Early adulthood is the stage of life encompassing the late teens up the mid-twenties, which is essentially late adolescence. Although people within this age range are legally adults, they are still young people in the process of expotentially maturing, dealing with college, employment and wage issues, learning to drive, manage their own finance, and buy a home, all while still relying on parental support. People within this age group are variously described as young adults, late teens, twentysomethings, and twixters.
"Young adult" is often mistakenly thought of as being interchangeable with "teenager" and going down to 13, due to the Young Adult Literature genre targeting middle/high school students, but this is only because YA books share a Periphery Demographic with teens and preteens.
Follows or overlaps with Teenage Tropes, if they're 18 or 19, or entered their 20s retaining their teenage mentality. Precedes or blends in with Adult Tropes.
Tropes:
- Basement-Dweller: Geeky male freeloading off his parents tends to be in his 20s.
- Burger Fool: A character has an undesirable job as a fast food employee.
- Coming of Age Story: Main character matures into young adulthood.
- Dawson Casting: Twentysomethings play high school students in movies or on television.
- First Love: If it didn't happen in high school, it's common for people to have their first serious romantic relationship in their twenties.
- Foul First Drink: A character tries alcohol for the first time (often after they've just reached the legal drinking age) and finds that they don't like how it tastes.
- Growing Up Sucks: Young adults sometimes have a hard time adjusting to adult life and responsibilities.
- Immortality Begins at Twenty: Immortal beings in fiction tend to stop aging when they become young adults.
- "Leaving the Nest" Song: 18 to 20-something-year-olds come of age through a song.
- Lower-Class Lout: A character who has little in the way of money or scruples.
- Married Too Young: A couple experiences relationship problems because they married at a young age.
- Milestone Birthday Angst: 18 and 21 are dreaded numbers by youth.
- Ode to Youth: An anthem celebrating youth during this stage of life.
- Rite of Passage: A special coming-of-age ritual for families/clans/tribes etc.
- Soul-Sucking Retail Job
- The Twink: A young gay man, often in his late teens or twenties, has his first gay experience.
- Totally 18: A work emphasizes on a young adult being over the legal age of majority.
- Working-Class Hero: The main character is working class and may even confront antagonists who are richer than they are.
- Youth Is Wasted on the Dumb: College students can be pretty stupid.
- Yuppie
