Emerging adulthood is a developmental theory established by Arnett [1] that explains the development of young adults between the ages of 18 and 29, with an emphasis on the ages of 18 and 25. Although in his work, Arnett [1] focused on ages 18-25, he sometimes referred to emerging adulthood as ages 18-29, because it varies depending on the age of graduating secondary education and moving towards major life commitments like marriage, parenthood, and long-term employment.

In 2017, the highest number of marriages in Malaysia was at age 25-29 [2] and the number of Malaysians with tertiary education has increased by 41% from 2007 to 2017 [3]. This statistic aligns with Arnett's definition of emerging adulthood, in which people have a wider educational background and have greater opportunities to explore a variety of future paths between the end of secondary school and entry into marriage or a long-term relationship.

Depression is a mental illness that affects more than 280 million people worldwide [4]. The prevalence of depression among adults aged 18 years and above in Malaysia was 2.3% which makes up 472,420; almost half a million Malaysians were suffering from depression [5]. By age group, the prevalence was the highest in age 25-29 [3.9% (95% CI: 1.87, 2.78)], followed by age 20-24 [3.1% (95% CI: 1.94, 4.84)]. The increased prevalence of depression among young adults is concerning, as prior research has shown that this mental disorder can lead to poor work and home performance [4], as well as decreased productivity and lower living standards in later life [6, 7].

Depression is diagnosed clinically and requires the patient to fulfil the criteria listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5^th Edition (DSM-V) or International Classification of Diseases, 11^th Revision (ICD-11). Despite the fact that Major Depression Disorder is a highly common condition in clinical practice and the community, its subthreshold manifestations, which do not match the current classification criteria, have received less attention [8]. Furthermore, there is no fixed definition of subthreshold depression addressed by the current diagnostic criteria for depressive disorders [9] and the terminology for subthreshold depression varies significantly (e.g. subthreshold depression, subclinical depression, minor depression, and subsyndromal depression) [8]. Therefore, the current study focused on subthreshold depression, that is when an individual’s depression symptoms do not meet the diagnostic criteria for a major depressive disorder – usually in terms of frequency, duration, and/or symptom severity [8, 9].

There are five features in emerging adulthood and each of them has certain implications on mental health wellbeing. The first feature is identity explorations, where they will explore various aspects and choices in life. With all explorations and normal identity struggles, emerging adults will appear to have serious problems that can affect their physical and mental functioning [10]. The second feature is instability, where this is the time when love, relationships and work change frequently. All these involuntary life issues can cause trouble and lead to instability which later on contribute to pervasive emotions such as depression and anxiety [10]. The third feature is self-focused where they mainly focused on themselves and have fewer obligations and responsibilities to others [1]. Self-focused might lead to low social support and depression [10], and one study reported that self-focused in the early twenties cause low social support and leads to an increase in depression symptoms in emerging adults [11]. This is further supported by another study which found that identity exploration, instability, and self-focused are significant predictors of depression among emerging adults [12]. However, a recent study in Malaysia discovered that emerging adults view adulthood as a phase of social obligation rather than solely self-focused since the culture emphasizes collectivism rather than individualism as seen in western countries [13].

The fourth feature is the feeling in-between, where emerging adults feel in the middle of adolescence and adults. Accepting responsibility for oneself, making own decisions, and being financially independent were the three criteria used to define adulthood [10]. These standards will develop gradually, and the in-between feelings may cause depression and anxiety in emerging adults, particularly those who feel pressured to become more adult at their current age. According to a study, most emerging adults feel anxious and about one-third feel depressed [14]. The fifth and last feature of emerging adulthood is the age of possibilities. The majority of emerging adults still believe that their future is bright despite their hardships, challenges, and conflicted feelings [14]. The same study also found out that emerging adults who have little faith in their future lives are more likely to develop depression and anxiety.

Although some studies have analysed the depression symptoms among emerging adults before, there are still limited studies that look at the features of emerging adults and their relationship with depression symptoms. Why is this important? Because previous studies have highlighted the features in emerging adulthood, such as instability and self-focused that make them vulnerable to develop depression and anxiety [10, 11, 15]. These studies were conducted in western countries, and as we know, the population in western and eastern countries are different where western cultures place a high value on an individual's ability (or individualistic) to achieve self-sufficiency, whereas Eastern cultures place a higher value on family and community goals, needs, and perspectives (or collectivistic) [16, 17]. This is supported by findings in Sabah, Malaysia which reported that emerging adults in Malaysia view adulthood as a period of social responsibility and is not completely self-focused [13]. Together with other Asian cultures, emerging adults in Malaysia also emphasize collectivism and acknowledge the need for social responsibility in reaching adulthood. This difference is a reason why the current study is needed in order to know more about emerging adults in eastern countries, specifically in Malaysia. To date, in Malaysia, very limited research has focused on the relationship between the features of emerging adults and depression symptoms. This is important because once we have known which features have more relation with depression symptoms, we can incorporate the features inside the readily available psychological intervention for depression that can suit this age population. We hypothesized that instability and self-focused features in emerging adulthood are positive predictors of depression. This is according to the past studies that showed these two features made the emerging adults more vulnerable to depression and anxiety symptoms [10, 11, 15].

