The Twenties BeatDown and Prepare a Future are mentioned in a new academic book.
Identity Formation, Youth, and Development: A Simplified Approach¹ is a fresh book focused on the complex identity issues that young people face coming of age in contemporary society. Professors James Côté and Charles Levine cut through the academic jargon to offer an accessible yet thorough introduction to the growing identity studies field.
The authors address the challenges faced by young people in forming adult identities in late-modern societies that are also are in transition, “further complicating identity formation and the interrelated processes of self development and moral-ethical reasoning.”
In the section on the transition to adulthood, the authors
recognized my work as an example of their identity theory being put into practice. The Twenties BeatDown and Prepare a Future are mentioned right after they feature the work of psychologist Dr. Meg Jay and her book The Defining Decade, Why Your Twenties Matter and How to Make the Most of Them Now. Excerpt from page 159:
Similarly, personal mentor and life coach Drew Lichtenberger draws on the identity capital model to help his “twentysomething” clients cope with and rise above “The Twenties BeatDown” during which they have found themselves stuck or lost in the transition to adulthood and are perplexed as to why. He writes that
common manifestations include wondering if you’re not meeting your potential, questioning if you’re on the right path, trying to figure out your purpose in life, or who you are. Alternatively, it could be the foreboding sense one gets when facing major life-decisions about the future. [i]
Lichtenberger has developed the Prepare a Future Developmental Individualization Curriculum to help people find ways to change their individualization process from the default one described above to a developmental one in which they engage in self-examination processes that help them to discover their unique potentials, clarify their values, and align themselves with a set of prioritized goals toward which they take concrete steps.[ii] (p. 159)
Côté and Levine wrote a more comprehensive book² on their scholarship in 2002 which largely serves as the academic foundation of Prepare a Future, along with some other works by Côté and other colleagues.
Many thanks to Dr. Côté and Dr. Levine for the mention of my work in their text.
James Côté
Charles Levine
[1] Côté, J. E. & Levine, C. G. (2015). Identity formation, youth, and development: A simplified approach. New York: Psychology Press.
[2] Côté, J. E. & Levine, C. G. (2002). Identity formation, agency, and culture: A social psychological synthesis. New York: Psychology Press.
[i] http://drewlichtenberger.com/twenties-beatdown/
[ii] http://prepareafuture.com