This past June 4th through June 6th, Dr. Sibley, Julie Abbinante, and I had the chance to present our research at the Society for The Study of Emerging Adulthood (SSEA) 2025 Conference in Charleston, South Carolina, at the Hyatt Place. Dr. Sibley and I flew in from Chicago and Julie had a fantastic start getting to visit with family before meeting up with us at the Hyatt Hotel. Prior to getting to Charleston, we had multiple meetings coding and preparing all that we were going to share.
Tuesday June 3rd
As soon as we were all checked into the hotel we decided on a spot for dinner. We ended up picking a restaurant called Indaco. Dr. Sibley had the market fish, Julie had the cappelletti, and I had the most delicious margarita pizza. It was only about a 3-minute walk from our hotel, so we thought it would be a good start to exploring the city. Throughout dinner we briefly covered how the trip was going to go and when we were going to make some finishing touches to our presentations. After dinner we then stopped at Jeni’s for ice cream before headed back to our rooms for the night in preparation of our busy next day!
Wednesday June 4th
Once Julie and I woke up we headed down for some complimentary breakfast in the hotel lobby. We then headed to some of the local boutiques downtown Charleston to get a feel for the city. We stopped and had lunch at a local restaurant called UpTown Social. I ordered a delicious meatball parmesan sub, and Julie enjoyed a beautiful cheeseburger. After lunch we met up with Dr. Sibley in the hotel lobby and got right to work on our presentations. We spent a few hours polishing up our slides and deciding who was going to present what. Once we felt confident with our slides, we decided on a spot for dinner and went up to our rooms to clean up before meeting back up in the hotel lobby.
We noticed there were some really interesting posters happening at the poster session this night with beautiful hors d’oeuvres and decided to stop in before dinner. We had a light snack, some refreshments, and walked about listening to different posters. The space for the poster session was quite small, so we knew we just wanted to quickly pop in before dinner to get a feel for where we would be, as well as to listen to what the other presenters had to share.
When it was time for dinner, we decided to head to Oak Steakhouse in celebration of finishing our presentation! It was one of the most beautiful restaurants I had ever been to, and definitely the tastiest! Dr. Sibley had the seared duck breast, Julie had a surf and turf, and I had steak frites. We then all shared mashed potatoes, asparagus, and a great piece of chocolate cake before getting ready to head back to the hotel.
Thursday June 5th
Today began with a little side quest adventure! To Julie and I’s surprise, the new Nintendo Switch 2 came out this day and everyone was rushing to buy them. Dr. Sibley knows that his children love theirs and really wanted this new one. He looked and saw it was at a local Target, so Julie and I quickly encouraged him to run out and buy it for his kids before our busy day of presenting started! While he went out to get the switch, Julie and I stayed back to practice and get ready for our presentation.
Once we were all ready to go, we met up in the lobby and headed over to where the poster session was being held. We presented a poster entitled: Where Have All The Good Dates Gone? (click link) We got everything set up and then Dr. Sibley presented for about 15 minutes by himself while Julie and I ate some lunch. After that, Julie and I presented for the rest of the session by ourselves while Dr. Sibley ate lunch and reconnected with some colleagues. Lunch was scheduled in the middle of the poster sessions, so it made things a little tricky, but we easily worked around it!
We had to leave the poster session a few minutes early to go get everything set up for our paper presentations. There were 3 other presentations in our room, all of which were extremely interesting. There appeared to be a theme among those presenting that day. The presentations showed that breakups among those in emerging adulthood led to a stronger sense of self or differentiation of self. Contrary to popular belief, breakups can be a positive experience for growth! Who would have thought? This was a great segue into our presentation. Our first presentation was A Pathway to Commitment: Exploring the Steps and Stages Preceding Commitment (click link to access the full presentation in PDF format). We then presented our second paper titled “Maybe Someday I’ll Get Married”: Exploring Emerging Adult Beliefs about Commitment and Couple Relationships and Marriage Postponement (click link to access the full presentation in PDF format), We explored the beliefs of commitment among emerging adults and why marriage is seemingly postponed in modern day society. While the path itself is ambiguous in many ways, the end result is clear; there is still a strong desire to get married among this demographic.
We asked several questions in our focus groups for A Pathway to Commitment:
- RQ1: What do emerging adults believe is the purpose of romantic relationships?
- RQ2: What are the steps and stages in a romantic relationship and how do they progress to a committed relationship?
