Although one's identity can be expected to change through the life-
span, the bulk of identity development occurs during adolescence and
the transition to adulthood (Erikson, 1968). Due to social–structural and
economic changes in many Western nations, developmental tasks that
were once normatively structured – such as the transitions from compulsory
education to the workforce and from family of origin to romantic
partnership – are increasingly left to individuals to navigate on their
own (Schwartz, Côté, & Arnett, 2005). Due to these social–structural
changes, emerging adulthood (ages 18–29) has become the period of
life that offers the most opportunities for identity exploration (Arnett,
2000). Similar to their age mates in other Western countries, in
Germany establishing a romantic partnership and committing to a
career represent two primary tasks during the transition to adulthood
(Seiffge-Krenke & Gelhaar, 2008).
The present study examined ways in which German emerging adults
navigate these challenging transitions within the domains of love and
work. In addressing this research question, we made use of a recently
developed process-oriented identity model capturing different exploration and commitment processes, which allows for a fine-grained