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UNLABELLED: "Emerging adults" in Germany: Differences in Identity, Work and Partnership and their Associations with Internalizing Symptoms Young adults are an increasingly common clientele in outpatient and inpatient psychotherapy facilities, many of them with internalizing disorders such as anxiety and depression.

OBJECTIVE

The present study examines associations between identity, work- and relationshiprelated variables and internalizing symptoms in a sample of young adults with different professional and relationship status.

METHODS

In a cross-sectional study with 3,267 young adults (M = 23.61 years, SD = 2.94, 59 % female), sociodemographic characteristics, health-related variables, and work- and relationship- related variables are analyzed. Gender- and professional group-specific differences are examined using MANOVAs. Associations with internalizing symptoms are analyzed through multiple regression models.

RESULTS

The sample shows a high diversity in professional status, with occupation-specific differences in many of the variables examined. Compared to men, women report more somatic complaints, higher levels of internalizing symptoms, and greater work impairment. Overall, the professional domain is perceived as more burdensome than the relationship domain; however, self-efficacy regarding the problems of reconciling work and relationships is relatively high. Work-related stress, ruminative exploration in the domains of work and relationships, dependency in relationships, and work-family conflicts predict depressive symptoms (all p < 0.001).

DISCUSSION: Difficulties in realizing one's own identity, as well as work and relationships-related challenges, are associated with internalizing symptoms in young adults. In a clinical context, it is therefore useful to consider for this age group developmentally relevant, age-specific variables in the sense of developmental psychopathology.