion.

My roles as volunteer staff with InterVarsity and as Executive Director of an urban youth ministry have afforded me the opportunity to mentor many early twenty-somethings over the years. The current research of sociologists validates my observation that adolescence is now commonly extending into the twenties and even post-college. The church has responded to this phenomenon by catering to the “late adolescent” as opposed to helping young adults to move past it. What was intended to be a temporary development stage is turning into a way of life, and our postmodern society serves as the primary enabler of the late adolescent. 
 
We’re all familiar with the early stages of adolescence: the rebellious teenager, grappling with self-image and self-esteem, trying to understand what it means to be an adult in a complex world. There is a rejection of the hierarchical organization of the family and society at large. Peer relationships become central and the sex drive kicks in, all accompanied with an experimentation and re-examination of values. 
 
Doing the hard work of adolescence, however, and getting past these important developmental milestones, is undermined by postmodern ethics, now pervasive in universities and middle-class churches. Of the many conflicts adolescents must navigate, there are four primary aspects of adolescence that are diluted by postmodern society. 1) Re-acceptance of family and societal hierarchal structures, 2) Achieving a masculine or feminine social role and identity, 3) Achieving emotional independence from parents and other adults and preparing for family life, and 4) Acquiring a set of values and an ethical system to guide behavior—developing an ideology. 
 
Postmodernism is at odds with these facets of development. Postmodernism is, by its nature, deconstructionist, and challenges any attempt to establish any ultimate or secure meaning or hierarchy. For young adults beyond adolescence, postmodernism can be a positive framework for exploring new ideas. But for someone who are still trying to understand their sexual identity, their place in family and society, and looking for a compass to guide their values, postmodern structures only work to aggravate and prolong the crisis. Unfortunately, more and more young people enter the universities as adolescents, and society is adapting its view of the university as simply an extension of it.  
 
Post-college, I moved into an urban area where basketball was central to the culture. My mentor at the time took me onto the court and expected me to play one-on-one with him, and really play; not just mess around. His expectation that I resolve my “basketball issue” broke my insecurities and help tap into the core of my masculine identity. Instead of extending my adolescence, my mentor helped resolve it. 
 
Peter Blos (1979) describes the effects of what happens when a developmental phase, intended to be left behind, becomes a way of life. Among Blos’ studies were the European youth movements after the First World War. He observed that late adolescents "presented a strong predilection for intellectualization and sexual repression, thus delaying the resolution of the adolescent conflict.” When a post-college adolescent attempts to make the move to becoming an autonomous adult, our current tech-centric narcissism reminds them they cannot tolerate a world where they are not the center.  
 
The Church then follows suit, and, instead of challenging young men and woman into adulthood, creates structures and movements to accommodate their state of arrested development. This results in Christians who are unsure of their underlying beliefs, constantly question their convictions, and, while often able to articulate the issues surrounding social justice and evangelism, have trouble following through due to their underlying insecurities.  
 
Most post-graduates have a normal transition period characterized by attending multiple churches, but late adolescents live in this pattern. They have trouble committing to regular attendance or membership. This is reflected in their careers as well, typically bouncing from job to job, continuously searching for the “perfect” job. These factors, coupled with parents that financially support their children well after college, make them ill-prepared for marriage and family life. This translates to the Church trying to pass the mantel of leadership to a stunted generation of frustrated would-be-teenagers. 
 
Blink 182, the conflicted musical embodiment of late adolescence, sings

“Nobody likes you when you're 23 
And you still act like you're in Freshman year 
What the hell is wrong with me? 
 
No one should take themselves so seriously 
With many years ahead to fall in line 
Why would you wish that on me? 
I never want to act my age”

The many developmental tasks facing adolescents are challenging, but they are not insurmountable. Adolescents are testing independence. The church must help young adults experience and experiment with being intellectually, sexually, and economically independent—not dismiss them as useless juveniles that need to be separated from the congregation, even as twenty-five year-olds.  
 
Churches and movements that segment people by life-stage do a disservice to this group of young people. Just like the 15 year-olds, they may appear to reject the establishment, but are actually desperate to find their place within it. Instead of putting our creative energies into finding new ways to tailor to the late adolescents, we should work to find new ways to cross-pollinate and influence one another across generations.

Jason Johnson