Abstract
This paper presents the findings of the research carried out at the Hellenic Air Force’s 120 Air Training Wing, with the objective to define the characteristics and dimensions of emerging adulthood among student pilots during the initial and basic phase of flight training, and also to investigate the extent to which these characteristics are related to the type and content of their training. As shown by comparing the findings of the research with similar studies in the Greek context, in which students have participated, student pilots seem to be crossing the threshold of adulthood much earlier than their peers who are university students. Moreover, due to the content of their training, their views on the characteristics and dimensions of adulthood focus mostly on responsibilities and duties rather than on the rights of the adult phase of life.
 
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Highlights
This study focuses on the case of the young cadets training to become fighter pilots of the Hellenic Air Force
As for the first research question, it is a fact that the training of the Hellenic Air Force fighter pilots, who soon shall be called to assume especially increased responsibilities in their professional career, takes place at the “critical age” of 22-26 years (Arnett, 2000, 2004), which is a period of their lives when they experience the transition to adulthood
We believe that the results of this particular research may constitute a tool, which, on the one hand, will make the designers of military training programs aware of the concept of emerging adulthood while, on the other hand, will provide relevant data in order to realize the objective difficulties of the training and the new dimensions of it, which they will be required to include to their basic design process
Summary
When studying the literature (see indicatively: Knowles, 1970; Brookfield, 1986; Merriam & Caffarella, 1999; Jarvis, 2010; Rogers & Horrocks, 2010), a global convergence emerges on the idea that the adult state is not defined according to the traditional criterion of age of maturity. This criterion is, after all, not the same throughout different eras and societies, whereas the age at which someone may be considered as an adult may differ even within a society. In order to consider a person as an adult, we should examine whether this person is in the state of adulthood (Kokkos, 2005), while there is a wider consensus among researchers as far as the critical importance of assuming roles and responsibilities for the transition to adulthood is concerned
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