Understanding the Impact of Transition or Change via an Event in Emerging Adults Lives Through Art making with a Transpersonal Lens

Abstract

The challenges of the developmental period of emerging adulthood, ages 18-25 may be the lack of meaning and purpose, possibly resulting in depression and or lack of direction in their lives. A phenomenological design was used in order to understand how healthy emerging adults found meaning and purpose in their lives from a significant event(s) that led to transition or change, and what impact this event had. The subjects were asked to draw their significant event(s) and attempted to understand the event through a transpersonal lens. The researcher attempted to answer the following research questions: In what way did the significant event(s) have an impact on the subjects’ lives? Did the artwork help the subjects’ to understand the meaning behind the event? The objectives of this phenomenological study were to explore the subject’s lived experience of transition or change through a significant event and what this event meant in their lives through artwork.This study included two participants. Participant one was an Asian-American male age 24, and participant two was a Caucasian female also age 24. The subjects’ were asked to draw about a significant event that led to transition or change. The subjects’ artwork represented religious and or relational significant events. Both ofthe subjects went through a period of anxiety, doubt, and fear in their lives before their significant event took place. It appeared natural for the subjects to assign meaning to their chosen events in order to make sense of the change. The results implied that creating artwork helped the subject’s to remember the event easier, tell the story of the event by referring back to the picture, and the artwork brought forth unconscious elements around the event as well. The findings may suggest that emerging adults may benefit from discussing how they make meaning in their lives because they are at the age where they are laying their life’s foundation and making important decisions for adulthood.Based on the identified limitations of the study, the small number of subjects, the limited age range, and lack of Native American, African American or Hispanic subjects could be addressed in a future study. Recruiting a more diverse group of subjects may provide additional support for the major themes in this study. A study that possibly focuses on more research involving psychopathology between 18-25 years of age may be beneficial in understanding important issues and what direction to take therapy. Another study could focus on how male and female subjects differ when creating meaning in their life. What aspects of life do males find meaningful and what aspects of life do females find meaningful. A study that compares the two sexes may be beneficial.%%%%M.A., Creative Arts in Therapy – Drexel University, 2007