- RQ3: How do emerging adults feel about marriage and their personal preparation for this committed relationship?
- RQ4: How do the steps and stages that lead to a committed relationship differ compared to previous generations?
Some of the themes we discovered were:
- Sense of security and support
- Relationships provide meaning and purpose
- Personal growth
- Desire for marriage but delaying exclusivity
- Apprehensive about committed relationships
- Unified growth
- Ducks in a row
- Building a foundation
- Investing in the future
- Clarifying the commitment
Our second paper was the last presentation of the session and prompted many questions. The results from our research showed that you don’t always have to have your ducks in a row before you get married. This concept seemed antiquated to some, but the data shows that those who marry earlier in adulthood stay together longer! It appeared we had positively impacted those who attended our session based on their questions alone. It was a relief to know our hard work paid off!
These are the questions we asked our focus groups:
- How do unmarried emerging adults define commitment in romantic relationships and how have they developed those definitions?
- What do unmarried emerging adults believe are the reasons that many 18-29-year-olds are postponing marriage?
Some of the themes we discovered were:
- Complete loyalty
- Investment in the relationship
- Parental influence
- Fear of making the wrong decision
- Uncertainty about the future
- The norm of cohabitation
For dinner this night, we had the opportunity to go to the conference dinner. It was a very fancy dinner buffet with a small mini bar and lots of seating to socialize. We got to sit with some other people and talk about our presentations along with what they came to share. It was very interesting getting some feedback and talking about different universities.
Friday June 6th
Friday was a very nice day out, so at about 10:00 AM we decided to head over the Charleston Aquarium. This specific aquarium is known for having the largest tank in North America, along with a turtle rehabilitation center. We got to pet a small turtle and looks at the hundreds of fish species there. They had small tanks with animals like starfish and dog sharks available to pet! While walking around we got to see one of the workers jump into the huge tank (with scuba diving gear on) and present a lesson talking about the species of fish! On our way out we stopped by the injured bald eagle getting a close up at our country’s mascot!
We weren’t quite ready for the exploring to end after the aquarium to we stopped over next door at the Fort Sumter Visitor Center. This was a very cool experience. We got to walk around looking at the artifacts while reading all about what had once happened at Fort Sumter.
After learning about all the animals and history, we felt very hungry! We then went and stopped at Amen Street Fish & Raw Bar before Julie headed back to North Carolina for her flight home. I had a cheeseburger and fries, Dr. Sibley had the shrimp and grits, and Julie had the fresh catch. Julie then took Dr. Sibley and I back to the hotel before driving back up north. Since I was still not feeling well, we each went back to our own rooms and napped before meeting back up for dinner. We went to Virginia’s on King where I had mashed potatoes and meatloaf and Dr. Sibley had the seafood combo. After dinner we walked to the ice cream shop Jeni’s and enjoyed a scoop before heading back for the night. We talked about how well the conference had gone and all that was to come this coming school year. After arriving back at the Hyatt Hotel, we went our separate ways to pack up our things for the airport the next day.
Saturday June 7th
Saturday morning Dr. Sibley and I had breakfast in the hotel lobby, packed up our things and got ready to go home. After checking out of the hotel and making it to the airport we had some Chick-fil-A for lunch and awaited our flight. We spent a lot of time talking about different graduate programs, the benefits of investing, and the different things we could do to make the research team even better! We discussed which blog posts were coming up and who was going to be working on what. Once we landed, we had a hiccup getting our poster back. Unfortunately, the airlines misplaced it, so it was not there when we got to baggage claim. Although they did return it to Dr. Sibley later, it was crushed so thankfully it happened on the way home! On the bright side, the new Nintendo Switch 2 made it home safely for the Sibley family!
Overall, it was a blast! Not only did we get to present research that we are so proud to be a part of, but we also all got to experience Charleston for the first time! A huge thank you to Dr. Sibley for inviting us along on this journey and showing us the ropes of the conference world. Check out all of our photos from the trip at our photo gallery!
I am a Senior at Northern Illinois University. I am majoring in Human Development and Family Sciences with an emphasis in Family Social Services and a minor in addiction studies. Once I graduate, I plan to get my master’s and work as a marriage and family therapist!
Hi everyone! My name is Julie Abbinante and I’m currently in my second year at NIU studying Human Development and Family Sciences with a focus on family social services. My ultimate goal is to pursue my masters in social work so I can help struggling adolescents and children in early childhood.