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between features of emerging adulthood with depression symptoms among emerging adults aged 18-29 in Malaysia.

Reliable and valid instruments were used through an online survey to measure the level of depressive symptoms among emerging adults in Selangor, Malaysia. The survey included items related to personal demographics, depression, and features of emerging adulthood.

This part will discuss the relationship between features in emerging adulthood with depression symptoms.

Results showed that instability and self-focused were significant positive predictors while feeling in-between was a positive predictor but not significant. This finding was in line with studies which reported that instability and self-focused features in emerging adults are making them more vulnerable to develop depression and anxiety [10, 11, 15]. Another study also reported that instability and feeling in-between were likely to be linked with low wellbeing, but self-focused was associated with high wellbeing [24].

Emerging adulthood is a period of instability since it involves various changes in relationships, occupation, and living arrangements [13]. During this period, they will face new challenges such as taking their first full-time jobs, going to tertiary education, and getting into relationships. This is when exploration of various possibilities happens, whether in love, work, education, or worldview [25]. Compared to the past generations, these modern young adults are given more opportunities and therefore are expected to attend tertiary educations that were made available [26]. In Malaysia, the population with tertiary education has a 44% increment. These include public and private universities, polytechnics, community colleges, and matriculations [3]. This statistic aligns with Arnett’s definition of emerging adulthood, where they have a wider education background and more chances to explore their future pathways. However, in certain cases, the decision making and life-changing options can be involuntary, such as facing failure, being fired, or breaking up with partners. All these involuntary life issues can cause trouble and lead to instability which later on contributes to pervasive emotions such as depression and anxiety [10].

Self-focused is one of the features of emerging adulthood that makes it quite distinct (but not unique to) from other life stages. Emerging adults are the most self-focused time of life where they mainly focus on themselves and have fewer obligations and responsibilities to others [1]. They still have parents, but the parental authority is not as high as when they were minors. They still have a partner, but may not be in a long-term relationship. Self-focused might be followed by low social support and depression [10]. There is a study on the relation between depressive symptoms and social support in emerging adulthood [11]. They found out that there was an inverse relationship between depression and social support, where depression symptoms were highest in the early twenties and decreased with age, while social supports were lowest in the early twenties and increased along with age. Therefore, if self-focused causes low social support, this, in turn, might cause an increase in depression symptoms among emerging adults.

Even though feeling in-between is not a significant predictor, it was indeed a positive predictor for depression symptoms. Most emerging adults do not feel entirely adult until years later, when they reach the mid to late twenties [10]. This period of feeling in-between depends on cultures with certain demographic characteristics [1]. Historically, it has been assumed that young individuals will shift from adolescence to adulthood gradually and achieve particular milestones by certain ages [27]. The concept of the “social clock” was proposed where cultural norms influence people's behaviour throughout their lives [27]. Young adults who encounter life events ‘on time’ have better outcomes. Individuals who are 'off-time' may have more challenges and obstacles, even though they do not always report having adverse experiences. Individuals who do not adhere to the social clock, for example, may feel stressed, anxious, or severely judged for failing to meet their family or society expectations, especially while others meet similar milestones in time [28].

Exploration, possibilities, and other-focused although not significant, were negative predictors for depression. The shift from late adolescence to young adulthood is marked by identity exploration in the areas of love, job, and worldview. They will experience multiple rejections or acceptances in those aspects, which characterize the home life of the emerging adult [29]. During this period, emerging adults will see how they are valued and evaluated by others since the explorations in love, work, and worldview are deeper in this group, making them explore more about themselves. Exploring more about themselves will help them know about what they want and what they are trying to achieve, and this may help in strengthening the identity commitment, which in turn will predict a decrease in negative experiences and depressive symptoms [30]. However, this is opposed to another study that reported identity explorations make emerging adults more vulnerable to psychological stress [24].

The last feature of emerging adulthood is possibilities, where many possibilities waiting for them that offer many different futures ahead. Emerging adulthood or also known as the age of possibilities offers a chance to change one’s direction in life. In this study, it is reported that possibilities is a negative predictor for depression, which means by having more scores in possibilities, the lesser the depressive symptoms. When they perceive the world and the possibilities in a more positive way, it might help in reducing the depressive symptoms. In addition, it is also being agreed that any significant change in a person's mood can have a significant impact on how they perceive the world and its possibilities [31].

In conclusion, two out of five features in emerging adulthood were significant positive predictors for depressive symptoms – instability and self-focused. In other words, with the increased scores in these two features, there was a chance for depressive symptoms to increase. Meanwhile, feeling in-between was a non-significant positive predictor for depression. The other two features – exploration and possibilities were non-significant negative predictors, and the increased scores in these two features may or may not result in a reduction of depression symptoms. Since, this is only a cross-sectional study, future studies could focus on the experimental study and emphasize emerging adulthood’s features when doing therapeutic interventions.